Constructing whiteness : identity and imagery in the legal battle of State of Florida v. Casey Anthony

Abstract

I use the articulations of whiteness narrated by the prosecution and defence, in the high-profile, capital murder trial of Casey Anthony, as the focal point from which to begin my analysis, by looking at how both victim and perpetrator statuses were ascribed to (the body of) Casey Anthony. In particular, I use the courtroom constructions of Casey Anthony to examine how the defendant was framed through discourses of whiteness and femaleness/femininity. These discourses were themselves subject to different interpretations and functions by both counsels in the two prominent texts describing the Anthony case: Presumed Guilty – Casey Anthony: The Inside Story by Jose Baez and Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton. Through close readings of these texts, which together form the data set for this thesis, I assess how one narrative upholds an assumed, hegemonic social norm concerning the un-criminalised status of white womanhood, while the other narrative serves to destabilise that norm by “trashing” Casey Anthony’s white, feminine identity.