NCJ Number
196892
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 71 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 8-13
Editor(s)
John E. Ott
Date Published
September 2002
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes the use of cultural analysis in investigating and analyzing threat communications.
Abstract
A discussion of the ways that cultural analysis is used as a tool to guide the investigation of threatening communications is described in this article. After discussing ways that members of cultural groups are socialized, receiving specific patterns of perception, meaning, and behavior, the author presents the language translation and cultural pattern criteria used in analyzing threatening documents. Arguing that Arab-English language writing contains certain, predictable grammar and spelling errors, the author explains how these errors can be used to ascertain if documents are written by native English speakers, pretending to be Arab terrorists, or if they are written by someone translating from Arabic to English. Highlighting Arabic cultural differences in writing, including a repetition of ideas, an emphasis on emotion, and the placement of thesis statements at the end of a paragraph, the author describes how cultural patterns are used to ascertain the identity of the author. This article maintains that cultural analyses made be used by law enforcement in order to assess written and verbal threats.