What's Law Got to Do with It? Legal Records and Sexual Histories

Introduction

“…Combined with the ongoing interest of historians of sexuality in juridical case files as a valuable resource that 'can take the researcher beyond the crime itself into the social and cultural worlds in which the act took place', Foucault's generic intervention epitomises the strengths and limits of the juridical approach. 13 He subverts the juridical case study form, retains its evocative and open aspect, and minimises its powers of judgement in order to question -with a little additional editorial effort -sexological case writings as well.…”

Emotion and allegiance in researching four mid- 20th-century cases of women accused of murder

“…Images can have a more physically manifest emotional impact than reading a description, especially when they are particularly shocking or gruesome (Douglas et al, 1997). Robertson (2005) conducted research on sexual violence in New York City from 19th- and 20th-century case files. He describes how letters, photographs and items of physical evidence disrupted the sense of distance from the event that I often felt in the face of the layers of text and procedure produced by the legal process.…”

The Ends of Innocence: Age as a Mode of Inquiry in Sociolegal Studies

“…Archival research in case law transcripts as well as administrative records of the sort used by Kathleen Jones (1999) can prove invaluable. Keeping in mind limitations such as the influence of court procedures on storytelling (Robertson 2005b), we can still hear young people talking. If we can listen to what they are saying, we might come to different conclusions about their “interests.”…”