Book Reviews: The Art of Justice – the Judge’s Perspective
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663915575630b |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
explores a number of issues raised by such cases, including the very difficult problem of
whether such persons can ‘express sorrow for the loss experienced by the victim without
it being misconstrued as remorse or ... attend therapy sessions directed toward sex
offenders without this being taken as an admission of guilt’ (p. 99). As Weisman notes,
such people face a ‘battle for credibility’ (p. 95) with a state that has decreed their guilt
and expects displays of remorse to follow.
In Chapter5, ‘Remorse and Social Transformation: Reflectionson the Truth and Recon-
ciliationCommission of South Africa’,Weisman uses a broader canvass to explorehow the
expectation, proffering, rejection and acceptance of remorse played a key role in post-
apartheidSouth Africa’s reconstitution of itsmoral community. Weismanfocuses primarily
on the case of Colonel Eugene de Kock, a member of one of the apartheid regime’s extra-
legalsecret agencies, who,after the end of apartheid,was found guilty of assassinations,dis-
appearances and other violent acts against anti-apartheid activists. De Kock later came to
express deep r emorse for his condu ct. The subsequent d ebates in South Afric a about the gen-
uineness,meaning and implicationsof De Kock’s claims andhis apparently repentantbeha-
viour are very thoughtfully and illuminatingly explored by Weisman.
One very pleasing aspect of Weisman’s approach is that he does not treat the social
aspects of the construction of emotion as somehow explaining away or undermining the
lived experience of those who have these emotions (i.e. us). ‘That such feelings are
mediated by social expectations whether explicit or tacit,’ he observes, ‘does not make
them less real or less meaningful in their impact on those who experience them’ (p. 19).
Weisman thus maintains a subtle and sympathetic appreciation of the emotional and
moral lives of the people he studies.
This short review has only indicated some of the rich and rewarding detail to be found
in Weisman’s analyses. Point-by-point critical engagement with that detail is for another
occasion. It is enough to say that researchers and students, whether in sociology,
psychology, legal studies or philosophy, will have much to engage with and savour in
Weisman’s important book. It can be expected to become a central reference point for
further work not just in the particular area of remorse and the law but also in the broader
field of law and the emotions more generally.
STEVEN TUDOR
La Trobe University, Australia
RUTH HERZ, The Art of Justice – the Judge’s Perspective. Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing,
pp. 120, ISBN 978-1-84946-127-6, £35 (hbk).
Ruth Herz has painted a picture depicting the human being behind the judicial robes and
in so doing she has successfully demonstrated that communications about criminal trials
need not only be in written form. This is a rich book and for those even remotely inter-
ested in the power of the arts, or interdisciplinarity, to inform our understanding of the
law, The Art of Justice – the Judge’s Perspective comes highly recommended.
318 Social & Legal Studies 24(2)
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