Speech Reporting in Chinese Criminal Judgements

Abstract Speech reporting is an important linguistic tool for criminal judgements to represent facts and evidence and state reasons for conviction and judgement. This paper analyzes speech reporting in 500 Chinese criminal judgements and identifies three major findings. First, speech reporting in criminal judgements includes two general types, procedural reporting and substantive reporting , both of which can be further categorized into three sub-types, direct reporting , indirect reporting , and narrative report of speech act . Second, procedural reporting mainly appears in the beginning and body parts of a criminal judgement to introduce the origin of the case, clarify relevant legal concepts, indicate the basis of conviction and judgement, and maintain, approve, and reject the judgement of a lower court, performing the function of maintaining procedural justice. Third, substantive reporting mainly occurs in the body part of a criminal judgement to state, summarize, generalize, and clarify relevant facts and evidence, serving substantive justice.