Miscarriages of Justice in the Age of Social Media: The Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Innocence Campaign

Gies, Lieve

doi:10.1093/bjc/azw017

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Based on these considerations, the author eventually decided to adopt the case study approach, where researchers select several cases of interest surrounding the same topic they are investigating (Bowman-Grieve and Conway, 2012;Salter, 2013;Gies, 2017). In this study, the author has chosen two cases: the introduction of sex offender registration by the Minhang District of Shanghai, and the introduction of paedophile registries by the Huadu District of Guangzhou.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Bottom-Up Reform of Sex Offender Registration in China: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianism

Chen

2020

Crime Law Soc Change

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In 2017, the Minhang District of Shanghai introduced sex offender registration. This reform attracted positive reactions on social media. Local governments in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Chongqing quickly followed the precedent. In 2019, the central government announced that it will establish national sex offender registries by 2022, although it limited the scope of registration to paedophiles. This study explores how this bottom-up reform unfolded and what implications it has in theory and practice. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of 2261 posts on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, this study reveals two major players in the current reform: the Chinese feminists who are pursuing a punitive agenda online (a phenomenon known as 'carceral feminism'), and the local governments that are eager to win the public's trust, although such trust is mainly reserved for the central authority in the Chinese political culture (a culture known as 'populist authoritarianism'). Drawing on the findings, this study pushes the discussion about Chinese penal policy beyond the dichotomy of 'penal professionalism' and 'penal populism'. It argues that while the influence of professionalism is evident in central-level policy making, local penal policies can be easily led by populist punitiveness. The latter deserves more academic attention. This study also takes a non-partisan approach to the feminist movements on Chinese social media. It reveals the class conflicts and regional inequality underlying the gender schism. The polarisation effect in online discussion is also highlighted, which alerts policy makers to the reliability of 'public opinion' online.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Bottom-Up Reform of Sex Offender Registration in China: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianism

Chen

2020

Crime Law Soc Change

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“…Still, the place of women stands out among the principals. In contrast, in other communities calling for justice for wrongly convicted women is absent (Gies, 2017).…”

Section: General Characteristics Of Adminsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Polarization of Deliberative and Participatory Activists on Social Media

Lev‐On

2022

MaC

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The article demonstrates how social media activism polarizes and clusters into distinct deliberative and participatory arenas, using the case study of online activism for justice for Roman Zadorov in Israel. Zadorov was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Still, an overwhelming majority of Israelis think he is innocent, with the social media obstruction-of-justice campaign in his support having raised overwhelming exposure and engagement. Theorists distinguish between participatory and deliberative public processes. Supporters of participatory processes advocate for the participation of multiple stakeholders in addressing public concerns. Supporters of deliberative processes advocate for a thorough evaluation of arguments for and against any course of action before decision-making. This study demonstrates how people congregate online and polarize into deliberative and participatory clusters. The “deliberative” cluster is characteristic of groups led by admins who advocate reaching the truth through exposing relevant information and conducting fact-based deliberation. The “participatory” cluster is characteristic of groups led by admins who believe that their activities should aim exclusively at generating more attention and engagement with the general public.

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“…Such activist campaigns are often divided into two categories: promoting a specific claim about a wrong conviction and expressing a general lack of faith in the legal system's ability to properly investigate and convict the real criminals (Savage, Grieve, & Poyser, 2007). One of the most prominent campaigns in this context, for the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Italy, was conducted by members of a large Facebook groups who, in addition to pushing for the acquittal of the defendants, criticized the Italian media and justice system as a whole (Gies, 2017;Zuckerman, 2014). Members of such online forums examine the available legal materials, discuss issues related to the case, endorse alternative scenarios, and promote a perception of a structurally corruptive legal system (Gies, 2017;Wood & Douglas, 2015).…”

Section: Literature Review Online Social Media At the Service Of Openmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These groups' administrators functioned as "gatekeepers," preserving the social hierarchy between members both online and off-line. This hierarchy defined and distinguished between members who had crucial role in the struggle to others who were marginal (Gies, 2017). Hence, our first research question is:…”

Section: Section 1: Significance Of Group Administratorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Objection, Your Honor”: Use of Social Media by Civilians to Challenge the Criminal Justice System

Lev‐On

Steinfeld

2018

Social Science Computer Review

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Social media constitute useful and effective platforms for miscarriage of justice campaigners to challenge state authorities and decisions taken by the criminal justice system. To characterize such endeavors, this study analyzes the activity in such a major group dedicated to the murder case of Tair Rada and the trial of Roman Zadorov, one of the most controversial legal cases in Israel’s history. Using digital data extraction and linguistic analysis tools, we focus on five themes: (1) the central role of group administrators in directing the discourse and setting the group agenda; (2) correspondence of group activity with off-line events and mainstream media coverage; (3) skewed distribution of post publications per user and engagement measures per post; (4) prominent topics in group discussions, revolving around key figures, institutions and officials, making justice, considering alternative theories and examining investigative and forensic materials; and (5) the framing of key figures, institutions, and values in portraying a somewhat dichotomous image of a corrupted justice system, an innocent man wrongly convicted and a Facebook group in the search for the truth.

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Miscarriages of Justice in the Age of Social Media: The Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Innocence Campaign

Cited by 15 publications

References 29 publications

Exploring the Bottom-Up Reform of Sex Offender Registration in China: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianism

Exploring the Bottom-Up Reform of Sex Offender Registration in China: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianism

Polarization of Deliberative and Participatory Activists on Social Media

“Objection, Your Honor”: Use of Social Media by Civilians to Challenge the Criminal Justice System

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