‘Guns ‘n razors’ – using narrative to construct accountability about deaths after police contact Seminar

In the period 2004-2013 over 1100 people died after police contact in England and Wales. The paper looks at how narrative structures can affect the type of accountability that is constructed about deaths after police contact. It uses discourse analysis to evaluate 58 narrative verdicts recorded in Coroners’ courts about these cases during this period.

Typically, cases of deaths after police contact are subject to jury inquests in the Coroner’s court in England and Wales. Since 2004, precedent, driven by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights has affected the type of verdicts recorded in these cases. Narrative verdicts may be produced by juries as a way of recording the facts relevant to these cases.

The paper considers how structures of narrative affect how these verdicts are constructed.