Speaking Of Crime

by Solan, Lawrence

• ISBN13: 9780226767925
• ISBN10: 0226767922
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Why do so many people voluntarily consent to searches by have the police search their person or vehicle when they know that they are carrying contraband or evidence of illegal activity? Does everyone understand the Miranda warning? How well can people recognize a voice on tape? Can linguistic experts identify who wrote an anonymous threatening letter? Speaking of Crime answers these questions and examines the complex role of language within our criminal justice system. Lawrence M. Solan and Peter M. Tiersma compile numerous cases, ranging from the Lindbergh kidnapping to the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton to the JonBeneacute;t Ramsey case, that provide real-life examples of how language functions in arrests, investigations, interrogations, confessions, and trials. In a clear and accessible style, Solan and Tiersma show how recent advances in the study of language can aid in understanding how legal problems arise and how they might be solved. With compelling discussions current issues and controversies, this book is a provocative state-of-the-art survey that will be of enormous value to legal scholars and professionals throughout the criminal justice system.

Author Biography

Lawrence M. Solan is professor at Brooklyn Law School. Peter M. Tiersma is professor at Loyola University Law School. They are the authors, respectively, of The Language of Judges and Legal Language, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

A Good Time to Study the Language of Criminal Justice

Language and the Criminal Law

The Language of Police and Suspects

Linguistic Evidence Crimes of Language Some Goals and Limitations

Linguistics in the Law

The Subsystems of Language

Word Meaning: Two Ways of Thinking Discourse and Inferences from Context

Linguistics in the Courts

Linguistics and the Admissibility of Expert Evidence in American Courts

Gathering the Evidence

"Consensual" Searches

The Bustamonte Case

Requests versus Commands

Consenting Racial Profiling

Conclusion

Interrogation, Confession, and the Right to Counsel Invoking the Right to Counsel

The Meaning of "Interrogation"Interrogation and the Problem of False Confessions

Conclusion

Understanding Miranda

The Rise of Miranda

Reading Rights

Suspects with Low Intelligence or Mental Problems Juveniles

Suspects Whose Native Language Is Not English Deaf Defendants

How Can Comprehension Be Improved?

Conclusion

Linguistic Evidence in Court

Exact Words

Forget about It: Human Memory for Verbatim Speech

The Legal System's Response: Substance Is Good Enough

Jailhouse Informants

Language Crimes without the Language

Conclusion

Who Said That?

Legal Standards for Identifying Speakers

Voice Recognition Research and the Reliability of Identifications

Expert Speaker Identification

Conclusion

Who Wrote That?

Hauptmannand the Document Examiners

Leaving It to the Jury

The Return of the Experts?

Some Promise for an Improved Science of Authorship Attribution

Some Easier Cases

Conclusion

Crimes of Language

Solicitation, Conspiracy, Bribery

Solicitation

Conspiracy Bribery

Threats

What Constitutes a Threat?

Indirect and Ambiguous Threats

Political Hyperbole

Conclusion

Perjury

The Bronston Case

Did Clinton Lie?

Perjury and Lying Conclusion

Where Do We Go from Here?

Law Enforcement

Legislatures and the Executive Branch

Courts Attorneys

Linguists, Psychologists, and Other Scholars

Notes

Index

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