DIGNITY, HONOUR AND REPUTATION IN COURT

Małgorzata Fuszara

Summary:

Maria Ossowska’s analysis of the norms intended to facilitate the defence of honour and dignity provides a springboard for an investigation of how these norms operate in the courtroom. The review covers cases prosecuted as incidents of hate speech as well as those taken to civil and criminal courts personally by the victims. The paper outlines how these cases are difficult to resolve, in particular in an amicable manner. In the framework of symbolic interactionism, the main reason for this difficulty is that every person involved in the dispute apparently has a different definition of the meaning of the events. Emphasis is put on the issue of restorative justice: victims are typically motivated not by a desire to punish the perpetrator but rather by eagerness to shift the shame from themselves to the perpetrator and in doing so, to restore the social order.

Keywords

Private accusation, civil damages, restorative justice, dignity and honor

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