Impartiality, bias and emotion in everyday judicial work

This chapter examines the place of emotion in everyday judicial work, a legal and social context where emotion experiences and the need for emotion work are embedded, but formally disavowed. It draws on judicial surveys, interviews, and court observations to investigate the social, interactional dynamics of judicial work, especially in court. The chapter challenges the conventional view that impartiality is primarily an individual, psychological, or cognitive mechanism, and questions the view that emotion is necessarily a source of bias. Showing, sharing, or experiencing emotion can be a valuable resource for judicial work as part of performing impartiality, central to public confidence. However, emotion work is bounded by institutional constraints. This is particularly evident in sentencing decisions, which are often awash with emotion, and where judicial officers must engage with legal norms and feeling rules.