UDTR — Radar mondial des droits de la Nature

Daily Life on Trial: When Poverty Is Evidence for Incapacity

Identification

Clé publique

radar:r-d2743822ba78920525ff1d5c36e619a2

Auteurs

Emmanuelle Bernheim

Année déclarée

2026

Langue déclarée

en

Type source

book-chapter

Première détection

2026-11-14T02:48:41.752817+00:00

Dernière observation des métadonnées

2026-11-14T02:48:41.752817+00:00

Dernière vérification HTTP

Non effectuée

Institutions déclarées par la source

University of Ottawa

Pays d’affiliation déclarés

CA

Résumé documentaire — langue originale

This chapter describes a justice system in which poverty and social class differences are treated as signs of mental health problems and incapacity. The first part depicts judicial treatment of defendants based on their socioeconomic profile. Precarious defendants—unemployed, low-educated, often homeless—face moral judgments about their “abnormal” lifestyles and unrealistic court orders that worsen their poverty. Meanwhile, middle-class professionals receive more lenient treatment with consideration for their careers and reputations. Courts use therapeutic discourse to justify coercive interventions while ignoring how judicial orders create cycles of poverty, job loss, and housing instability. The second part of this chapter examines communication breakdowns, revealing systematic power imbalances. Defendants face vocabulary barriers, poor legal preparation, and credibility issues while psychiatrists and social workers enjoy unquestioned authority. Judges often misinterpret defendants’ emotional responses as pathological symptoms rather than legitimate reactions to institutional trauma. This chapter concludes by exposing how the judicial process often proves humiliating for defendants. While defendants recognize the classist nature of proceedings, judges regularly treat them as “poor patients” rather than legal parties with rights. Moreover, defendants’ rights are generally given little consideration in legal proceedings.

Identifiants

OPENALEX

https://openalex.org/W7167919766

DOI

10.1007/978-3-032-16186-4_5

Repères documentaires

Famille documentaire

Chapitre d’ouvrage

Types déclarés par les sources

book-chapter

Les mentions d’entités ne constituent pas une preuve de reconnaissance juridique. La juridiction étudiée est distincte du pays d’affiliation des auteurs.

Description bibliographique du livre

Date de publication déclarée

2026-01-01

Disponibilité non établie

Sources

OpenAlex · Document 1

• Document · https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-16186-4_5

Statut documentaire

Pertinence à examiner

Bibliothèque

Cette identité n’est pas encore intégrée à la Bibliothèque juridique.