Do juries decide cases based on impermissible emotions? Can judges be educated to recognize and train their compassion, hostility, revulsion or fear toward various litigants or causes of action? Can emotions be barred from the legal arena?

     DePaul University College of Law professor Susan Bandes brings together the writings of scholars in the areas of law, theology, political science, the classics and philosophy to explore how feelings influence the law. "The Passions of Law," published by the New York University Press, is the first anthology to look at the role that emotions play and ought to play in the practice and conception of law and justice.

     "In the conventional story, emotion has a certain, narrowly defined place in law," said Bandes. "It is assigned to the criminal courts and confined to those without legal training, such as witnesses, the accused and the public. The essays in this volume tell a far more unruly, complex and emotional story about the place of emotions in the law."

     The book presents articles penned by noted contributors that examine a range of emotions and how they impact the judicial process. Some of the works include:

·    Exploring remorse and the desire for revenge, Austin Sarat, an Amherst College professor of jurisprudence and political science, uses the movie "Dead Man Walking" to provide an analysis of how popular culture influences emotion in the law in his essay "Remorse, Responsibility, and Criminal Punishment: An Analysis of Popular Culture."

·    Discussing the passion for justice, Richard A. Posner, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and a mediator in the Microsoft case, considers how emotions interact with the law in his essay, "Emotion versus Emotionalism in the Law."

     There is no question that the time is ripe to take a multi-faceted glimpse at emotion in the law. According to Bandes, one need only tap recent memory to find glaring examples of how these diverse entities intersect:

·    The Elian Gonzalez case: to what extent were state court rulings affected by "non legal" considerations such as patriotism, anti-Castro sentiment, pity and sympathy for a six-year-old boy who lost his mother?

·    The O.J. Simpson trial: the anger displayed by Ron Goldman's parents and the relevance of Simpson's history of rage and abuse toward Nicole became a part of the legal proceedings. Even public reactions to the verdict were fraught with emotion.

·    The Oklahoma City Bombings: there was testimony from parents whose children died and the entire courtroom, even hardened reporters, were sobbing and hugging. Even the judge wept.

     Bandes joined the law faculty at DePaul in 1984 and teaches federal courts, criminal procedure and law and literature. Before embarking on a teaching career, she was a civil rights attorney with both the Illinois State Appellate Defender and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

     In compiling "The Passions of Law," Bandes looks not simply to raise questions, but to find out how emotions like fear, cowardice, disgust, respect, revenge, remorse, shame, love, mercy and compassion impact the decision-making process of judges, lawyers, juries and clients. She also seeks to identify what emotions belong in which legal contexts.

     "The essays in this volume make it impossible to think of law as a solely cognitive, emotionless zone again," said Bandes. "They take the conversation about emotion far beyond easy platitudes about the desirability of compassion, mercy, and love or the dangers of vengeance and resentment. The questions, most of them, remain, but the sources available for addressing them are now far richer."