Improving objectivity, balance and forensic fitness in LAAP
a response to Matras
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.39208Keywords:
laap, lado, bayes, forensic awareness, bias, hypothesis testingAbstract
This paper is a response to Yaron Matras’s article ‘Duly verified? Language analysis in UK asylum applications of Syrian refugees’. Matras evaluates 50 reports by the Stockholm-based agency Verified AB. He introduces his own approach, which he calls ‘inductive-dialectological’, and claims that it addresses many of the problems in Verified’s approach. We respond on a number of fronts. We interpret the role and duty of the expert performing language analysis in the asylum procedure as essentially the same as that of a forensic expert in criminal law. We argue that Matras’s approach fails to adhere to principles of sound forensic evidence, thereby risking biased conclusions. Furthermore, we contend that Matras’s view on the question to be addressed is not in line with the trier of fact’s requirements. We also consider the need for a fixed conclusion scale, the institutional demands driving casework and the large number of disparate conclusions among experts. We conclude with some advice to asylum courts and LAAP practitioners.
References
Anderson, C.A. and Sechler, E.S. (1986). Effects of explanation and counterexplanation on the development and use of social theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 50, no. 1: 24--34.
Association of Forensic Science Providers (2009) Standards for the formulation of evaluative forensic science expert opinion. Science and Justice 49(3): 161--164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2009.07.004
Babel, M. (2012). Evidence for phonetic and social selectivity in spontaneous phonetic imitation. Journal of Phonetics, 40(1), 177--189.
Broeders, A.P.A. (1999) Some observations on the use of probability scales in forensic identification. Forensic Linguistics 6(2): 228--241.
Broeders, A.P.A. (2010) Decision making in LADO – A view from the forensic arena. In K. Zwaan, M. Verrips and P. Muysken (eds) Language and Origin: the role of language in European asylum procedure: linguistic and legal perspectives. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, 51--60.
Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2010) The role of linguists and native speakers in language analysis for the determination of speaker origin. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 17(1): 67--93.
Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2012) Clarification of the issues in language analysis: a rejoinder to Fraser and Verrips. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 19(1): 95--108.
Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2014) State-of-the-art in language analysis: a response to the chapter on LADO in the Oxford Handbook of Language and Law. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 21(2): 371--381.
Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2016) Language analysis in the asylum procedure: a specification of the task in practice. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 23(1): 25--41.
Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2018) Language analysis in the asylum procedure: consider the context. In I.M. Nick (ed) Forensic Linguistics: Asylum-seekers, Refugees and Immigrants. Malaga: Vernon Press, 1--22.
CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] (2014) Expert evidence. https://www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/legal_guidance/expert_evidence_first_edition_2014.pdf
Dwyer, D. (2003). The duties of expert witnesses of fact and opinion: R v Clark (Sally). The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, 7(4), 264--269.
Edmond, G., Towler, A., Growns, B., Ribeiro, G., Found, B., White, D., Ballantyne, K., Searston, R.A., Thompson, M.B., Tangen, J.M., Kemp, R. I., and Martire, K. (2017) Thinking forensics: Cognitive science for forensic practitioners. Science & Justice 57(2): 144--154.
Evans, B.G., Iverson, P. 2007. Plasticity in speech production and perception: A study of accent change in young adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 121, 3814--3826.
Foulkes, P., French, P. & Wilson, K. (2018) LADO as forensic speaker profiling. In P. Patrick, M. Schmid, & K. Zwaan (eds.) Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin. Cham: Springer, pp. 91--116.
Fraser, H. (2018) The role of native speakers in LADO: are we missing a more important question? In P. Patrick, M. Schmid, & K. Zwaan (eds.) Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin. Cham: Springer, pp. 71--89.
Home Office (2018) Language analysis, version 21.0. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/685203/Language-analysis-AI-v21.0EXT.pdf
Horton, R. (2005). In defence of Roy Meadow. The Lancet, 366(9479), 3--5.
Hoskin, J.A. (2018) Native speaker non-linguists in LADO: an insider perspective. In I.M. Nick (ed) Forensic Linguistics: Asylum-seekers, Refugees and Immigrants. Malaga: Vernon Press, 23--40.
Lindh, J. (2010) Wording of conclusions and structure of LADO reports. Paper presented at Gothenburg Workshop on Language Analysis, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 22-23 November 2010.
Matras, Y. (2018) Duly verified? Language analysis in UK asylum applications of Syrian refugees. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 25(1): 53--78.
Ministry of Justice (2015) Criminal procedure rules, part 19: expert evidence. Crown Copyright. http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/2015/crim-proc-rules-2015-part-19.pdf
Moosmüller, M. (2010) IAFPA position on language analysis in asylum procedures. In K. Zwaan, M. Verrips and P. Muysken (eds) Language and Origin: the role of language in European asylum procedure: linguistic and legal perspectives. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, 43--47.
Morrison, G. S. (2011) The likelihood-ratio framework and forensic evidence in court: a response to R v T. The International Journal of Evidence & Proof 16: 1--29.
Nickerson, R. S. (1998) Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of General Psychology 2(2): 175--220.
NRGD [Nederlands Register Gerechtelijk Deskundigen] (2015) Gedragscode NRGD, version 2.0. https://nrgd.nl/binaries/Gedragscode%20gerechtelijk%20deskundigen_tcm39-88125.pdf
Patrick, P. (2012) Language analysis for determination of origin: objective evidence for refugee status determination. In P. Tiersma and L. Solan (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law. Oxford University Press, 533--546.
Patrick, P. (2018) Language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO): an introduction. In P. Patrick, M. Schmid, & K. Zwaan (eds.) Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin. Cham: Springer, pp. 1--17.
Prokofyeva, T. (2018) Linguistic origin identification in focus: theory and practice in LOID. In I.M. Nick (ed) Forensic Linguistics: Asylum-seekers, Refugees and Immigrants. Malaga: Vernon Press, 41--55.
Ruth, E.M. van and M.M.A. Smithuis (2018) On forensic science expertise. In P. Patrick, M. Schmid, & K. Zwaan (eds.) Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin. Cham: Springer, pp. 243--252.
UKAIT (2014) Practice Directions: Immigration and Asylum Chambers of the First Tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. London: Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/revised-pd-3112014.pdf
UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] (2011) Handbook and Guidelines on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, December 2011, HCR/1P/4/ENG/REV. 3, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f33c8d92.html [accessed 17 June 2019]
Verified (2012) LOID ̶ Method and Limitations. Retrieved from https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/metod-och-begrc3a4nsningar-loid-ho.pdf [accessed 17 June 2019]
Verrips, M. (2010) Language analysis and contra-expertise in the Dutch asylum procedure. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 17 (2): 279--294.
Case:
R –v–Slade, Baxter, Pearman & Hudson [2015] EWCA Crim 71. http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2015/71.html
