A Study On Questionings In Prosecutors’ Interrogation: From A Discourse Information Perspective

Against the backdrop of the on-going judicial reform in China,recent years have witnessed greater responsibilities posed to legal participants.Among them,how prosecutors can seek information from defendants accurately and effectively has been a hot legal issue mainly argued about and delved into.In light of this,the interrogation strategies employed by prosecutors have been recognized as a focal point to improve trial efficiency.While current studies have been drawn to the use of single questions,failing to reveal the systematic features of question bundles in prosecutors’ interrogation.Motivated by the need to improve prosecutors’ interrogation efficiency,this study aims to explore questionings in interrogation from the perspective of discourse information.By centering on the Discourse Information Theory(DIT)and incorporating the Schema Theory and other relevant findings,we develop an analytical framework for the analysis of questionings in interrogation.To guide the analysis,three research questions are proposed accordingly:(1)What are the inter-questioning features of prosecutors’ interrogation?(2)What are the intra-questioning features of prosecutors’ interrogation?(3)What are the strategies of questionings in prosecutors’ interrogation? In order to address these research questions,we establish a dataset of 20 criminal cases and adopt a qualitative research method.Through data analysis,it is found that,firstly,most questionings are formed at the second information level in the relation of parallel listing,while other questionings may present vertical embedment in the interrogation.When seeking information,prosecutors will introduce new information and dry up old information to generate questionings so as to control the interrogation process.The questionings in interrogation are linked through chronological and causal relationships.Secondly,questions stick to each other differently and serve various functions in a questioning.The series of WF information units and the combination of WF + WA information units in a chronological order are inclined to associate with each other in eliciting the factual discourse information.While the series of WY information units,the combination of WF+HW information units,and the combination of WF+WY+WB+WI information units in a logical order can help elicit the motivational discourse information.During interrogation,initial control and follow-up control of information will appear at different interrogation stages,where the various combinations of question types can facilitate the realization of prosecutors’ communicative objectives.Finally,through the sequencing of the information,amount of information disclosed,types of information selected,and change of information flow manners,prosecutors can flexibly control the interrogation process,thus effectively obtaining information.This study will hopefully enrich the application of information flow and information chunks in the DIT,thus broadening the scope of the theoretical applications of the DIT in legal discourse.It is also of value to enhance the interrogation practices by offering a different lens to the design of questions in interrogation and other legal contexts largely depending on it.In so doing,this study may facilitate the implementation of trial-centered reform and ultimately spur the fairness and justice of the judicial course in China.