Forensic transcription between bad practices and evidentiary fallacies

Analysis of an environmental wiretapping transcript

Authors

  • Franca Orletti Professore Ordinario Onorario di Glottologia e Linguistica – Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Università Roma Tre https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6925-7742
  • Iacopo Benevieri Camera Penale di Roma, Responsabile Commissione sulla Linguistica Giudiziaria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17469/O2110AISV000008

Keywords:

forensic transcription, scientific transcription, covert recordings, evidence, fair trial

Abstract

The paper arises from the scientific interaction of two different skills: that of a criminalist and that of a linguist, based on the awareness of the inseparable link between language and law. The data analysed consists of the transcription of an environmental interception of a conversation between two suspects, a woman and a man, not fully identified, both born and resident in the province of Rome. The aim of the work was to investigate how the lack of knowledge on the part of the judicial police officer of the main guidelines on forensic transcriptions, drawn up by the scientific community of reference, can lead to significant discrepancies between the intercepted speech and its transposition into written form.

Published

13-12-2023