The emphasis on roles and ceremonies in the enactment of penal rituals prompted the popularity, especially in the 1970s, of a 'dramaturgical metaphor', in which the various participants such as judges, advocates, defendants, social workers and witnesses were seen as actors in a drama, except that, unlike in a theatrical performance, these courtroom actors could determine the outcome by their performance. Each had a script - the law, the facts of the case, their professional guidelines, their desire to be judged innocent - but their skill in delivering the lines, as well as pleasing appearance and demeanour, could change the ending.