Wordcrime
Solving Crime Through Forensic Linguistics
Published on 1. March 2009
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-1-84706-259-8 (ISBN)
Description
"Tell kids not to worry. sorting my life out. be in touch to get some things." Instead of being a text message from one partner to another, this text message turns out to be crucial and chilling evidence in convicting the deceptive killer of a mother of two. Sent from her phone, after her death, a few tell tale signs give him away to a forensic linguist. Rarely is a crime committed without there being some evidence in the form of language. The book includes the much-discussed dispute between the publishers of The Da Vinci Code and the author of Daughter of God where Dan Brown was accused of plagiarism and Olsson provided expert opinion. The case of Jenny Nicholl, so recently in the press, is also covered. There are a series of further chapters where gripping cases are described - involving murder, sexual assault, hate mail, suspicious death, code deciphering, arson and even genocide. Olsson describes the evidence he gave in each one. In approachable and clear prose, he details how forensic linguistics helps the law beat the criminals.
This is fascinating reading for anyone interested in true crime, in modern, cutting-edge criminology and also where the study of language meets the law.
This is fascinating reading for anyone interested in true crime, in modern, cutting-edge criminology and also where the study of language meets the law.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84706-259-8 (9781847062598)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Since 1996, John Olsson has operated a world-renowned forensic linguistics consultancy and training service at www.thetext.co.uk. He is an Adjunct Professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University where he teaches forensic linguistics online. He is also Visiting Professor of Forensic Linguistics at the International University of Novi Pazar in Serbia where he runs an annual summer school in Forensic Linguistics, and is a board member of the Language and Law Centre at the University of Zagreb where he is also a visiting Professor.
Content
Introduction; Part 1; 1. The barrel killer; 2. The bicycle murder; 3. Heroin smuggling into a prison; 4.Did the Da Vinci Code plagiarise the works of other authors?; 5. The Diary that told all; 6. The man with the baseball bat; 7. Reputable barrister or manipulative Svengali?; Part 2; 8. Murder or suicide?; 9. What happened to Jenny; 10. A case of medical disinformation; 11. Strategies for code: a prisoner's dilemma; 12. A genocide in Rwanda; 13. Death threats in the Tropics; 14. Fitted up by a 'professional': falsely accused; 15. On death row; Part 3; 16. Betrayed by a full stop; 17. A bland paedophile; 18. Prosecutor memo leads to abuse of process ruling; 19. Letters from Anonymous; 20. Return to sender; 21. Was it Ernie or Ronnie?; 22. The witness stated...but did he?; 23. People trafficking and the language of trauma.