What is the
IAFL?
The International Association of Forensic
Linguists (IAFL) is an organization which primarily consists of linguists
whose work involves them in the law. Narrowly defined, this means linguistic
evidence in court (authorship attribution, disputed confessions etc.), but in
fact the association aims to bring together those working on any aspects of
language and the law (see the non-IAFL list on the Birmingham FL Home Page).
In addition to linguists, others, particularly members of the legal
profession, are also welcome to apply for membership.
Purpose & Aims
The purpose of the Association is to improve the administration of the
legal systems throughout the world by means of a better understanding of
the interaction between language and the law. More specifically, the
Association aims to promote:
The study
of the language of the law, including the language of legal documents
and the language of the courts, the police, and prisons;
The
alleviation of language-based inequality and disadvantage in the
legal system;
The
interchange of ideas and information between the legal and
linguistic communities;
Research
into the practice, improvement, and ethics of expert testimony and
the presentation of linguistic evidence, as well as legal interpreting
and translation;
Better
public understanding of the interaction between language and the law.
Further Aims
Further aims of the IAFL include:
furthering
the interests of linguists engaged in research on the
development and practice of forensic linguistics;
disseminating
knowledge about language analysis, and its forensic applications,
among legal and other relevant professionals around the world;
drawing
up a Code of Practice on matters such as giving evidence in
court, writing official reports etc;
collecting
a computer corpus of statements, confessions, suicide notes, police
language, etc., which could be used in comparative analysis of
disputed texts.
