Methodologies and Challenges in Forensic Linguistic Casework

Discover more about Forensic Linguistics, a fascinating cross-disciplinary field from an international team of renowned contributors

Methodologies and Challenges in Forensic Linguistic Casework provides an overview of the range of forensic linguistic casework typically found in investigative and judicial contexts. In these case studies, the authors demonstrate how linguistic theory is applied in real-life forensic situations and the constraints and challenges they have to deal with. Drawing on linguistic expertise from the USA and Europe involving casework in English, Spanish, Danish and Portuguese, our contributing practitioners exemplify the most common types of text analysis such as identifying faked texts, suspect profiling, analyzing texts whose authorship is questioned, and giving expert opinions on meaning and understanding.

Methodologies and Challenges in Forensic Linguistic Casework is designed for investigators and legal practitioners interested in the use of language analysis for investigative or evidentiary purposes, as well as for students and researchers wanting to understand how linguistic theory and analysis may be applied to solving real-life forensic problems using current best practice.

Isabel Picornell, PhD, is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, UK. She is a certified Fraud Examiner and runs a forensic linguistic consultancy. Her main research interest is authorship in deceptive contexts.

Ria Perkins, PhD, works as a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence, and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics in Birmingham, UK. Her casework specialty is authorship profiling, and her research interests include the language of persuasion and power, and Other Language Influence Detection (OLID).

Malcolm Coulthard, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Forensic Linguistics at Aston University, UK, where he founded the Centre for Forensic Linguistics. He was Foundation President of the International Association of Forensic Linguists and Founding Editor of theInternational Journal of Speech Language and the Law and Language and Law Linguaegem e Direito.

Series Preface viii

Acknowledgements x

About the Editors xi

1 Forensic Linguistic Casework 1
Isabel Picornell and Ria Perkins

Section 1

2 The Starbuck Case: Methods for Addressing Confirmation Bias in Forensic Authorship Analysis 13
Tim Grant and Jack Grieve

3 A Forensic Authorship Analysis of the Ayia Napa Rape Statement 29
Lisa Donlan and Andrea Nini

4 Linguistic Profiling: A Spanish Case Study 44
Sheila Queralt

5 Other Language Influence Detection: Profiling the Native Language of a Dark Web Pedophile 63
Ria Perkins

6 Forensic Plagiarism Detection and Analysis 77
Rui Sousa Silva

Section 2

7 Mourning the Slow Death of Miranda: California v. Ceja 95
Gerald R. McMenamin

8 Detecting Faked Texts 114
Isabel Picornell and Malcolm Coulthard

9 Joining ISIS? A Pragmatic Discourse Analysis of Chat Messages in a Counterterrorism Case 129
Tanya Karoli Christensen

10 "I Wanted to Leave A Long Time Ago": Casework in Suicide Letter Analysis: Methods Used and Lessons Learned 145
I. M. Nick

11 Casework in Forensic Linguistics: Looking Outward 162
Isabel Picornell

Index 170