Conclusion: Techniques of Affect and Adaptive Management

The original argument made in this book is that the courtroom in rape cases is not well understood representationally or in terms of a plane of organisation. Rather, our unique position is that the courtroom and barristers’ practices and views are best understood in terms of an affective assemblage and an intensive self-organising plane of composition. In conclusion, we contemplate what this reconceptualisation means for practitioners, legislators and policymakers. This involves revisiting and further expounding the practice of ‘techniques of affect’ and introducing the concept of ‘adaptive management’. We argue that the theoretical and speculative pragmatic approach adopted enables us to better inform legislators and policymakers of how practitioners really engage with policy initiatives and develop a common language for communicating with these three audiences in the avoidance of implementation gaps.