Facts, norms and dispositions

Practical Uses of the Modal Verb Would in Police Interrogations

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5966294
AutoresDerek Edwards (0009-0004-1091-3011, Loughborough University, autor correspondente)
Ano2006
Volume8
Fascículo4
Páginas475-501
Data de publicação2006-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDiscourse Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1461-4456 • E-ISSN: 1461-7080
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1461445606064830
OpenAlexW2136691711
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas55
Referências citadas31

Two uses of the modal verb would in police interrogation are examined. First, suspects use it to claim a disposition to act in ways inconsistent with whatever offence they are accused of. Second, police officers use it in challenging the suspect’s testimony, asking why a witness would lie. Both uses deploy a form of practical inferential reasoning from norms to facts, in the face of disputed testimony. The value of would is that its semantics provide for a sense of back-dated predictability with regard to the actions in question. Further, although police officers provide minimal acknowledgement of suspects’ uses of the term, suspects tend to provide a response when police officers use it. This difference is explained by the different actions being done in each case - normative self assessments by suspects, and challenges by police officers - and their interactional and institutional relevance in and for police pursuit of factual testimony

Acknowledgement · Computer security · Criminology · Face value · Interrogation · Linguistics · Normative · Political science · Suspect · Verb · Witness · Computer Science · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Social Psychology