A question for Jonas Weber
How can language help us convict criminals?
Jonas Weber is a professor of criminal law and criminology and explains what language analysis can do in criminal prosecution.
When investigating criminal offenses, law enforcement authorities work together with various disciplines. One of these is forensic linguistics. It is used when an unknown perpetrator has provided written or verbal messages – for example in threat letters, emails, chat messages or telephone calls. By analysing an individual text, it is possible to describe characteristics that are closely linked to language and writing skills.
These include the native language, level of education, writing experience and age. If there are already known suspects, a text comparison can provide clues as to whether a text could have been written by the same person. However, text analysis alone is not enough to prove guilt: the linguistic "fingerprint" does not (yet) have the accuracy of an actual fingerprint or a DNA profile
About the person
Jonas Weber
Jonas Weber is Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology. His areas of specialisation include penalties under criminal law, victims' rights, criminology, criminal procedure law and forensic science. He is also a part-time judge at the Basel-Stadt Court of Appeal.
Magazine uniFOKUS
Language
This article first appeared in uniFOKUS, the University of Bern print magazine. Four times a year, uniFOKUS focuses on one specialist area from different points of view. Current focus topic: Language.
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