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Applied linguistics and language use SOME FACTORS IN FORENSIC LINGUISTICS

المؤلف:  Alan Davies

المصدر:  An Introduction to Applied Linguistics

الجزء والصفحة:  P102-C5

2026-07-28

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Applied linguistics and language use

SOME FACTORS IN FORENSIC LINGUISTICS

Forensic linguistics has been defined as the stylistic analysis of statements made to the police by those accused of criminal activity.

Example 1

In 1991 two applied linguists were invited to act as expert witnesses in the Country Court of Victoria in Australia in a case involving an accused person of non-English-speaking background who had been charged with assaulting a police officer (Jensen 1991). At a preliminary hearing the counsel for the defense attempted to establish that the accused should have had the assistance of an interpreter at the time of his arrest and police interview. The police record of interview contained a detailed confession of guilt, and was thus a key item of evidence in the case for the prosecution. If this item of evidence could be shown to have been unfairly obtained (and separately, obtained under duress) it would be excluded from evidence before the jury and result in the accused being acquitted. This in fact is what happened.