With Jurors in Mind: An Ethnographic Study of Prosecutors’ Narratives

This article focuses on prosecutors’ practices of drafting, critiquing and revising opening and closing statements for trial. Based on the observation of their real-time collaborative work, it argues that prosecutors’ concerns that they might be perceived as incredible or overzealous have substantive and structural impacts on their case preparation. In the process of commenting on evidence and witnesses and developing their authorial voices, prosecutors give definition to character traits and values they view as central to their jobs