The Language of Sexual Misconduct Cases

The Language of Sexual Misconduct Cases analyzes the many ways in which language plays a crucial role in sexual misconduct cases. Roger W. Shuy describes eleven court cases for which he served as an expert witness, and explains the issues at stake in each case for both lawyers and linguists. The book's attention is on aspects of sexual misconduct that have not previously received the attention they deserve, such as: the language evidence of sexual misconduct in the workplace; cases of adult-to-child sexual misconduct with the family; and adult-adult sexual misconduct cases. Shuy describes the often-used linguistic analytical tools that are available to both the prosecution and the defense, and argues that there is a particular sequence in which these tools should be used.

1. Introduction; 2. A brief overview of sexual misconduct law and prosecution; Section I Sexual misconduct in the workplace; 3. Fighting off a quid pro quo proposition; 4. A patient confuses her doctor; 5. The sheriff who didn't know what hit him; 6. Even senators get in trouble sometimes; Section II Sexual misconduct of an adult with a child; 7. One nightmare leads to another; 8. Big trouble at a birthday party; 9. Remembering sexual misconduct; 10. On climbing into the wrong bed; Section III Sexual misconduct of an adult with another adult; 11. A dinner date that went very wrong; 12. Unintended but still wanted sex; 13. A prostitution sting operation; Section IV Prosecution and defense tools; 14. Prosecutorial problems in gathering and analyzing evidence; 15. Using linguistic tools in sexual misconduct cases; References

Roger W. Shuy is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University and author of The Language of Perjury Cases, The Language of Defamation Cases, Linguistics in the Courtroom, and Creating Language Crimes.