Forensic experts to examine text speak
Scientists want to identify patterns in text message styles
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Thursday, 10, Aug 2006 12:25
A new study has been launched in the UK to determine whether identifiable patterns can be drawn between the different languages and styles used in text messages, in an effort to aid forensic police investigations.
Scientists from the University of Leicester's forensic psychology department say that the analysis could help criminal investigations that involve text messages as case evidence.
They point to the 2002 murder case of Danielle Jones, where the 15-year-old's uncle, Stuart Campbell, was found guilty of murder after his text message-based alibi collapsed under scrutiny.
By examining the differences between both individuals' text message vocabularies and styles, forensic examiners found that text messages purportedly sent by Danielle deflecting blame away from Campbell had in fact been sent by the 44-year-old himself.
Campbell, from Grays, Essex, is currently serving a life sentence for his niece's murder, and the university's researchers are hopeful that their six-month study could lead to further successful court cases in the future.
Forensic linguist Tim Grant explained that the university is looking for volunteers so that he and colleague Kim Drake can examine individual and group behaviour among text messages.
"This piece of Leicester research will have important applications for forensic investigation - for example, in the past text messages have been used as an alibi to murder. Being able to say who wrote a particular text message sent from a particular phone has many potential forensic applications," he said.
Forensic authorship examinations usually involve letters and emails in disputed confessions or stalking cases, but Dr Grant believes this is the inaugural study to specifically investigate text messages.
The linguist commented: "As texting is both a relatively new mode of communication and a particularly informal way of using language, there is not a strong expectation that texters will follow linguistic conventions. This freedom therefore allows for significant individual differences in text messaging style, and this can be used to identify the text's authors.
"Specifically, the study will examine how one person's style is influenced by texts received from their friends," he added.