A forensic stylistics investigation of suicide letters and suicide notes in Oshikoto and Oshana regions in Northern Namibia

Abstract

Crimes related to forgery and falsification of documents are committed for various reasons. The investigation of written documents such as contracts, wills and suicide messages for evidence is significant in today’s world. Since there seems to be no decline in both the crime and suicide rates in Namibia today, suicide messages must be investigated from a forensic linguistics perspective. The escalation of crime today birthed an assumption that if suicide letters and notes are only treated as such, suicide could be faked to obstruct the course of justice. As a forensic study on suicide letters and notes, the current study drew from the Codal Variation Theory by Andrea Nini (2012). Specifically, the study sought to determine the authenticity of suicide letters and notes through a lexical forensic analysis, describing the authors of suicide letters and notes in line with a syntactic forensic framework. The study also sought to evaluate the genuineness of suicide letters and notes through a discoursal forensic perspective. It adopted the exploratory research design, followed the quantitative research approach and drew from the principles of the interpretivist research paradigm. The study established that the language used in the examined suicide letters and notes contained lexical features connoting positive and negative emotions. It also observed ineptitudes in the use of the rules of well-formedness in grammar. The authors explained the motives for their suicides, made reference and directives to addressee/s. Three major recommendations were made: A forensic investigation of all purported suicide letters and notes for authenticity and genuineness should be conducted; Engagement between criminal investigation units and forensic linguists; and Forensic linguistics should be introduced as a discipline in universities in Namibia.