Why text messages could betray criminals
Psychologists from the University of Leicester in the UK are embarking on a study to investigate how analysing text messages could help to solve crimes. '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,' explained Dr Tim Grant, a forensic linguist at the University of Leicester. 'This freedom therefore allows for significant individual differences in text messaging style, and this can be used to identify the text's authors.' Differences in text message writing styles have already been used as evidence in a trial. In 2002, Stuart Campbell stood trial in the UK for the murder the previous year of his 15 year old niece, Danielle Jones. In an attempt to throw the police off his trail, he had sent himself two text messages from her phone after he had abducted her. An analysis of the language used in the text messages showed it to be different from the language Danielle usually used. Although forensic authorship analysis is a growing area of research, this will be the first study to focus specifically on mobile phone text messages. The researchers plan to recruit around 100 volunteers, who will each contribute ten text messages to the project. Project participants will also be asked to invite friends to join the project. In this way, the researchers will be able to study differences and similarities in texting style between individuals and between and within networks of people who know each other well. In theory, there should be more similarity in the language used within groups than between groups. 'No previous study has systematically studied the linguistic consistency and variation in individuals' texting style,' said Dr Grant. 'This will also be the first study to examine the influence of peer groups, upon writing style and texting language. Specifically, the study will examine how one person's style is influenced by texts received from their friends.'
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