Komter2002a

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Komter2002a
BibType ARTICLE
Key Komter2002a
Author(s) Martha L. Komter
Title The construction of records in Dutch police interrogations
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Institutional interaction, Police Interrogation, Interrogations
Publisher
Year 2002
Language
City
Month
Journal Information Design Journal
Volume 11
Number 2-3
Pages 201–213
URL Link
DOI 10.1075/idj.11.2.12kom
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Police records in the Netherlands should be written as much as possible in the suspects own words. However, they show a curious mix of legal phrases and colloquialisms. They are drawn up as first person monologues, which obscures the interactional nature of the interrogation. This article sheds light on the interrelations between the interrogation and the recording of it, showing how the interaction in the interrogation affects what is written down, and how the recording activities affect the interaction in the interrogation. Moreover, it illuminates some of the discrepancies between actual practice and the recommendations in police manuals. What appears to have a significant effect on the interrogation is the practice of contemporaneous typing of the records. The resulting question-answertyping format favors some interrogation and recording techniques over others. This may explain why it is often not the suspects own words that are recorded, but those of the interrogator.

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