What is it about?
Discourse Analysis is the decoding of language and identifies a range of issues in areas such as interviews, reports, memoranda etc. As a result of this research clear indications of police choosing to disbelieve a woman attempting to protect her very young children. It shows a significant interviewer bias which could mean judges are being misled in a court of law when they rely on biased interviews or studies.
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Why is it important?
Some people often complain that actions speak louder than words! However many of my studies indicate that language is the key to understanding and forming opinions.
Perspectives
I found that doing this study took a long time more than a year as it consisted of 49 pages of transcript...during this time it was clear that it had a harrowing effect on this research and led me to conclude that many children may be unprotected from interview or report bias. It is also clear to me that the judiciary could avail themselves of the original transcripts knowing that they could identify bias via discourse analysis support.
Dr Pamela D SCHULZ OAM
University of South Australia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Are Judges getting the Full Story through Court-ordered Reports and Investigations? A Critical Analysis of the Discourse of Disbelief in an Allegation of Child Sexual Abuse, Children Australia, September 2014, The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare,
DOI: 10.1017/cha.2014.16.
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