How forensic linguistics can help fight international crime

Abstract

This research-based contribution has two goals: 1) to provide examples of both good and bad practice in evidence elicitation internationally and 2) to illustrate some of the areas in which forensic linguistic expertise can help fight international crime. The central focus is on how to communicate with suspect and reluctant witnesses and detect, avoid and resolve miscommunication in real-time, on the spot, in both monolingual and multilingual interactions. In order to demonstrate how to achieve this goal in practice, we will rely on authentic examples from policing contexts in both the UK and the US and exemplify the different factors that affect the amount and the quality of elicited evidence, including the questioning method, linguistic and cultural differences, and provision of language services. This enables us to empirically demonstrate how analyses of real-life data, such as police transcripts can inform training and improve practice. Finally, we will zoom in on some features of non-native English, the language of international crime, and illustrate how this knowledge can be applied in the analysis of communicative exchanges on the Darknet, resulting in investigative benefits as well as empirically enriched training courses for police forces globally.