Master class in Forensic Linguistics: Analyzing threatening communications

Led by one of the world’s most experienced and sought-after forensic linguists, Professor Robert Leonard, Hofstra University, this master class focuses on threatening communications from a descriptive and applied perspective. The master class begins with an introduction to the current state-of-the-art on threats as a language crime, including recent results from the project Understanding Threats: Language and Genre, led by Associate professor Tanya Karoli Christensen, University of Copenhagen.
Based on authentic case material, participants will be given the opportunity to analyze direct and indirect threats and their language features as well as the authorship of anonymous messages in comparison with messages of known origin.
A basic understanding of linguistics is recommended, but is not a prerequisite.

Deadline for registration - May 6, 2019.

Contact: tkaroli@hum.ku.dk

Dr. Robert Leonard, Professor of Linguistics, heads the Graduate Program in Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics at Hofstra. He also directs the Institute for Forensic Linguistics, Threat Assessment and Strategic Analysis.
A Fulbright Fellow for his doctoral work at Columbia University, he has worked with the FBI and police, counter-terrorism, and intelligence agencies throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K., continental Europe, and Asia, as well as with many defence teams. Other clients include Apple, Inc., Facebook, New York State Police Protective Services Unit, and the Prime Minister of Canada. Leonard’s testimony was pivotal in investigating and prosecuting several high-profile cases, including death threats to judges and members of Congress, the JonBenet Ramsey murder, and the triple homicide of the Coleman family in Illinois.