When Language Becomes Evidence: verbal threats in Danish and Swedish criminal cases
Navn på bevillingshaver
Marie Bojsen-Møller
Titel
Teaching Associate Professor (Studielektor)
Institution
Linnaeus University, Sweden
Beløb
DKK 900,000
År
2024
Bevillingstype
Internationalisation Fellowships
Hvad?
Language evidence plays a crucial part in criminal trials, especially in cases concerning verbal threats, since threatening to harm someone can constitute a crime in itself. This project studies the documentation and citation techniques of such language evidence in Danish and Swedish threat cases: how the evidence is referred to in trials and written judgments, and the effect this has on verdicts.
Hvorfor?
Courts are often unaware of the impact their representation of language evidence has on the outcome of trials, sometimes with grave consequences for defendants or victims. Similarly to other kinds of forensic evidence, this specific type of language evidence undeniably calls for in-depth research in order to safeguard criminal justice and ensure continued trust in the unique Nordic legal system.
Hvordan?
This project takes a Forensic Linguistic approach to verbal threats used as legal evidence in 25 Danish and 25 Swedish criminal cases. Forensic Linguistics has specialized in applying the science of language studies (linguistics) to issues concerning the law, and my study focuses on how textual evidence 'travels' through and is reshaped within different court genres (trials and legal judgments).