Forensic Studies

FORENSIC LINGUISTICS: APPLICATIONS
An intensive course that can either be taken for 3 graduate credits, or as a non-credit course with a certificate of completion. This course is co-taught by Robert A. Leonard, Director of the Forensic Linguistics Project, and James R. Fitzgerald, former FBI Supervisory Special Agent.

Also See:

• All Forensic Linguistics Courses
• Hofstra CSI Course on Newsday.com
• Video of Dr. Leonard talking about Forensic Linguistics on the Discovery Network
• Faculty Profiles: Dr. Robert Leonard

WHEN View Course Schedule INSTRUCTORS Robert A. Leonard and James R. Fitzgerald

WHERE
Hofstra University campus in Hempstead, Long Island, 25 miles east of New York City. Hofstra University’s unique Forensic Linguistics Project is a leader in forensic linguistic analysis.

ABOUT THE COURSE
A case-based approach to solving legal and law enforcement problems through linguistic analysis, focusing on these applications of Forensic Linguistics:

• Demographic Linguistic Profiles: Dialectology, sociolinguistics and linguistic variation analyses indicate a writer's regional and local geographic origin, education level, occupational training, gender, native language and other features discernable from the structure, phrasing, vocabulary, fluency, syntax, phonological representation, etc., of the critical communication.
• Authorship Analysis: Who is the possible author? Investigation and litigation support of identification conclusions. Identification of anonymous authors.
• Threat Level Analysis: State-of-the-art techniques, based on thousands of FBI cases, assess the probability of harm. When a threat is made, how should it be responded to? How likely is the threat to be carried out? How can the author be found? What are the overlaps between Threat Assessment and Forensic Linguistics?

The course introduces sociolinguistic variation as a crucial theoretical component of analysis and elucidates, through lecture, case study, and workshop, forensic linguistic responses to:

• Terror: Domestic and foreign terror campaigns.
• Threat Assessment: Threats to government, officials, workplace, schools, and private individuals.
• Criminal Communications: Extortion, ransom notes, criminal intelligence disinformation, intercepted communications.

This course will serve as a general overview of the field of Forensic Linguistics. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to assess which cases are appropriate for forensic linguistic analysis, explain the tools linguistics can bring to an investigation, and have learned through the workshops the principles of applying these tools to data from actual cases.

CASES
Case studies and class participation exercises are largely those worked by Fitzgerald or Leonard, which include the JonBenet Ramsey Case, UNABOM Case, National Football League Terrorism Threat Case, Philadelphia Bombing Case, Anthrax Case, Daniel Pearl Case, Barbie Doll Case, DC Sniper Case, UK School Bus Bombing Threat/Extortion Case, Hummert Murder Case.

Course Offerings
H2000	Forensic Linguistics: Applications
H2002	CSI: Case Studies in Forensic Linguistics

For registration information:
Please call Hofstra CE: (516) 463-7800

For more information on course content:
Please email: robert.leonard@hofstra.edu or jamesfitzgerald@netbusiness.com