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Psycholinguistics Forensic Linguistics Pragmatics

The Power of a Question: How Linguistic Manipulation Shapes Police Confessions

Estimated read time 6 min read

A confession can seem like the most straightforward form of evidence, but the language used to obtain it is incredibly complex. Police interrogations are a masterclass in linguistic manipulation, where the very structure of a question can build a cage of guilt around a suspect. From questions that presuppose guilt to strategically vague promises, the language of the interrogation room can create a coercive environment that sometimes leads to the innocent saying “I did it.”