Signs of Crime

191 Pages·2013·1.859 MB·English

by  Marcel Danesi

MarcelDanesi
SignsofCrime

Marcel Danesi
Signs of Crime
Introducing Forensic Semiotics
ISBN978-1-61451-552-4
e-ISBN978-1-61451-316-2
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following research assistants at the University of
Toronto for helping me gather the relevant information for this book and for
providing me with their own insights and astute observations: Stacy Costa,
Lydia Bojeczko, Sophia Chadwick, Stephanie Turenko, Mariana Bockarova,
Lorraine Bryers, Patrick Kelly, Christopher Mastropietro, and Siobhan Maclean.
I also wish to express my gratitude to the Principal of Victoria College, Angela
Esterhammer,forgivingmetheopportunitytodevelopanundergraduatecourse
inforensicsemioticsthatIteachatthecollegeandMaureenPeng,theAcademic
Administrator, for allowing me to set up a research center at the college
(Research in Forensic Semiotics) and for all her support and encouragement in
myendeavors.

Table of contents
Acknowledgments v
ListofFiguresandTables ix
Introduction 1
1 ForensicsandSemiotics 4
1.1 ForensicScience 5
1.2 Branches 11
1.3 Semiotics 14
1.4 ForensicSemiotics 25
2 SignsofDeception 30
2.1 LieDetection 31
2.2 TheFace,theEyes,andtheHead 39
2.3 BodyLanguage 43
2.4 First-OrderForensicSemiotics 49
3 SignsofIdentity 52
3.1 Prints 53
3.2 OtherTypesofEvidence 60
3.3 AnalyzingtheEvidence 64
3.4 InferringtheCriminal’sIdentity 68
4 TheLanguageofCrime 72
4.1 ForensicLinguistics 73
4.2 Handwriting,Content,andStyle 78
4.3 CriminalSpeech 89
4.4 MetaphorAnalysis 93
5 TheCriminalMind 98
5.1 ForensicPsychology 99
5.2 CriminalProfiling 104
5.3 InsidetheCriminalMind 105
5.4 TheSerialKiller 110
6 SymbolsandRitualsofCrime 119
6.1 CrimeSceneInvestigations 120
6.2 Symbolism 123
6.3 Ritual 129
6.4 ThinkingLikeSherlockHolmes 135
viii Tableofcontents
7 CriminalityandItsRepresentations 138
7.1 FictionalandRealCrime 139
7.2 CrimeontheScreen 144
7.3 TheSimulacrumEffect 148
7.4 ObjectivesofSecond-OrderForensicSemiotics 151
Conclusion 153
Glossary 155
References 165
Index 171
List of Figures and Tables
Figure1. Partsofafingerprint
Figure2. TheDNA
Figure3. Bloodspatteranalysis
Figure4. Elementsofthesemeion
Figure5. Saussure’sbinarymodelofthesign
Figure6. Peirceanmodelofthesign
Figure7. Thepolygraph
Figure8. Basicemotions
Figure9. Fingerprintpatterns
Figure10. CODIS
Figure11. Voiceprint
Figure12. SonofSamnote
Figure13. SonofSamletter
Figure14. Zodiacletter
Figure15. AcrypticmessagefromtheZodiac
Figure16. JonBenetRamseyransomnote
Figure17. AnotherSonofSamletter
Table1. ThecomponentsoftheAutonomicNervousSystem
Table2. Eyecontactpatterns
Table3. Personalitytypology
Table4. MetaphorAnalysis