The Elephant in the Courtroom: Judicial Reaction to Cultural Conflict Criminal Cases

Abstract

Criminal courts in culturally heterogeneous societies around the world face the challenges of a multicultural reality. This study explores how judges silenced the cultural difference issue in cultural conflict cases. Over fifty years of Israeli criminal judicial discourse in cultural conflict criminal cases was analyzed. The qualitative analysis reveals the different ways in which the legal discourse silenced the cultural issue, including different ways to refrain from talking about cultural background, and diverse ways to mask the cultural issue.