Linguistic Evidence in Criminal Investigations
Keywords:
Forensic Linguistics, Linguistic Evidence, forensic linguistic expert, criminal investigation, conviction, acquittalAbstract
testThis study examines the role of linguistic evidence in criminal investigations within the framework of forensic linguistics. Incriminal proceedings, convictions often depend on the careful examination of material evidence, such as DNA profiling. Yet courts rarely rely on linguistic evidence as the primary basis for serious criminal convictions, although language may, in certain cases, constitute compelling evidence either against or in favour of a suspect. The study introduces forensic linguistics as a field of inquiry, outlines its emergence and scope, and then investigates the function of linguistic evidence in criminal investigations. It does so by discussing selected well-known criminal cases in which language analysis by forensic linguistic experts contributed significantly to conviction or acquittal. Particular attention is given to the widely known French case of the early 1990s involving the Moroccan immigrant Omar Raddad, who was convicted of murdering his employer, Ghislaine Marchal, partly on the basis of the linguistic evidence represented by the phrase Omar m’a tuer.
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