let the evidence fit the crime: evidence, law, and “sociological truth” among the Dou Donggo

Abstract

Among the Dou Donggo (Eastern Sumbawa, Indonesia), evidentiary proceedings are not used as legal discovery procedures to find out “what happened.” In some cases conclusive, publicly known evidence is not sought or is ignored; in other cases evidence widely known to be false is admitted without dispute. Among the Dou Donggo, the truth represented by evidence is revealed to be a sociological, rather than a phenomenal, truth, and adjudication is concerned with a carefully engineered accommodation of both the interests of the community and the rights of individuals. The “dualistic epistemology” by which this is accomplished has important implications for the way in which norms, rules, and the moral order of society are structured in legal proceedings, [legal processes, dispute settlement, evidence, norms, customary law, Indonesia]

Truth and proof in a lawyer's story

“…Among the Dou Donggo of Indonesia, it is possible to prove, for formal, legal purposes, that what everyone knows not to be the case is so. Just (1986) describes a case in which a woman proves that she was attacked by presenting as evidence a torn blouse and a heavily medicated face. Everyone knows that there was no attack, that the accused did not tear the blouse, and that there are no injuries under the medication.…”

Anthropology, Law, and Transnational Processes

“…Disputants manipulate the various legal systems in an effort to construct an interpretation of truth in the world that others will accept. Peter Just explores the way disputants manipulate the meanings of rules and evi dence among the Dou Donggo in Indonesia (130,131). Outside the court setting, Laura Nader develops the provocative argument that ideologies such as harmony are used by local peoples to exclude state law and to promote settlement of conflicts (176,177).…”

“…The concept of discourse, adopted from Foucault (88), has provided an important bridge between the sociolinguistic analysis of talk in legal settings and theories linking prevailing modes of talk with power (64, 127, 130,157,161,183,184,221,268). Much work has been done on US language and law (16,24,26,101,106,117,144,147,148,222,230,278).…”

Spectators to the Spectacle of Law: The Formation of a ‘Validating Public’ at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

“…Gibbs 1963;Just 1986;Buur 2003) the ethnography of contemporary courtrooms, with its emphasis on speech, has tended to ignore the silent public who watch proceedings. The emergence of separate circulation systems in court complexes was 'fuelled by a fear of the public' and has resulted in 'sophisticated forms of segregation and surveillance [that] transform spectators into docile bodies' (Mulcahy 2007:396 -9) (see Rock 1993:203 -4;Taylor 1993:27).…”