“Did They Really Say That?” The Women of Wenatchee: Vulnerability, Confessions, and Linguistic Analysis

This article analyzes the vulnerabilities of certain women in custodial interrogations in the United States through legal, linguistic, and discourse analysis. At special risk are the impoverished or working class, the ill educated or illiterate, those with disabilities, or those who are nonnative speakers of English. Placing custodial interrogation into its U.S. legal setting, the study examines linguistic and discourse aspects of Miranda-related decisions and confessions. Drawing on data from the 1990s “Wenatchee Sex Ring” investigation and trials, the study examines the language of four women arrested and prosecuted in the Wenatchee cases. The analysis addresses discourse-level aspects of the data, including topic management and threats during the interrogation; the production of narratives as well as statements of location, result, and duration; and the sexual language used in the confessions. The article concludes that discourse analysis may provide an additional check on rogue interrogations of vulnerable people and once again calls for consistent recording of custodial interrogations in the United States.