Insincerity in Lawyers’ Questioning Strategies in Malawian Criminal Courtroom Discourse 

Dr Wellman Kondowe

Senior Lecturer

Insincerity in Lawyers’ Questioning Strategies in Malawian Criminal Courtroom Discourse 

Dr. Wellman Kondowe’s new publication titled Insincerity in Lawyers’ Questioning Strategies in Malawian Criminal Courtroom Discourse responds to the general public outcry on the tricks lawyers do with language when asking questions in the court of law. Dr. Kondowe defines insincere questions as those questions that do not genuinely look for answers but rather to trap witnesses, injure their character, exert pressure and divert court’s attention. These kinds of questions have a negative bearing on the delivery of justice especially when lawyers are interacting with lay witnesses. Dr. Kondowe has therefore developed a framework that the court can use to measure insincerity in the questions asked by prosecution and defence lawyers towards witnesses. To improve the delivery of justice, the law needs to strike a balance between language behaviours that are both legally appealing and linguistically appropriate. Dr. Kondowe recommends that legal education needs to incorporate direct and explicit teaching and learning of linguistics.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/text-2022-0083/html