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Wibo Van Rossum, "Showing Respect. The Appearance of a Turkish Defendant in a Dutch Courtroom", International Journal for the Semiotics of Law / Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique IX/27 (1996), 287-303. When appearing before a judge, defendants in Dutch courts usually assume a bodily posture which is congruous with the rule that says defendants should take on a relaxed but interested attitude. Defendants usually sit at ease and regularly shift and change sitting postures. In contrast, the Turkish defendant K took on a certain posture in court and remained sitting in the same position during the entire proceedings. During the interviews with K in prison, it became clear we should not interpret his posture as being an expression, communication, or reflection of some inner psychological characteristic. Instead, we should read his appearance as ritual. (e-mail: rossum@mail.jur.uva.nl)

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