The Language of Confession, Interrogation, and Deception

by Roger W. Shuy

From a linguistic perspective, this book is a practical explanation of how confessions work. Roger Shuy, author of the 1993 benchmark work, Language Crimes , examines criminal confessions, the interrogations that elicit confessions, and the deceptive language that plays a role in the actual confession. He presents transcripts from numerous interrogations and analyzes how language is used, how constitutional rights are not protected, and discusses consistency, truthfulness, suggestibility, and written and unvalidated confessions. He also provides specific advice about how to conduct interrogations that will yield credible evidence.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 24, 1997

Reviews

[Megan Hanning-Bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although reading this book was an assignment for one of my graduate courses, I appreciated how easily accessible Shuy makes forensic linguistics for the average lay person. This is imperative, as he notes many times that law should in fact be accessible to the every day person, and forensic linguists can aid in this by using easy-to-read language. Furthermore, many of the examples that Shuy gives that he worked on himself, represent the errors that happen within our judicial system today. My only negative comment is that at times it felt as if Shuy was whining when he did not get his way. Otherwise, a very fascinating read, especially if you are trying to break into the forensic linguistics field.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly it's not a bad book, just outdated. Only read the book because one of my classes required it to be read. I recommend if you have to read it, start it early. It is on the boring side.

[Ladyknightstar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Shuy dissects police interrogation procedures. Using his thorough and logical mind and linguistic method of analysis he takes apart various cases handled badly by the police and their dispatchers and exposes how and why our current systems work badly and often, unethically and even immorally, using deception. Furthermore, he makes many valid arguments showing how much of the criteria police have used and use is not just invalid, but dangerous. By ignoring different cultures and working on the assumption of one or two theories used in interrogation to get confession today, the wrong people are being arrested and convicted, while the perpetrators are going free.

[Sam Del Rosario · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up in a library because the title intrigued me. However, it is very outdated and the author is obviously some academic who made a living pointing out inconsistencies in police statements and reports. He is a bit pretentious which is blatantly obvious in his writing style, and biased towards police. Overall, I couldn't get passed his obnoxious criticism with his 20/20 hindsight. Overall, i do not recommend it unless you need to bolster your own biased opinions against police.