Citation

Cromer JD, Brewster JA, Fogler K, Stoloff M. J. Police Crim. Psychol. 2019; 34(2): 156-164.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11896-018-9282-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Each year, numerous 911 calls reporting a homicide are received by emergency communications centers; a small percentage of the calls are made by the perpetrator. These calls are recorded at times of great stress and are the first versions of what the callers purport to know. A linguistic analysis of the 911 call can lead to the development of hypotheses regarding a caller's truthfulness, which can help to guide the initial investigative strategy. The present study examined 14 linguistic variables and an additional 4 mitigating variables in an effort to determine whether any of those variables, individually or in combination, were predictive of the guilt or innocence of the caller. A sample of 50 calls to 911 centers was examined. This study identified the presence of a variety of linguistic behaviors that were correlated with an ultimate finding of guilt or innocence.

Language: en

Keywords

911 call; Homicide investigation; Lie detection; Linguistic analysis; Statement analysis