Book presentation: Törnqvist and Bergman Blix
Seminar
Date: Thursday 9 October 2025
Time: 13.00 – 14.30
Location: C603
Nina Törnqvist, researcher, and Stina Bergman Blix, professor, both at the Department of Sociology, Uppsala University, will present their book ‘Rational Anger: An international comparison of legal systems’.
When somethig goes wrong in the criminal justice process, anger is one of the usual suspects. Associated with impulsiveness, unpredictability and prejudice, anger serves as the prime antagonist to fair and objective legal judgements. Yet, the actual role that anger plays in modern legal systems is more intricate. As a motivating force, anger identifies wrongdoing and attributes blame, actions that form a core rationale for legal decision-making.
In this presentation we take this tension as a starting point to investigate the significance of anger in the legal process with a specific focus on criminal court proceedings. The overall aim is to explore the situational and relational conditions in which anger works for or against justice by comparing how anger emerges, evolves and is resolved in the work of judges and prosecutors in Italy, Sweden, USA and Scotland.
In what way can anger be rational? Anger is often conceived as making people act in erratic and haphazard ways without well-reasoned ends. We counter this assumption by zooming in on the logic behind and systematic use of anger in criminal court—the archetypical rational venue. When judge Oscar in Italy screams at a witness who makes fun of the questions during an examination, when judge Monica in Sweden calls up the police to ask them to instantly pick up another witness who refuses to come to court where everyone sits waiting, or when judge Blake in the United States threatens a defendant with arrest for not showing up to a hearing, their anger all originate from obstacles to collect legal evidence in criminal procedures, and the energy that their anger release is used to try to get the hearings back on track.
Read the book on the publisher's website
Important information before the visit
As we have limited places, we would like people working outside the Department of Criminology to pre-register by emailing the seminar organiser Maria Andersson Vogel. Please state which seminar you want to attend, how many places you want to book and whether you are interested in taking part in any documentation.
Last updated: July 16, 2025
Source: Department of Criminology