Book review: “I’m sorry for what I have done”: the language of courtroom apologies by M. Catherine Gruber

This book examines 52 apologetic allocutions produced during federal sentencing hearings, and analyses how words and phrases can influence judges and juries to be more lenient with sentencing. M. Catherine Gruber uses transcripts which include paralinguistic features such as hesitations and crying in order to analyse these interesting speech acts. Sarah Morley strongly recommends this fascinating book to readers in sociolinguistics and law.