YOU PUNCHED HIM, DIDNT YOU - VERSIONS OF VIOLENCE IN ACCUSATORY INTERVIEWS

This paper explores the management in police-suspect interviews of acc usations of violent involvement. Eleven officially tape-recorded inter views between police and suspects were transcribed and analysed and a basic grammar of violent accusations was identified. Different ways in which accusations are warranted and contested are discussed and insta ntiated. It is suggested that the interview participants use two disco urses of violence: disorderly and justificatory. The paper explores th eir localized deployment and raises issues concerning their wider ideo logical implications.