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JUDICIARY POLICE SYSTEM OF GENRES: A GENRE ANALYSIS OF
POLICE REPORT ON LANGUAGE CRIMES AGAINST HONOUR
(CALÚNIA, DIFAMAÇÃO AND INJÚRIA)1
Marcos Rogério Ribeiro2
INTRODUCTION
The activity of the Judiciary Police is perhaps the one in which writing abilities are
most practiced. The main working tool for police officers is not fire guns, but discourse, since
it is through oral and written communication that people get arrested and released, among
other performative acts. Besides that, it is through the power of discourse that the fate of a
criminal can be decided, instead of physical power.
Most crime evidences gathered by the Judiciary Police in the Brazilian penal system
are turned into written documents that form a police investigation procedure called inquérito
policial and termo circunstanciado (for minor crimes3), whose aim is to launch a criminal
investigation in order to identify perpetrators and thus complete the first stage of state
prosecution4. The second stage is at the court, when the prosecutor attorney5, usually based on
the inquérito policial or termo circunstanciado, will accuse, or not, the defendant in a
posterior criminal suit.
Thus, the formal police procedure comprises a myriad of written texts that
linguistically represent the acts performed by police officers, such as the following: 1) Police
Report, through this report the police is informed about the occurrence of a crime or of other
non-criminal facts); 2) Crime Scene Report, issued by the police with a description of the
crime scene; 3) Investigation Report, it is a report on partial or complete investigations
carried out by policemen; 4) Victims, witnesses and suspects interviews, the written version
of police interrogation and hearings; 5) Requests to court, forensic experts, and other
1
Graduation final paper under the advisory of Dr. Desirée Motta Roth, Professor of English and Applied
Linguistics at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS, Brasil.
2
BA in English Language and Literature, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS, Brasil.
3
Crimes whose punishment is less than or equal to two years in prison.
4
For crimes committed by adolescents (from 13 to 17 years old) there is another procedure called relatório de
investigação.
5
The prosecutor attorney is the public official who charges somebody officially with a crime and prosecutes
them in a court of law, i. e., the prosecutor attorney leads the case against a defendant in a court of law.
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agencies, written requests - made by the police to court or other agencies - for, e. g., search
warrant, expert report, etc; 6) Phone dialogue transcriptions, wiretapping transcription made
by the police; 7) Investigation final report, written by the police chief at the end of the
inquérito policial procedure.
Among the genres listed above, one of the main and most common ones produced by
the police, not only in Brazil, but throughout the world, is perhaps the police report
(henceforth PR)6, a genre whose communicative function is to inform the state agency
(police) about the occurrence of a crime (a violation of the law) and, if identified, about its
perpetrator or suspect. After this information is obtained, the police investigation is started.
Usually the procedure is the following: the victim of a crime (theft, burglary, larceny,
language crimes, etc.) goes to a police station and reports the detailed facts to a police officer,
who gathers from the victim all his/her personal information or simply the identity card
number to access the data bank of the police for retrieving the existing personal data of the
victim then the police officer access the police computer network to start typing the PR.
After hearing the so-called victim about the facts, their detailed circumstances,
possible evidences, witnesses and suspects, the police officer writes a narrative from what is
reported, whose length is generally no more than two pages. However, people in Brazil often
go to a police station and report facts which are not considered crime or misdemeanor, such as
car crashes without injuries, document loss, breach of contract, etc., and get a copy of the PR
as an evidence for private purposes, such as obtaining new documents, insurance reparations
or for civil actions. There are other less common ways of reporting facts to the police, such as
through the internet and telephone, through formal petition, etc., but in any case, based on
them, a PR is produced (see, on the next page, Figure 1 for a sample of a PR).
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This statement is a hypothesis based only on empirical observation derived from my professional practice, not
on previous studies.
3
Figure 1 – Sample of a PR.
In the context of police practices, texts are thus of central importance in structuring the
activity system of the police institution. This paper aims at exploring this universe through the
analysis of PRs from the theoretical perspective of an area of study of occupational or
professional communication called Language for Specific Purposes. In the field of language
teaching, Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) can offer the analytical tools for looking at
the PR as a genre.
Therefore, regarding the PR as a genre part of English for Occupational Purposes,
which in turn belongs to the field of English for Specific Purposes (comprised by LSP), this
research can help students of police academies to better understand and produce the PR genre.
For this same reason, it would be useful for language course students in general, since it is a
genre many people probably have already met as a personal experience in a police station.
Furthermore, we can unveil a lot about how policemen represent crime linguistically7. From a
wider perspective, it can also provide a broader understanding of crime reports and the way
language can be used in this legal context.
This study also aims at carrying out a genre analysis of the PR, revealing its generic
structure, moves and corresponding functions based on the work of John Swales in genre
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Motta-Roth, personal communication, 13-05-2010.
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analysis and Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective on contextual variables (HASAN,
1989).
As specific objectives, this paper aims at revealing the nature of the social practice of
the genre and who are the participants of this social practice and the possible relationships
among them, as well as their roles and statuses. We will try also to identify the PR genre
component patterns and the main communicative purposes of social activities revealed by
them. Finally, we will describe the role played by language through its symbolic organization,
its status and its function in the context.
1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Legal principles
Crimes against honour are described in Chapter V of the Brazilian Penal Code, in
articles 138, 139 and 140. Below I will present the basic legal classification of the three
crimes and their punishment and then I will briefly comment them on their primary
configuration.
In article 138, CALÚNIA: to calumniate somebody by falsely charging them with a
fact defined as crime.
Punishment: six months to two years of detention and fine.
In article 139, DIFAMAÇÃO: to defame somebody by charging them with an
offensive fact against their reputation.
Punishment: three months to one year of detention and fine.
In article 140, INJÚRIA: to insult somebody by offending their dignity or decorum.
Punishment: one month to six months of detention or fine.
/…/
§ 3rd: if the Injúria consists of using elements concerning race, colour, age, ethnicity,
religion, origin or condition of physical impairment.
Punishment: one year to three years of reclusion and fine8.
The aforementioned crimes describe human behaviors established in chapter V of the
Brazilian criminal code, related to the protection of honour.
Although they are in the same chapter and have a common character, they have some
basic differences. On one hand, both Calúnia and Difamação refer to charging with a fact (so
it must be a defined fact) against the objective honor of the victim, i. e., the reputation, the
8
Brazilian Penal Code, available at <http://www.planalto.gov.br/CCIVIL/Decreto-Lei/Del2848.htm>. Accessed
on July 19, 2010.
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image of a person held by others. On the other hand, Injúria does not refer to a fact, but to an
opinion about the victim expressed by the offender against the subjective honor of the
victim, i. e., the feeling each person has about her own dignity or decorum.
There is another main difference between Calúnia and Difamação: although both
have a fact as a requirement, only in the first this offensive fact is defined as a crime
(DELMANTO, 1982, p. 25) and has to be false. For example: if the agent insults somebody
generically by saying: ‘You are a thief’, it is considered Injúria, but if the agent falsely says ‘It
was Paul who stole my purse yesterday in the office’, it is classified as Calúnia, since it is a
defined fact considered crime. Note that the fact needs also to be false, because if Paul really
had stolen the purse in the example above, the fact would have been true and the agent
behaviour could not be considered a crime of Calúnia. On the other hand, in relation to
Difamação and Injúria, both are considered crime even if the offensive charge is true. Thus, if
the agent says ‘You are incompetent, a slut, bitch, gay, nigger, etc.’, it is classified as Injúria.
But if the agent says: ‘Mary has been betraying her husband every Monday when he is not
home’, it is a fact, but not criminal, since adultery is not crime in Brazil, so this insult can be
classified as Difamação.
Besides the objective element (the actions of charging, falsely charging, offending),
all the three crimes require a subjective element to be classified as criminal behavior which is
the intention of insulting (dolus), that is, the free and conscious will of offending somebody.
Finally, the punishment is aggravated if the Injúria is committed through using elements
concerning race, colour ethnicity, religion, origin or condition of aged or impaired person.
1.2 Linguistic principles
This section will briefly present the main linguistic theories on which this paper will
rely: the notion of genre and move, systemic functional grammar and Language for Specific
Purposes (LSP), which encompasses English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) in which field
the PR can be included.
For Swales (1990 apud AL-ALI, 2005, p. 10), genre is ‘a class of communicative
events, the members of which share some sets of communicative purposes’. On the other
hand, from this assertion one can argue that the PR genre presents a schematic structure
resulting from social practices and conventions.
According to Al-Ali (Ibidem, p. 10), researchers such as Martin (1985), Miller (1984),
Swales (1990) and Ventola (1987, 1989), among other relevant authors, define genre
as a social action, goal oriented and cultural activity consisting of a sequence of
moves. Each move has a minor function in the global communicative goal
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embedded in the genre. These moves are merely the realization of a particular
social interaction (Ibidem, p. 11).
Move is ‘a text segment made up of a bundle of linguistic features which give the
segment a uniform orientation and signal the content of discourse in it’ (NWOGU, 1997, p.
122 apud AL-ALI, 2005, p. 11). Thus, bearing these concepts in mind, I will build the
sequence of moves of the PR, considering the linguistic features that delimit each piece of
information with its specific social interaction and constituting each one a function in the
whole communicative goal of the PR genre.
In the analysis, I will also adopt the theoretical framework developed by Halliday
(1989) called Systemic-Functional Grammar, according to which we can find on the linguistic
level of genre three metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. According to
Hasan (1989), these three metafunctions constitute the Generic Structure Potential (GSP).
Firstly, the ideational meaning “refers to what is going on in the world, what is being
represented [through the transitivity system: process, participant and circumstances]”
(RAVELLI, 2000, p. 35). This is so because instead of simply describing the verb and its
complement, as in traditional grammar, the Systemic Functional Grammar regards the
transitivity as a system for describing the whole clause whose components are Process,
Participant and Circumstances. The Process is usually realized in the clause by a verbal group.
The participant is normally realized by a nominal group, usually Subject, but can be also a
Complement. Finally, the Circumstances, frequently optional in clauses, are normally realized
by adverbial groups or prepositional phrases (THOMPSON, 2004, p. 87-89).
According to Halliday and Matthiessen (p. 248, 2004), since they occur in the majority
of all clauses in a text, the three main processes types in the English language clauses are the
Material (they represent the physical world usually through the process of doing and
happening), Mental (they represent the world of consciousness usually through the process of
sensing) and Relational (they represent the world of abstract relations usually through the
process of being and having). However, there are another three subsidiaries processes types,
each one of which situated among the boundaries of the main verbal processes: 1)
Behavioral: placed at the boundary between Material and Mental, they represent the process
of behaving (typically human physiological and psychological behaviour); 2) Verbal: placed
at the boundary between Mental and Relational, they represent the process of saying); e 3)
Existential: placed at the boundary between Relational and Material, they represent the
process of existing.
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Below, from charts 1 to 6, we can see some major examples of the clause components
and the six process types.
Chart 1: MATERIAL
Participant:
Actor
Process: Material
Participant: Goal
Circumstance: Place
A car
crashed into
a house
in Palm Bay.
Chart 2: MENTAL
Participant:
Senser
Process: Mental
Participant: Phenomenon
Circumstance
He
enjoyed
her company.
-
Participant:
Token
Martin Luther
King
Chart 3: RELATIONAL
Process: Relational:
Participant: Value
Identifying
Circumstance
an American pastor and civil
rights activist.
was
-
Chart 4: BEHAVIOURAL
Participant:
Behaver
Process:
Behavioural
Participant:
Range
Circumstance
Paul
Gave
a deep sigh.
-
Participant:
Sayer
He
There
Chart 5: VERBAL
Process:
Participant:
Verbal
Receiver
told
me
Chart 6: EXISTENCIAL
Process:
Participant:
Existential
Existent
will be
an answer
Participant:
Verbiage
a secret.
Circumstance:
Time
in the near future.
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Secondly, through the interpersonal meaning, the language constructs and conveys
some kind of interpersonal relationship in terms of giving and demanding goods and services
or information which is realized through the speech functions (offer, statement, command,
question) and the grammatical mood (modulated interrogative, declarative, imperative,
interrogative) (RAVELLI, 2000, p. 44-45). At this point, for a subsequent analysis of the
interpersonal metafunction, it is relevant to comment on the notion of grammatical metaphor.
It is a sort of “disjunction between meanings and wordings, between the semantics and lexicogrammar” (Thompson, 2004, p. 219) that can be found when we analyze texts and face
difficulties in classifying and label certain wordings.
The grammatical metaphor is also known as the “possibility of re-setting the
relationships between meanings and wordings, which is a central resource for expanding the
meaning potential of language” (Ibidem, p. 220). We can do that by expressing the meaning
in a metaphorical way and conversely in a congruent way, “to describe the way in which
the reworded version expresses the meaning” (Ibidem, p. 221). So, in broad terms, there can
be congruent and incongruent (metaphorical) wordings of a meaning. Thompson (2004)
divides grammatical metaphor into three categories: experiential and logical, textual and
interpersonal.
Firstly, the Experiential and Logical metaphors usually occur when the “transitivity
analysis does not seem to reflect adequately the state of affairs being referred to” (Ibidem, p.
224). One of the main ways to create a metaphor is through nominalization, that is, through
the use of a nominal form to express a process meaning; this nominal form is derived from a
verbal form, so that the process component is transformed into a participant component of the
clause.
Ex.: These ideas have been subject to widespread criticism. (metaphorical wording)
Many people have criticized these ideas. (congruent wording)
Secondly, the Textual metaphor occurs with thematic equatives and predicated
themes in clauses such as: What you need to do is to write me a letter [you need to write me a
letter], and It is not the technology which is wrong [the technology is not wrong]. In these
examples the first messages express the meaning in a metaphorical (incongruent) way,
whereas the second messages - in square brackets - express it in a congruent way; It is worth
to mention that Thompson argues that the presence of metaphor is generally recognizable by
the need for a double transitivity analysis: “one of the original wording and the other of a
more congruent rewording” (Ibidem, p. 235). In this sense, he also sees a double analysis of
textual metafunction in relation to thematic equatives and predicated themes, wherefore he
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regards the textual metaphor as a category of grammatical metaphor, even though Halliday
and Matthiessen does not include it in their studies of grammatical metaphor.
Finally, the Interpersonal metaphor is generally identified in the expression of Mood
meanings and occurs when the Mood choices and speech roles do not match. For example, we
expect that questions are typically realized through the interrogative Mood. However, they
can be instantiated through declarative Mood, as in:
And he’s been back with this girl since he’s been with Gertrude? Yes. (Ibidem, p. 231)
We can also find interpersonal metaphors with the use of Modality, which is “the
expression of the speaker´s attitude towards the likelihood or necessity of the proposition,
[…] congruently realized by modal verbs” (Ibidem, p. 232). This kind of metaphor is divided
into three categories, in which the modal meanings (speaker’s attitude) are experientialized, as
if they were expressing transitivity type meanings. The first one is the Explicit subjective
modality, a kind of metaphor in which the modality is expressed in a separate clause, instead
of being congruently realized by modal verbs. Usually, this modal clause “takes the form of a
mental process with “I” as Senser, projecting the other clause.” (Ibidem, 232).
Ex.: I think Mrs. Taylor would like a drink. (metaphorical wording)
Probably Mrs. Taylor would like a drink. (congruent wording)
(Ibidem, p. 233)
The second one is the Explicit objective modality, a kind of metaphor in which “the
proposition is packaged as a fact and the speaker’s modal assessment of it is treated as if it
were an attribute of the fact” (Ibidem, p. 233).
Ex.: It seems possible that the ageing process might be cured through medical means.
(metaphorical wording)
Perhaps the ageing process might be cured through medical means. (congruent wording)
(Ibidem, p. 233)
The last one is the Implicit objective modality, a sort of metaphor in which “the
modality is more integrated into the clause.” (Ibidem, p. 233).
Ex.: You’re unlikely to be attracted to nursing because of the money. (metaphorical
wording)
You probably won’t be attracted to nursing because of the money. (congruent
wording)
Thompson presents many other examples of the three metaphors approached so far
and also discusses about another type of metaphor with modality, expressed through
nominalization, as well as about the self-projection as a form of interpersonal grammatical
metaphor, expressed through what he calls interpersonal annotating clause. (Ibidem, p.
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235). However, due to the space limitations of this paper, the brief overview presented above
is enough to ground later transitivity analysis.
Finally, the textual meaning refers to the organization of the message: how is language
used to carry the message? Concerned with the analysis of theme and rheme, this
metafunction is relevant to detect the preferential patterns in terms of thematic position,
cohesion and coherence, because ‘there are choices available in terms of how to organize our
language: which part of the message to foreground, which to background, which part to signal
as being of most interest’ (Ibidem, p. 51).
The GSP, that comprises the aforementioned metafunctions, is the linguistic
realization of the context of situation (tenor, field and mode) and is associated with the
context of culture which corresponds to the extra-linguistic levels of genre. The concepts of
field, tenor and mode (context variables), as features of the context of situation (CS), ‘serve to
interpret the social context of a text, the environment in which meanings are being exchanged’
(HALLIDAY; HASAN, 1989, p. 12), as follows: the field of discourse refers to what is
happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking place; the tenor of discourse refers
to who is taking part, to the nature of the participants, their statuses and roles; and the mode
of discourse refers to what part language is playing, what it is that the participants are
expecting the language to do for them in that situation (Ibidem, p. 12). The relationship
between CS and GSP can be summarized in the chart 7.
Chart 7: Relationship between Context of Situation and Generic Structures Potential
Based on Halliday and Hasan (1989, p. 12 and 26) and on Motta Roth and Heberle
(2005, p. 16-17)
CONTEXT OF SITUATION
GENERIC STRUCTURES POTENTIAL
CONTEXT VARIABLES
LINGUISTIC METAFUNCTIONS
Field of discourse: what is happening in Ideational meaning: what is going on in the
the social action.
world (transitivity system: process, participant
and circumstances).
Tenor of discourse: who is taking part in Interpersonal
meaning:
interpersonal
the social action.
relationship (giving and demanding goods and
services or information through speech
functions and grammatical mood).
Mode of discourse: what part language is Textual meaning: how is language used to
playing.
carry the message (theme, rheme, coherence,
cohesion).
These theoretical principles will be used for the analysis of the transitivity (ideational
metafunction) and the roles of social actors (interpersonal metafunction), situating the genre
within the wider context of situation and culture.
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In the domain of language teaching, Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) is a branch
of Applied Linguistics that comprehends the study, learning and teaching of how language is
used to perform specific tasks in occupational contexts (VIAN JR., 1999, p. 439). LSP can
borrow its definition from the widespread meaning of English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Strevens’ (1988) broad definition of ESP, reformulated ten years later by Dudley-Evans and
St. John’s (1998), highlights ESP absolute and variable characteristics, as follows:
Absolute Characteristics
¾
ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learner;
¾
ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline
it serves;
¾
ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, register) skills, discourse
and genres appropriate to these activities.
Variable Characteristics
¾
ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;
¾
ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from
that of General English;
¾
ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level
institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be used for learners
at secondary school level;
¾
ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;
¾
Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but
it can be used with beginners (DUDLEY-EVANS; ST. JOHN’S, 1998, p. 4-5).
Beyond the teaching dimension of ESP, there is also a highly active part of ESP
community who concentrates on discourse analysis, of which this paper is an example. This
type of analysis can offer valuable information for ESP course designers in police contexts.
ESP is commonly subdivided into EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and EOP
(English for Occupational Purposes). The first is designed for training students, usually in
a higher education setting, to use language appropriately for study and research purpose. The
latter deals with the so-called Professional and Vocational English, which are designed for
learners in a professional work situation, where the study of PR genre could be included.
2. METHODOLOGY
In the present study of the PR genre, a genre analysis will be carried out for the
mapping of generic structure and moves with their respective communicative functions. For
the genre structure analysis, I will basically consider three broad analytical categories: 1)
linguistic; 2) intuitive and 3) typographic (HENDGES, 2008, p. 115). The linguistic
categories are those clues that can be found in verbal language, such as key-words, explicit
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lexemes (i. e., words that explicitly signal the type of information is being presented: the
objective of this paper is …, the results show…), verbal tenses, modal verbs. The intuitive
categories are those related to the researcher perception and inferences derived from his/her
experience in textual analysis and familiarity with the genre under analysis, i. e., his/her
previous knowledge as a member of the historic, cultural and social context of the analyzed
genre. In this case, my own personal experience as police officer will be quite relevant. The
typographic categories are the non-verbal language elements, such as space and division
in text. Besides these three categories, I will also take into account, contextual information
regarding the PR obtained from my informal conversation and casual interviews with police
officers from the Police Station of Itaara city, next to Santa Maria, central region of Rio
Grande do Sul State, my workplace. This study will also try to reveal possible socio-cultural
rules and beliefs underlying the text linguistic patterns. For this purpose, I will use Halliday’s
Systemic-Functional Grammar as a tool of analysis and its ideational, interpersonal and
textual functions in connection with the three aspects used to describe the context of situation,
namely the field of discourse, the tenor of discourse, and mode of discourse (HALLIDAY;
HASAN, 1989, p.12). Each one in turn will be described in topics based on the samples of the
corpus that will exemplify and serve as basis for the comments and discussion.
This preliminary study does not intend to be exhaustive, but it might be helpful not
only for further deeper research, but also for revealing the formal and content schema
(SWALES, 1990 apud AL-ALI, 2005, p. 6) of police reports as well as some of the features of
this professional genre. To reach this aim, 60 PRs on three types of crimes against honour
(Calúnia, Difamação and Injúria) were randomly collected in the Police Station in Itaara city,
from 2006 to 2009. Because I am police chief (Delegado de Polícia) in the police station in
Itaara and have access to PR files as part of my professional duties, I opted for studying these
PRs. The choice for crimes against honour report is due to the fact they are among the crimes
committed through the use of language, and are called language crimes, i. e., a linguistic
behavior that becomes a target of legal action (GIBBONS, apud FUZER, 2007, p. 400).
The 60 PRs were digitalized and, for legal reasons, the names of persons involved
were erased. For each PR, identified by its original number, a table for SFG analysis was
designed in order to identify the linguistic patterns and to enable an overview of the main
linguistic features and recurrences to ground a subsequent interpretation.
Moreover, a move structure analysis was carried out to describe the component moves
of this genre and to interpret ‘why and how each component was employed to construct [the
PR] text as it is’ (AL-ALI, 2006, p. 710). Thus, in order to convey the analysis, I will try to
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answer the following questions adapted from HALLIDAY; HASAN (1989, p.12) and
MOTTA-ROTH; HEBERLE (2007, p. 15):
1) What is the nature of the social practice of the genre?
2) Who are the participants of this social practice and what relationships are there
among them, their roles and statuses?
3) What component patterns can be identified in the PR genre and which main
communicative purposes of social activities are revealed by the building
components?
4) What is the role played by language through its symbolic organization, its status
and its function in the context?
3. RESULTS
3.1 Contextual configuration
The context of situation with its context variables is best approached through an
overview of the genre as a whole, instead of a particular/detailed analysis of each move in
separate, since the overview is more useful for comprehension and for answering the issues
proposed in the methodology section.
3.1.1 The nature of social practice (field)
As I have already mentioned in the Introduction, the PR is a genre generally designed
to inform the police about the occurrence of a crime (a violation of the law) and, if identified,
about its perpetrator or suspect. However, people can often go to a police station and report
facts which are not considered crime or misdemeanor10, such as car crashes without injuries,
document loss, breach of contract, etc., and get a copy of the PR as an evidence for private
purposes, such as obtaining new documents, insurance reparations or for civil actions. As an
evidence for using in criminal or civil court or for any other purpose, although it is based on a
unilateral version of an event, the PR has a fundamental relevance, for it is the first
written impression of a crime most of the time obtained in the heat of the facts and, thus,
can carry a higher grade of authenticity from what has really happened. So, as social
practice, the PR is a legal social interaction, generally resulting from a social conflict,
between the person who reports the fact and the police, who accepts the report. In the PR,
criminal and non-criminal facts are portrayed.
10
In Brazil, misdemeanor is a lesser crime punishable by fine and/or jail time up to two years.
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3.1.2 Participants of the social practice (tenor)
The social actors who generally take part in the process of PR production include the
victim or other person (witnesses, military police officers, etc.) whose discourse is
mostly represented in the narrative part (Move 3) of the PR; the police officer who types the
PR and sometimes witnesses and suspects, if present at the police station. The relationship
among them would not be considered a symmetric one, since in this social practice the police
officer is in the position of representing the authority and the power of the State in relation to
the other participants (victims, witnesses, suspects/perpetrators) and so decides what is
relevant to include in the PR from what is said by those who report the facts. The asymmetry
in social relations among the participants is also evident concerning suspects or perpetrators
with respect to victims and witnesses, for the latter can feel intimidated by the former.
So, the social distance among them is maximal.
In addition, the police officer who types the PR is under the inspection of the police
officer chief of the team on duty, who in turn is under the command of the police chief
(Delegado de Polícia). Internally, according to the Rio Grande do Sul State Law no. 7.366 of
March 3, 198011, in its article 76, and State Law no. 10.994 of August 18, 199712, in its article
7, the Judiciary Police, as mentioned elsewhere, is an institution organized under the
principles of unity of procedure, as well as of hierarchy and discipline, so its personnel is
structured through ranks, from the lowest to the highest position, one having authority over
another according to previous established regulations13. So, today we have two broad careers
in Rio Grande do Sul State Judiciary Police: 1) police authority, that is, the Police Chief
(Delegado de Polícia); and 2) agents of police authority, that is, the Police Inspector (Inspetor
de Polícia) and Police Scrivener (Escrivão de Polícia)14. The Police Chief is the general
coordinator of the police station and is the one who presides over all the procedures and acts
legally ascribed to the Judiciary Police, such as the crime investigation procedure (inquérito
policial), misdemeanor investigation procedure (termo circunstanciado), lawbreaker
adolescents procedure (procedimento de apuração ato infracional) temporary and preventive
prison requests, etc.
11
Available at <http://www.al.rs.gov.br/legiscomp/arquivo.asp?Rotulo=Lei nº 7366&idNorma=26&tipo=pdf>.
Accessed on July 19, 2010.
12
Available at< http://www.al.rs.gov.br/legiscomp/arquivo.asp?Rotulo=Lei nº 10994&idNorma=216&tipo=pdf>.
Accessed on July 19, 2010.
13
Rio Grande do Sul State Law no. 7.366 of March 3, 1980, State Law 10.994 of August 18, 1997 and others.
14
Article 77 of the State Law no. 7.366 of March 3, 1980.
15
The Police Chief career is ranked from classes 1 (the lowest rank) to 4 (highest rank).
The general chief of the state Judiciary Police is chosen among the Police Chiefs of class 4,
and is the coordinator of the whole institution. The Police Inspector is generally the agent of
authority responsible for crime investigation and arresting, among other law enforcement
actions. The Police Scrivener is generally the agent of authority responsible for writing all
sorts of documents and the Judiciary Police procedures, such as crime investigation procedure
and misdemeanor investigation procedure. Both Police Inspector and Police Scrivener are
under the command of the Police Chief and also have their careers organized from classes 1 to
4. Above class 4, the highest rank of both careers (a kind of class 5) is named Comissário de
Polícia, the last rank an agent can reach. In each career, the lowest rank is usually under the
command of the highest one15. As Gibbons points out (2005, p. 84), ‘these ranks are a direct
manifestation of hierarchical power relations’. As we will see in section 3.2., the participants
can be linguistically realized in Move 3, the narrative part of the PR, where the victim
attendance at the police station is emphasized, as follows: ”a comunicante comparece nesta
DP para registrar que …”. Also in Move 5, where the people involved in PR events (victims,
witnesses, suspects, etc.) are just named as: “participante” – “participant”, who are identified
through their complete personal data. On the other hand, the judiciary police personnel
are identified only by their names and ID number, and their roles in this social
activity are of: “atendente” – “attendant”, “chefe plt” – “chief of team on duty” and
“titular do órgão” - “chief of police station”. Thus, the members of the Judiciary Police
institution have their careers organized according to a strictly hierarchical order, which shows
that, as participants of the PR genre, their relations are influenced by this hierarchical
network. Despite of this, the Judiciary Police members, as institutional peers, can have a
higher degree of familiarity, so the social distance among them is possibly a little bit less than
the maximal.
3.1.3 The role played by language (mode)
According to Hasan (1989, p. 58), the mode can be described under three main
different factors: 1) the role of language (constitutive or ancillary), 2) the process sharing
(active or passive through graphic or phonic channel) and 3) the medium (spoken or
written). Firstly, the role of language in the PR genre is constitutive, since the interaction of
reporting a criminal or non-criminal event is materialized through written language. As we
will see bellow in section 3.2, Moves 1, 2, 5 and 6 mostly consist of nominal and adverbial
15
Article 77, § 1, of the State Law no. 7.366 of March 3, 1980.
16
words and groups which role is to present information about participants and their
identification, as well as about the reported event and PR circumstances. On the other hand,
Move 3 refers to the narrative part of the PR and demonstrates the central role of written
language which is to narrate reported facts. Secondly, in terms of process sharing, that is, the
possibility of the addressee of either sharing the process of text creation (active) or coming in
contact with it as a finished product (passive), the PR possible addressees are more proximal
to passive, since the channel, that is, the way “through which the addressee comes in contact
with the speaker’s messages” (HASAN, 1989, p. 58), is graphic instead of phonic, for the
written text favours a more passive role of the addressee in the process sharing, since it is
received as a finished product with little or no room for intervention or dialogue, except in the
moment of the PR production where the role of the police officer in the process of text
creation is fundamental. Thirdly, concerning medium, the text message is conveyed to the
possible addressees through the written medium and graphic channel, instead of the spoken
medium and phonic channel. This suggests a greater distance between the participants than if
the text were oral and synchronically produced or received. Finally, it is relevant to highlight
the importance of the social interaction between the police officer and the person (victim or a
third person) who narrates the events, when the latter tells orally what happened and the
former writes it down.
3.2. Move analysis
Based on three analytical categories, namely linguistic, intuitive and typographic
(HENDGES, 2008, p. 101-129), discussed earlier, I analyzed the PR general structure and
identified seven moves: 1) identifying and situating the agency, the PR and its circumstances;
2) classifying the fact and its circumstances; 3) narrating (reporting) the facts; 4) indicating
the addressee of the PR; 5) identifying the participants (victims and/or complainant,
witnesses, suspects); and 6) identifying the personnel responsible for the report.
The PR is a highly structured genre, therefore there are no major variations in its
sequence of moves, which are recurrent and obey the same order in the 60 samples of the
corpus as follows:
3.2.1 Move 1 - Identifying and situating the agency, the PR and its circumstances
This move aims at identifying the institution, Polícia Civil, and the city, Itaara, where
the report is produced. In this move, we can also see the sequential number of the PR, as well
17
as date, time, and means by which the facts were reported to the Police. So, the purpose of
this move is to inform the circumstances of time and place in which the PR genre was
produced and printed. These data are relevant if one needs to search and retrieve the PR from
the Police files. This retrieval can be done in anywhere with access to the Police computing
system. So the recurrent main steps through which this move can be realized are three:
Step 1: identifying the institution, city and page number.
Step 2: numbering the PR and providing the date and time of its print.
Step 3: providing the date and time of PR production, indicating means of report and
the number of the computer used to send the PR to the police computing system.
MOVE 1
Figure 2 – Move 1 from PR #390/2005
Linguistically, as we can see in Figure 2, Move 1 shows features of a formulaic
move, since it does not change its structure and linguistic components in all the samples
analyzed. The identification referred to in Step 1 is mostly realized through noun groups
referring to circumstances: the noun group “polícia civil” (civil police), for identifying the
institution; the noun group “Itaara”, for identifying the city, and the noun group “folha 1”
(sheet 1), for identifying the page. In step 2, we see the noun goup “ocorrência” (report)
followed by the numerals “320/2005”, indicating the sequential number of the PR and the
year it was produced; the numerals “20/09/2009” (09/20/2009) and “10:24:00” indicate date
and time of PR printing. Finally, in step 3, the date and time of PR production are indicated
by the numerals “26/09/2005” (09/26/2005) and the adverbial group “as 14:14 horas" (at
14:14). The noun group and the epithet “comunicação: pessoal” (communication:
personal) indicate the means by which the event was reported to the police and the
abbreviation “transmit.” (transmitt.), from the passive finite “transmitido” (transmitted)
means that the PR was already sent to the police computing system. The last line of this step,
the noun group “micro” (micro), a short form of “microcomputador” (microcomputer), is
followed by the numeral that identifies it “7802” and the noun group “mono”. The linguistic
features of this move indicate that there are no explicit processes, therefore there are no
clauses, but single words or at most groups in the rank scale. It is characteristic of a formulaic
move, as we will see in most of next moves that usually presents words as headings for
18
indicating information that is fast and easy to grasp as well as guide for filling fields
necessary to produce the genre.
3.2.2 Move 2 - Classifying the fact and its circumstances
When a person reports a human behavior to the police, the police officer who
receives it, has to obtain from the complainant all the facts and their circumstances. After
hearing the person (generally the victim), the police officer has to analyze the fact and
compare it with the human behavior described in the criminal code as crime. The aim of the
comparison is to check if the human behavior reported by the victim matches one of the
behaviors established in the criminal code. In the case of the corpus of this study, the purpose
would be to verify if the reported behavior can be classified as one of the crimes against
honour, that is, Calúnia, Difamação or Injúria, each of which with its particular behaviors. So,
in classifying the facts, the police officer will preliminarily describe whether what is reported
by the victim or other person is a crime and what sort of crime it is.
After this tentative classification, the PR is reexamined by the head of the police
station (Delegado de Polícia), who decides about the final classification of the reported facts
based on their interpretation and on the criminal code. This classification can change
according to what is investigated and cleared until the final report is issued. This move also
presents the date, time and place where the facts occurred with detailed information about
them and is realized through the following three steps:
Step 1: establishing the legal or technical classification by analyzing the reported
fact.
Step 2: providing spatiotemporal circumstances of the reported fact.
Step 3: providing information about the perpetrator’s modus operandi in terms of
where and how the fact was perpetrated (area, way, instrument, behaviour, means of access).
MOVE 2
Figure 3 – Move 2 from PR #390/2005
As shown in figure 3, Move 2 is linguistically realized by noun groups, followed by
colons, which give names to the fields that are filled with the required information. Step 1 is
named “fato” (fact) followed by the legal or technical classification based on the fact
reported. In the case of our corpus, “Calúnia”,”Difamação” or “Injúria” are the options
19
available for this field, followed by the finite “consumado” (consummated), instead of the
finite “tentado” (attempted), an alternative option that does not apply to our corpus. In Step
2, the adverbial groups “25/09/2009 as 17:30 horas ate 25/09/2009 as 18:00 horas” (from
09/25/2009 at 17:30 to 09/25/2009 at 18:00) and “BR 158 – Itaara – RS – Brasil, via
pública, cemitério” (federal road 158, Itaara City, RS state, Brazil, public thoroughfare,
cemetery) indicate the spatiotemporal circumstances of the reported fact. Step 3 is realized
through noun groups referring to “área, forma, instrumento, atuação” (area, way,
instrument, behavior) and prepositional groups referring to “vias de acesso” (means of
access). Although all noun and prepositional groups are followed by a colon, which
presupposes that information must be provided in the field that comes next, only the
information related to the field area , that is, if the fact happened in an urban or rural area, is
provided in almost all the samples of the corpus. This is probably due to the lack of police
officers’ interest in filling these fields, since this information also appears in other forms
which also feed the computing data system of the judiciary police.
3.2.3 Move 3 - Narrating (reporting) the facts
This component can be considered the main move of the PR genre. It is the history
of the facts. The victim or the other person who reports them on behalf (or not) of the victim
narrates what happened to the police officer, who then produces a detailed summary of the
whole event based on what is told by the person who gives the information to the State,
represented in this practice by the police officer. This move generally offers a narrative of the
behavior of each participant of the criminal event (victim, witnesses, suspects) with its causes
and consequences. Usually, the PR presents the victim’s and sometimes the perpetrator’s (if
present) preliminary version of the facts. Both versions will eventually have to be included in
the procedure.
In the corpus of this study, no suspect was present during the issue of the PR, so
their preliminary version does not appear. According to what is narrated in this move, the
police officer will classify (typify) the fact in accordance with the criminal behavior described
in the criminal code as a crime. If the fact narrated is not a crime (i.e., the human behavior
narrated in this move does not fit with the behavior described in the specified section of the
criminal code), it will be classified as a non-criminal fact. Yet, this tentative classification is
submitted to the chief of the team on duty and to the police chief (Delegado de Polícia) in
charge of the police station. In this move, if the victim knows only part of the suspects’ (or
witnesses’) name, it will be mentioned here. If their names are thoroughly identified, they will
be in Move 5. Move 3 can generally be realized through the four steps below:
20
Step 1: emphasizing the victim or complainant attendance.
Step 2: restating circumstances (time and place).
Step 3: describing the perpetrator’s behavior (criminal or non-criminal fact).
Step 4: stating the victim’s volition of suing or not the perpetrator and/or informing
the victim about the deadline for suing them.
MOVE 3
Figure 4 – Move 3 from PR #390/2005
Linguistically, with respect to delimitation and appropriate definition of Move 3 as a
narrative, it is relevant to present the notion of rhetorical mode (also known as text types,
rhetorical functions, or kinds of discourse) (Meurer, 2002). On a study where he intended to
discuss the crucial differences between the notion of genre and rhetorical mode, Meurer
(Ibidem, p. 67) defined the latter as
similar textual strategies, differently clustering in different genres, which are utilized
by writers as a means to textualize specific parts and functions of their texts. Thus,
rhetorical modes are recognized patterns of textual resources, which are available for
the production of specific genres. The rhetorical organization of specific genres is
realized by the set of rhetorical modes that a text producer may use in order to
indicate to readers how his/her text is organized and what the functional relationship
is between the several parts of the text and their relationship with the textual
architecture as a whole (Ibidem, p. 11).
Regarding the notion of Rhetorical Mode, Meurer (Ibidem, p. 67), divides it into two
broad categories: Traditional Rhetorical Modes and Organizational Rhetorical Modes, with
their corresponding subcategories, as summarized in Chart 8.
Chart 8: Meurer’s Rhetorical Modes (2002, p. 67)
(adapted from Motta-Roth and Hendges, 2010, p. 48)
TYPES
Subtypes
Subcategories
TRADITIONAL
ORGANIZATIONAL
Narration, Description,
Exposition, Argumentation
Macrostructural
(Textual patterns)
Microstructural
(Semantic Relations)
Illustration, Classification,
Explanation, Process, Definition,
etc.
Situation-Evaluation,
Hypothetical-Real, GeneralParticular
Matching, Prospection or
Prediction, Retrospection or
Labeling
21
For the analysis of Move 3, it is relevant to note the traditional category of narration,
for it comprises the textual strategies most common in the instantiation of a PR genre. For
Meurer (Ibidem, p. 66), four types of discourses can be identified, that is, “four basic natural
needs that are fulfilled in discourse”. According to him, when we use language we want to
explain or inform about something (exposition). We want to convince somebody (argument).
We want to tell what a thing looked like – or sounded like, or felt like (description). We want
to tell what happened (narration).
Although the subcategories of exposition and description can be present in this
component, since information can often be given or a suspect can be described by the
narrator, our primary concern in this move is the purpose conveyed in narration, whose
intention is
to present an event to the reader – what happened and how it happened. The event
itself may be grand or trivial, a battle or a ball game, a presidential campaign or a
picnic; but whatever it is, the intention is to give the impression of movement in
time, to give some immediate impression of the event, the sense of witnessing an
action. (Brooks and Warren, 1972, p. 44-45, apud Meurer, 2002, p. 66).
So, in the PR the narrator intends to present a criminal or non-criminal event (that
they suffered or witnessed) to the reader with all its circumstances, that is, what happened,
how, when and where it happened, etc, in a temporal sequence. In this sense, for better
understanding of Move 3, it is useful to present the definition of narrative and how it is
structured.
According to Labov & Waletzky (1967, p. 27-37), narrative is defined “as one
method of recapitulating past experience by matching a verbal sequence of clauses to the
sequence of events that actually occurred” (Ibidem, p. 12). Therefore, PR narratives
recapitulates past experiences in terms of criminal and non-criminal events and police officers
aim to report them in the same order as the original events occurred based on what is
informed by the narrator. The overall structure of narratives is divided into five sections:
orientation, complication, evaluation, resolution and coda.
Orientation consists of “a group of free clauses that precede the first narrative
clause”. In this sense, ”they serve to orient the listener in respect to person, place, time and
behavioral situation” (Ibidem, p. 27). It should be emphasized, however, that not always
narratives have the orientation section, and, if present, not always the orientation sections
perform the four mentioned functions. Frequently, the orientation can also be performed by
phrases and lexical items in narrative clauses.
Complication is not clearly defined by Labov and Waletzky (1967), however they
point out that the complication (or complicating action) is “regularly terminated by a result”
22
(Ibidem, p. 28), after which comes the evaluation section. So, it can be inferred that
complication is located between Orientation and Evaluation sections, whose limits have to be
detected in order to identify the complicating action, that could also be made through
isolating the result, using semantic criteria and functional analysis, so that it can be possible
to find when the narrative actually ends, as well as when the result begins and is completed.
According to Bastos (2008, p. 83), however, the complicating action is justly the temporal
sequence of clauses that refer to past events, typically build with verbs in the past. In other
words, it is the narrative itself. In this sense, among the five elements of the narrative above
mentioned, complication would be its only mandatory element, without which there would
not be narrative.
Evaluation is “frequently located at the break between the complicating action and
the resolution of these complications” (Labov & Waletzky, op. cit., p. 30). This signals (a
function performed by evaluation section in most narratives) “where the complication has
reached a maximum”, a point without which is “difficult to distinguish the complicating
action from the result” (Ibidem, p. 30). It is important to highlight, however, that many
narratives have the result amalgamated with the evaluation, so that “a single narrative clause
both emphasizes the importance of the result and states it” (Ibidem, p. 30). So, evaluation
can be defined “as that part of the narrative that reveals the attitude of the narrator towards
the narrative by emphasizing the relative importance of some narrative units as compared to
others” (Ibidem, p. 32).
Resolution is defined as “that portion of the narrative sequence that follows the
evaluation. If the evaluation is the last element, then the resolution section coincides with the
evaluation” (Ibidem, p. 35). For Bastos (op. cit., p. 83), the resolution section would be the
finalization of the sequence of events of the complicating action.
Coda, as an additional element after the resolution section, “is a functional device
for returning the verbal perspective to the present moment”, since “the actual sequence of
events described in the narrative does not, as a rule, extend up to the present”. This function
can signal the end of the narrative and is performed through many devices, such as: a) deixis
(that, there, those, this, here, these),”that points to a referent instead of naming it explicitly”
(Labov & Waletzky, op. cit., p. 35-36); b) an incident, which is not relevant to narrative
sequence, that pursues one of the actors up to the present moment; and c) the narrative effect
upon the narrator extended up to the present moment.
It is important to point out that the suggested narrative structure, according to its
proponents, is not uniform, since they can vary, in accordance with its degree of complexity,
23
its number of structural elements and the variety of its functions. However, in more complex
narratives performed by verbal skilled narrators, there is a higher probability of finding the
five mentioned elements of narrative.
The structure and analysis of narrative in the PR can be summarized in Chart 9.
Chart 9: Narrative analysis based on Labov & Waletzky (1967)
NARRATIVE SECTIONS
1 – ORIENTATION
2 – COMPLICATION
PR #353/2009
CALÚNIA
PR #723/2004
DIFAMAÇÃO
PR #629/2008
INJÚRIA
Comunica que na data e hora supra
mencionada
A comunicante registra
tomou conhecimento que o seu - Zé
Louco – tinha dito para o Fulano de Tal, há
cerca de quatro meses, que o comunicante
estava mantendo relações sexuais com a
sua filha adotiva desde que a menina era
pequena, sendo que a mesma tem hoje 18
anos de idade. Que o comunicante tão logo
soube foi até a casa de Zé louco para tirar
a limpo o que ele estava dizendo e Zé
Louco não quis nem ouvir o que o Fulano
de Tal e o comunicante tinham para lhe
dizer, e entrou em casa logo que eles
disseram a que vieram lhe procurar.
que vem sendo difamada por
suas vizinhas Fulana de Tal e
Beltrana de tal que andam
falando pela vizinhança que a
comunicante é amante de um
vizinho chamado Sicrano de Tal.
Comunica que participou de
uma festa de umbanda de final
de ano, na casa de umbanda
Xangô e Abasse, no Parque
Osório, sendo que no decorrer da
festa,
o vizinho Fulano de Tal e sua
companheira Sicrana de Tal
começaram a ofender as
pessoas da festa. O comunicante
é negro e foi ofendido como
negro sujo, ladrão, bagaceira.
Que o comunicante se sentiu ofendido
assim como as pessoas que estavam
presentes.
3 – EVALUATION
4 – RESOLUTION
5 – CODA
Foi orientado a ingressar com queixa crime
no Fórum local, através de um advogado,
no prazo máximo de seis meses.
Que Zé louco é pedreiro e mora na primeira
casa depois da loja Agromix, na Estrada
Velha do Perau.
Era o registro.
Fulana e Beltrana moram na Rua
Pernambuco próximo ao número x,
em Itaara. Não sabe maiores dados
sobre as Itaara. Não sabe maiores
dados sobre as autoras. Foi
cientificada que tem seis meses para
queixa-crime, no foro.
Que o comunicante deseja
representar criminalmente contra
Fulano de Tal e Sicrana de Tal.Que
não é a primeira vez que eles
ofendem as pessoas, especialmente
os negros que participam da casa.
Que Fulano e Sicrana são alcoólatras.
Nada mais.
As we see above in chart 9, Evaluation is not always present in the PR narrative16
and Resolution does not belong to the time of narrative, but to the time of interaction
between the narrator and the police officer. In this sense, Resolution aligns with Coda, since
both stand in a time out of the narrative events and point out to the moment in which the PR
is produced at the police station.
Finally, it is important to highlight the PR main recurrent processes with respect to
narrative clauses. As chart 9 indicates, the finites in the narrative clauses are describing a
sequence of events related to the simple past tense, such as “tomou (conhecimento)”, “foi (até
a casa do Zé Louco)”, “(Zé) não quis (nem ouvir)”, in the PR #353/2009 example; and
“começaram (a ofender)” e “foi ofendido”, in the PR 629/2008 example. However, the
second example (PR #723/2004) shows clauses in passive voice and present tense, such as
16
Herein, according to Labov and Waletzky (1967, p. 29), narratives of vicarious experience can lack
“the evaluation section that is typical of personal experience” (Ibidem, p. 29).
24
“vem sendo difamada” and “andam falando”, for indicating an action that was occurring in
the past, but still continues in the present. These narratives clauses are predominantly in the
complication section. The processes in the coda section, in clauses such as “Zé Louco é
Pedreiro e mora na primeira casa depois da loja Agromix”, “Fulana e Beltrana moram na
Rua Pernambuco”, “eles ofendem as pessoas” e “Que Fulano e Sicrana são alcoólatras”, are
in the present tense and convey additional information in relation to the narrated events.
3.2.4. Move 4 - Indicating the addressee of the PR
In this move, the police officer indicates the police station (or another police unit) to
where the PR is sent. The sending of the PR is made either depending on the place where the
reported fact occurred or on the matter of what is being reported. For example, a PR on
murder can be sent to a special unit of homicides, and a PR on theft that occurred downtown
can be sent to a corresponding (downtown) precinct. This move is split into two parts of the
PR: the first part is located before Move 5 and the second one after it. This move is realized
by two steps:
Step 1: identifying the name of the police station that will investigate the case.
Step 2: providing a field (line) to write down on a printed version of the PR the
identification of the police station that will investigate the case.
MOVE 4
Figure 5 – Move 4 from PR #390/2005
In Move 4, as shown in figure 5, we see, in step 1, two prepositional groups: “órgão
de destino” (institution of destination) followed by the name of the police unit addressee of
the PR: “Itaara/Delegacia de Polícia” (Itaara/Police Station). In step 2, we see the noun
group “destino 1.ª via” (original PR destination) followed by a blank line, where the name
of the police unit that will receive the original PR can be written down.
3.2.5. Move 5 - Identifying the participants (victims and/or complainant, witnesses,
suspects)
The purpose of this move is to identify, if possible, all the main participants of the
narrated event in Move 3, such as complainant and/or victims, witnesses and suspects. The
25
Judiciary Police has access to data banks (with the identification of people who made their
identity card, driver’s license, fire gun license, vehicle registration certificate, etc.) through
which every citizen personal data can be accessed by a police officer conducting a criminal
investigation. Once a person goes to the police station to fill out a PR, his/her data can be
retrieved from these data banks without the need to fill the required fields, except to update
them or to add further information. So, in this move, each event participant is identified by
name, affiliation, date and place of birth, nationality, level of instruction, gender, skin colour,
address, profession, driver’s license number, ID number, work address and physical
conditions. After the end of every identification, there is a line on which each participant (if
present) has to sign. The signature of the victim (or of the person who informed the facts, v.
g., a military police officer) is a way of ensuring the legal responsibility of what is reported to
police. In this move, the victim is given the opportunity to express the intention of suing or
not the offender. Later, this will be a requirement for the prosecutor attorney’s action in
court. This move can be divided into three steps, one for each participant, as follows:
Step 1: identifying the victim and/or complainant by providing his/her personal data
and getting his/her signature and checking the victim’s option/will of prosecuting or not the
perpetrator;
Step 2: identifying the witness by providing his/her personal data;
Step 3: identifying the perpetrator (suspect, culprit, defendant, adolescent
lawbreaker) by providing his/her personal data.
MOVE 5
Figure 6 – Move 5 from PR #390/2005 (only Step 1)17
Linguistically, in Move 5, as shown in Figure 6, we see headings followed by colon
and next to them the required information. In Step 1, these headings present initially the noun
phrase “PARTICIPANTE 1” (participant 1) followed by “VITIMA” (victim) and next to it the
epithet “PRESENTE” (present), which means the victim was present at police station to
17
The other steps (2 and 3) have the same form of step 1, except the yes/no option/choice of perpetrator’s
prosecution.
26
report the PR. Bellow, we see the personal data and physical characteristics of participant 1 in
this order: “NOME” (name), “FILIAÇÃO (affiliation), “NASCIDO” (date of birth), the
participant physical characteristics and marital status – which, in the sample of Figure 6, are
“FEMININO” (female), “BRANCA” (white) and “SOLTEIRO” (single) -, “INSTRUÇÃO”
(level of instruction), “COR DOS OLHOS” (eye color), “NATURAL” (place of birth),
“BRASILEIRO NATO” (Brazilian), “DOCUMENTO” (Identity), “C.N.H” (driver’s license),
“PROFISSÃO” (profession), “CARGO” (post), “TRABALHA” (job address), “CONDIÇÃO
FÍSICA” (physical condition). In step 1, we also see the sentence: “A VÍTIMA DESEJA VER
PROCESSADO?” (Does the victim wish the prosecution [against the perpetrator?]). After this
question, there is a “SIM/NÃO” (yes/no) answer option for this interrogative sentence that,
through a mental desiderative verbal process (wish), demands this information from the
victim. At the end of Step 1, we see the letter “a” followed by a blank line, which is an
abbreviation for “assinatura” (signature). Steps 2 and 3, which do not have this final question,
follow the same pattern of Step 1. However, Step 2 begins with the heading
“PARTICIPANTE 2” (participant 2) followed by “TESTEMUNHA” (witness), and Step 3
with the heading “PARTICIPANTE 3” (participant 3) followed by “AUTOR” (perpetrator).
3.2.6 Move 6 - Identifying the personnel responsible for the report
This move presents the identification of the police officers on duty responsible for
the report production. They generally work 12h or 24h shifts in groups of two or more
members at the police station, except in smaller cities where there is only one person each
time hired in a full time job responsible for the report, who, after that, is called at home. Each
team on duty is identified by letters of alphabet. For instance, if there are five teams, they will
be identified by letters ‘A’ to ‘E’. The police officers are identified by their names and ID
number. The amount of members in each team varies according to the needs of each city or
neighborhood based on the amount and complexity of activities in each state agency (police
station, judiciary area). In this move, three police officers are identified: the attendant, who
writes the PR, the chief of the team, who is responsible for revising the PR and supervising
other activities of the team, and the chief of police station, who coordinates all the personnel.
According to the state regulations, the Judiciary Police is an institution organized under the
principles of hierarchy and discipline, so the aforementioned identification obeys a
hierarchical order, from the lowest to the highest ranked police officer on duty. Finally, beside
each police officer’s name, there is a line above which each component has to sign the report.
27
It is a way to ensure legal responsibility of those who are directly or indirectly involved in this
social practice. So, this move is realized through the following four steps:
Step 1: identifying the team on duty.
Step 2: identifying the police officer who typed the PR.
Step 3: identifying the chief of the team on duty.
Step 4: identifying the head of the police station (Delegado de Polícia) on duty.
MOVE 6
Figure 7 – Move 6 from PR #390/2005
Finally, in Move 6, as shown in Figure 7, we see the same pattern of the other moves,
i.e., it is composed with headings followed by colon and after that the required information.
They are linguistically realized through titles such as “EQUIPE” (team) (Step 1), and
“ATENDENTE” (attendant) (Step 2), as well as “CHEFE PLT” (team chief) (Step 3) and
“TITULAR DO ÓRGÃO” (head of police station) (Step 4). These participants are
linguistically identified both by their ID number, a numeral with ten digits, and their complete
names followed by the letter “a” (s) and a subsequent line for the correspondent signature, as
explained in Move 6.
To conclude this section, it is worth to mention that this analysis was performed in a
specific corpus of PRs related only to language crimes against honour, so there might be
other components that can be optional or obligatory in other sorts of PR related to thefts,
burglaries, murders etc. In these cases, for instance, we can have fields for describing
documents and objects (vehicles, fire guns, stolen goods etc.) seized by the police or
presented to the police by someone as evidence, as well as a list with names of people
separately interviewed while the PR is being made. Although they are not present in the
analyzed corpus, some of these components can be found exceptionally in PRs concerning
crime against honor.
On the next two pages, we will see the PR moves and steps summarized in the chart
10, as well as a sample of a PR on crime against honour with its moves in figure 8.
28
Chart 10: PR Moves and Steps
MOVES
STEPS
M1
M2
M3
M4
Identifying and
situating the
agency, the PR
and its
circumstances
Classifying the
fact and its
circumstances
Narrating
(reporting)
the facts
Indicating the
addressee of
the PR
Identifying the
institution, city
and page number
S1
S2
S3
S4
Establishing the
legal or technical
classification by
analyzing the
reported fact
Numbering the PR
and providing the
date and time of its
print
Providing
spatiotemporal
circumstances of
the reported fact
Providing the date
and time of PR
production,
indicating means of
report and the
number of the
computer used to
send the PR to the
police computing
system
Providing
information about
perpetrator’s
‘modus operandi’
in terms of where
and how the fact
was perpetrated
(area, way,
instrument,
behavior, means of
access)
M5
M6
Identifying the
participants
(victims and/or
complainant,
witnesses,
suspects)
Identifying the
personnel
responsible for
the report
Identifying the
team on duty
Emphasizing the
victim or
complainant
attendance
Identifying the
name of the
police station
that will
investigate the
case
Identifying the
victim and/or
complainant by
providing his/her
personal data and
getting their
signature and
checking the
victim’s intention
of prosecuting or
not the perpetrator
Restating
circumstances
(time and place)
Providing a field
(line) to write
down in a
printed version
of the PR the
identification of
the police station
that will
investigate the
case
Identifying the
witness by
providing their
personal data
Identifying the
police officer
who typed the PR
Identifying the
perpetrator
(suspect, culprit,
defendant,
adolescent
lawbreaker) by
providing his/her
personal data
Identifying the
chief of the team
on duty
Describing the
perpetrator’s
behavior
(criminal or noncriminal fact)
Stating the
victim’s volition
of suing or not
the perpetrator
and/or informing
the victim about
the deadline for
suing them.
Identifying the
head of the
police station
(Delegado de
Polícia) on duty
29
Figure 8 – sample of a crime against honour PR and its moves
In Figure 8, each of the aforementioned moves are produced by the police officer by
filling in fields sequentially displayed on the computer screen, as shown in the sequence of
figures displayed as appendix (from letter C to N) in the end of this paper.
30
3.2.8 The three different language crimes against honour
Charts 11 to 13 show the linguistic content of the moves extracted from 3 PRs,
chosen among the corpus of 60 PRs, which represent the three language crimes against
honour: Calúnia, Difamação and Injúria.
Chart 11: PR #353/2009 on Calúnia and its moves
PAGE 1
MOVE 1
MOVE 2
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 3
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 4
STEP 1:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 5
STEP 2:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
PAGE 2
Repetition of
Step 1 from
Move 1
31
STEP 2 (continuação):
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 5
STEP 3:
NOT PRESENT
MOVE 4
MOVE 6
Chart 12: PR # 723/2004 on Difamação and its moves
PAGE 1
MOVE 1
MOVE 2
Added
Information18
MOVE 3
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 4
18
These data are not originally part of this PR. They were added in the system after the procedure (termo
circunstanciado) have been concluded and sent to court.
32
STEP 1:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
STEP 2:
MOVE 5
NOT PRESENT
STEP 3:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Added
Information19
PAGE 2
Repetition of
Step 1 from
Move 1
STEP 3:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 5
Added
Information20
MOVE 4
MOVE 6
19
20
Idem footnote 8.
Idem footnote 8.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
33
Chart 13: PR #629/2008 on Injúria and its moves
PAGE 1
MOVE 1
MOVE 2
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 3
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
MOVE 4
STEP 1:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 5
STEP 2:
NOT PRESENT
STEP 3:
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
PAGE 2
Repetition of
Step 1 from
Move 1
MOVE 5
STEP 3
34
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
MOVE 6
In chart 11, the PR #353/2009 presents an example of Calúnia in which the false
offensive fact is the following: “o seu – Zé Louco – tinha dito para o Fulano, há cerca de
quatro meses, que o comunicante estava mantendo relações sexuais com a sua filha adotiva,
desde que a menina era pequena, sendo que a mesma hoje tem 18 anos de idade”. This
narrative passage, in English, with the corresponding transitivity analysis, is the following:
“Mr. - Zé Louco - (Sayer), four months ago (Circumstance: Time), had told (Process:
Verbal) the John Doe (Receiver) that the complainant (Actor) has been having (Process:
Material) sex with his stepdaughter (Circumstance: Accompaniment) since she (Carrier)
was (Process: Relational) a little girl (Attribute), and she (Carrier) is (Relational) now 18
years old (Attribute). The first clause of the passage above is Verbal, the second is Material
and the third is Relational. Note, however, that the second and third clauses are functioning as
projected clauses (message) of the first (verbal clause). The second and third clauses would be
the false accusation made by the Actor Zé Louco in the original speech event which is
indicated by the verbal group “tinha dito” (had told). So, the original speech event is reported
in the context of the PR production by the projected clause in a form of report clause instead
of quote clause.
In chart 12, the PR #723/2004 shows an example of Difamação, a crime in which the
offensive fact against the reputation of the victim is the following: “a comunicante registra
que vem sendo difamada por suas vizinhas Fulana de Tal e Beltrana de Tal que andam
falando pela vizinhança que a comunicante é amante de um vizinho chamado Sicrano de
Tal”. In English, this passage is analyzed as follows: "the complainant (Sayer) informs
(Process: Verbal) that she (Receiver) has been defamed (Process: Verbal) by her neighbors
Jane Doe and Jane Roe (Sayer) who (Sayer) have been talking (Process: Verbal) around the
neighborhood (Circumstance: Space) that the complainant (Identified) is (Relational) lover
of a neighbor called John Doe (Identifier)”. In the first, second and third clauses we see
verbal processes, whereas, in the fourth, we see a relational clause projected from the third
verbal clause. However, what defines the offensive fact is the clause: “the complainant is
lover of a neighbor called John Doe”, where the victim is identified as the lover of a neighbor
35
called John Doe, the identifier. So, this identifying clause, through a relational process, turns
the event into a determined fact that can be classified as Difamação.
In chart 13, the PR #629/2008 presents the following example of Injúria: “no
decorrer da festa o vizinho Fulano de Tal e a sua companheira Sicrana de Tal começaram a
ofender as pessoas da festa. O comunicante é negro e foi ofendido como negro sujo, ladrão,
bagaceira”. The transitivity analysis of this passage, in English, is as follows: “during the
party (Circumstance: Time), the neighbor John Doe and his concubine Jane Doe (Sayer)
started to insult (Process: Verbal) people (Receiver) at the party (Circumstance: Space).
The complainant (Carrier-Receiver) is (Process: Relational) black (Attribute) and was
insulted (Process: Verbal) as dirty black, thief, rabble (Verbiage)”. Here, we see three
clauses that describe the insults. The first and third are verbal clauses and the second is an
attributive relational. Note that in this passage the offenses are not in projected clauses as the
two previous examples, but in verbiage. This variation linguistically demonstrates and
confirms one of the legal differences between Calúnia and Difamação on one side and
Injúria on the other. Since, both in Calúnia and Difamação the insults are committed by
charging someone with a fact, this fact needs a clause to be defined, reason why it is defined
in a projected clause, whereas in Injúria, the offenses are usually just vague and imprecise
words, wherefore they are realized in verbiage.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that the three examples of PR discussed above
did not show any projected paratactic clause in quote, whose function would be to
recapitulate the wording of the original speech event, only hypotactic report that serves to
“project not the wording, but the meaning of the original language event” (THOMPSON,
2004, p. 10). So, further quantitative and qualitative research will be needed to explore,
among other linguistic issues, the recurrence of quotes (paratactic) and reports (hypotactic)
in the narrative move of PR.
36
CONCLUSION
This study showed that the PR is a genre that linguistically realizes a legal social
interaction through which the victim or a third person informs the police about a criminal or
non-criminal event. The PR is comprised of six fixed moves that do not vary, wherefore it is
considered a formulaic genre. In all moves, we see headings providing, and implicitly asking
for information to fill out the form fields, as well as adverbial and nominal groups with the
same function. In addition, it is a way of guiding the police officer making the PR easier to
complete and standardizing professional routines and procedures.
We also see a predominantly narrative function in Move 3, where narrative clauses
recapitulate a sequence of past events generally experienced by the narrator with processes
prevalently in the simple past tense, an indication of narration as one of the traditional
rhetorical modes, along with other subtypes of the same category found in Moves 1, 2, 4, 5, 6,
whose functions (that label them) is primarily to identify and situate people and places and
classify facts through the corresponding rhetorical functions of description and exposition.
These two rhetorical functions can also be found in Move 3, as it was commented elsewhere,
since one of its main purposes is to describe what a person looked like (description) or to
inform about something to someone (exposition). So, narration, description and exposition are
the main subtypes of traditional rhetorical modes present in the PR genre.
Perhaps, due to these linguistic features, we see the predominance of the declarative
expression (statement) (Halliday and Matthiesen, 2004, p. 114) as its primary speech function,
composed, in terms of rank scale, of clauses (prevalent in Move 3), and groups and single
words (prevalent in the other moves). They are part of the interpersonal meaning of giving
information, from which demanding information is the implicit counterpart linguistically
realized through the incongruent mood of “declarative” nouns, such as (in Move 5) “nome”
(name), “filiação” (affiliation), etc, followed by the semicolon and the demanded information.
It indicates that, under the linguistic surface of single words, there are in fact two interrogative
grammatical moods that ask “what is your name?” and “what is your parents’ name?”.
In terms of the context of situation, the PR is a result of a social interaction that
involves the police officer and the narrator (victims, witnesses, suspects or perpetrators) and
the relationship among them reveals an asymmetry between the police officer and the
narrator. The former stands for the coercive power of the state and decides what is relevant
from what is informed by the narrator. In this sense, the corpus of this study differs from the
37
corpus used by Labov and Waletzky (1967) in their research on narrative analysis, since it
was based upon oral versions of personal experience recorded directly from the narrators,
whereas the corpus of this paper is a “second hand” narrative, for it has the mediation of the
police officer, who writes what is reported by the narrator, whose voice tends to be in third
person, while the narrator’s voice in Labov and Waletzky is predominantly in first person.
Due to these features, in the first the indirect speech is predominant, whereas in the second we
see some passages of direct speech.
The PR is also a genre, produced in written medium, in which the language is
constitutive, fundamental, since without the written form it would not exist, and its process
sharing with the addressee (reader) is proximal to passive, because we do not see almost any
interference of the addressee in its production, except the active role of the police officer
during the social interaction with the narrator at the police station for producing the PR.
In relation to the social participants, the PR samples show a balance of data, since out
of 60 collected PRs, 29 victims of the crimes against honour were female and 29 were male,
whereas 2 were perpetrated against both at same time. Concerning perpetrators, 23 were
female, 25 were male and 12 were both. In terms of place, 26 facts happened in the victims’
residences and 29 in public spaces, such as schools, workplaces, public thoroughfares, etc. In
relation to the level of proximity between the victims and perpetrators, the data show that
most victims and perpetrators (35) have a sort of closer relationship (they are spouses,
neighbors, employers and employees, schoolmates) and 25 of them did not inform any sort of
proximity in relation to the other. Since language crimes against honour are usually
committed during arguments, in moments of strong emotion, the data suggest that the
significant female participation as perpetrators (almost 50%) could mean that women would
be more prone to express linguistically, instead of physically, their anger if compared to men,
since in most other crimes involving physical action or offenses the male participation as
perpetrators is the smashing majority.
Therefore, we hope this preliminary study can serve as a starting point and stimulus
for further and deeper studies in PR genre and others that can be part of what I would call a
judiciary police system of genres, mainly in the field of critical discourse analysis and
appraisal theory concerning crimes against honour. Collection and analysis of quantitative
data will also be helpful for future research. Finally, this study can be useful in academic and
professional settings as a way to foster the study of the genre, mainly in classes of
composition in police academies to improve communication channels and thus to construct
clearer social practices that depend on language use. This is true mainly with respect to Move
38
3 (the other moods come practically ready in the computer system, it is just to fill out the
fields), which deals with the narration of facts, where the lexico-grammatical choices (in
terms of transitivity, modality and appraisal) are fundamental knowledge to enable police
officers to represent the facts in a more reliable way and closer to what was reported, avoiding
ambiguities, misrepresentations and other possibilities of reading different from those
intended by the complainant.
39
JUDICIARY POLICE SYSTEM OF GENRES: A GENRE ANALYSIS OF POLICE REPORT ON
LANGUAGE CRIMES AGAINST HONOUR (CALÚNIA, DIFAMAÇÃO AND INJÚRIA)
One of the main and most common genres produced by the police, not only in Brazil but throughout the world, is
perhaps the police report (henceforth PR), a genre whose main communicative function would be to inform the
state police agency about the occurrence of a crime (a violation of the law) and, if identified, its perpetrator or
suspect. Since this study aims at carrying out a genre analysis of the PR, revealing its generic structure, moves
and respective functions, I will mainly base my task on the works of John Swales’ genre analysis, M. A. K.
Halliday’s (1989) Systemic Functional Grammar and Labov and Waletsky’s (1967) narrative analysis. This
preliminary study does not intend to be exhaustive, but it might be helpful not only for further deeper research,
but also for revealing the formal and content scheme (Swales, 1990, apud Al-Ali, 2005) of PRs as well as the
features of this professional genre. To reach this aim, 60 PRs on three types of crimes against honour (Calúnia,
Difamação and Injúria) were randomly collected in the Police Station of Itaara city next to Santa Maria, central
region of Rio Grande do Sul State, from 2006 to 2009. The choice of insult crimes report is due to the fact they
are among the crimes committed through the use of language, so that they are called language crimes, i. e., a
linguistic behavior that becomes a target of legal action (Gibbons, 2005, apud Fuzer, 2007). This research can
help students of police academies to better understand and produce the PR genre and, for this same reason,
would be useful for language courses in this area, since it is a sort of genre many people probably have already
met as a personal experience in a police station. Plus, we can unveil a lot about how policemen represent crime
in language. From a wider perspective, it can also provide a broader understanding of crime reports and the way
language can be used in this legal environment.
„
KEY WORDS: police report – professional genre – language crimes – genre analysis
SISTEMA DE GÊNEROS DA POLÍCIA JUDICIÁRIA: UMA ANÁLISE DO GÊNERO BOLETIM DE
OCORRÊNCIA SOBRE CRIMES DE LINGUAGEM CONTRA A HONRA (CALÚNIA, DIFAMAÇÃO
E INJÚRIA)
Um dos principais e mais comuns gêneros produzidos pela polícia, não só no Brasil, mas em todo o mundo,
talvez seja o boletim de ocorrência (doravante denominado de BO), gênero cuja função comunicativa principal
consiste em informar a polícia, como um órgão do estado, sobre a ocorrência de um crime (uma violação da lei
penal) e, caso identificado, o seu autor ou suspeito. Considerando que o objetivo deste estudo é fazer uma análise
de gênero do boletim de ocorrência, revelando a sua estrutura com os movimentos e respectivas funções, serão
utilizados como fundamento teórico os estudos sobre análise de gênero de John Swales (1990), sobre gramática
sistêmico-funcional de Halliday e Hasan (1989), e sobre a análise da narrativa de Labov and Waletsky’s (1967).
Este estudo preliminar não pretende ser exaustivo, mas poderá ser útil não somente para pesquisas posteriores
mais aprofundadas sobre o assunto, mas também para revelar o esquema formal, o conteúdo (Swales, 1990, apud
Al-Ali, 2005), e as propriedades do BO como gênero profissional. A fim de atingir tal objetivo, foram coletados
aleatoriamente 60 BOs sobre crimes contra a honra na Delegacia de Polícia de Itaara, cidade contígua à Santa
Maria, na região central do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, dos anos compreendidos entre 2006 e 2009. A escolha
de ocorrências de crimes contra a honra deve-se ao fato de eles figurarem entre os crimes praticados por
intermédio do uso da linguagem, razão pela qual são chamados de crimes de linguagem, isto é, um
comportamento linguístico que se torna alvo da ação legal (Gibbons, 2005, apud Fuzer, 2007). Esta pesquisa
pode servir de auxílio a alunos das academias de polícia no sentido de melhor compreender e produzir o gênero
BO e, por esta mesma razão, pode ser também útil em cursos de letras nesta área, uma vez que o BO é um
gênero com o qual muitas pessoas, como experiência pessoal, devem ter mantido contato em uma delegacia de
polícia. Ademais, este estudo pode trazer revelações significativas acerca de como se dá, pelos policiais, a
representação do crime por meio do uso da linguagem. Numa perspectiva mais ampla, este estudo poderá
também fornecer uma maior compreensão acerca das ocorrências criminais e do modo como a linguagem pode
ser utilizada nesse campo legal.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: boletim de ocorrência – gênero profissional –crimes de linguagem – análise de gênero
40
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BASTOS, Liliana Cabral. Estórias, vida cotidiana e identidade – uma introdução ao estudo da
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discursos: conceitos básicos. Florianópolis: Ed. da UFSC, 2008.
BONINI, A.; MOTTA-ROTH, D. MEURER J. L. Gêneros: teorias, métodos, debates. São
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BRASIL. Presidência da República. Decreto-Lei n.º 2.848, de 07 de dezembro de 1940. Código
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em: 19 jul. 2010.
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GIBBONS, John. Forensic Linguistics: an introduction to language in the justice system.
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42
APPENDICES
43
APPENDIX A
TYPES AND FREQUENCY OF MOVES IN THE CORPUS
TOTAL
PR 60
PR 59
PR 58
PR 57
PR 56
PR 55
PR 54
PR 53
PR 52
PR 51
PR 50
PR 49
PR 48
PR 47
PR 46
PR 45
PR 44
PR 43
PR 42
PR 41
PR 40
PR 39
PR 38
PR 37
PR 36
PR 35
PR 34
PR 33
PR 32
PR 31
PR 30
PR 29
PR 28
PR 27
PR 26
PR 25
PR 24
PR 23
PR 22
PR 21
PR 20
PR 19
PR 18
PR 17
PR 16
PR 15
PR 14
PR 13
PR 12
PR 11
PR 10
PR 9
PR 8
PR 7
PR 6
PR 5
PR 4
PR 3
PR 2
MOVES
PR 1
RETHORICAL
Identifying and
situating the
agency, the PR and
its circumstances
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
100%
2
Classifying the fact
and its
circumstances
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
100%
3
Narrating
(reporting) the
facts
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
100%
Indicating the
addressee of the PR
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
100%
Identifying the
participants
(victims and/or
complainant,
witnesses, suspects)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
100%
Identifying the
personnel
responsible for the
report
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
100%
1
4
5
6
44
APPENDIX B
PR 60
TOTAL %
PR 59
PR 58
PR 57
PR 56
PR 55
PR 54
PR 53
PR 52
PR 51
PR 50
PR 49
PR 48
PR 47
PR 46
PR 45
PR 44
PR 43
PR 42
PR 41
PR 40
PR 39
PR 38
PR 37
PR 36
PR 35
PR 34
PR 33
PR 32
PR 31
PR 30
PR 29
PR 28
PR 27
PR 26
PR 25
PR 24
PR 23
PR 22
PR 21
PR 20
PR 19
PR 18
PR 17
PR 16
PR 15
PR 14
PR 13
PR 12
PR 11
PR 9
PR 10
PR 8
PR 7
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 2
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 3
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 1
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 2
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 3
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 1
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
.
.
.
+
+
+
+
.
+
.
+
+
+
.
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
.
+
+
.
+
.
.
.
.
+
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
STEP 2
+ +
.
+
+
.
+
.
+
.
.
.
+
.
.
.
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
.
+
.
.
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
.
.
.
+
+
+
+
+
.
.
+
63%
STEP 3
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
100%
STEP 4
+ +
.
+
.
.
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
.
+
+
.
+
.
+
+
.
+
.
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
.
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
75%
STEP 1
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 2
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
100% 100%
STEP 1
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
STEP 3
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
+
+
+
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+
.
+
.
.
+
.
.
+
.
.
+
.
+
.
+
+
.
.
.
+
.
+
.
.
+
+
+
.
+
.
.
.
30%
STEP 1
+ .
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
.
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
90%
STEP 2
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 3
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
STEP 4
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%
STEP 1
48%
100% 100% 100%
100% 8,33%
6
PR 6
5
PR 5
4
PR 4
3
PR 3
2
PR 2
1
STEPS
PR 1
MOVES
TYPES AND FREQUENCY OF STEPS IN THE CORPUS
45
APPENDIX C
Figure 1 shows the first screen that is displayed when the police officer starts accessing the
PR system by typing their id number and password.
Figure 1 – PR system.
46
APPENDIX D
In Figure 2, we can see the screen where the police officer has to choose the option 1 to
begin to type the PR.
Figure 2 – Options displayed before starting to type the PR.
47
APPENDIX E
The following figures display the fields that are filled in by the police officer in order to
elaborate all the moves of the PR. The data typed in this screen will result in the part of the
PR illustrated in the Figure 4.
Figure 3 – PR inclusion.
APPENDIX F
Figure 4 - PR move generated after filling in the field showed in Figure 3
48
APPENDIX G
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the screens with the fields for including the participant (victim)
that will result in the part of the PR illustrated in Figure 8.
Figure 5 – Participant inclusion.
49
APPENDIX H
Figure 6 – Participant inclusion (personal data).
50
APPENDIX I
Figure 7 – Participant inclusion (home and professional addresses).
APPENDIX J
Figure 8 – PR move generated after filling in the fields showed in Figures 5, 6 and 7
51
APPENDIX K
Figure 9 shows the screen that generates the PR section illustrated in Figure 10.
Figure 9 – PR inclusion
52
APPENDIX L
Figure 10 – PR moves (1, 2, 4 and 6) generated after filling in the fields showed in Figure 9
53
APPENDIX M
Figure 11 shows the screen where the narrative of the events (history) is typed,
generating the PR section illustrated in Figure 12.
Figure 11 – Narrative of the events (history inclusion)
APPENDIX N
Figure 12 - PR move generated after filling in the field showed in Figure 11
54
APPENDIX O
PR MOVES AND STEPS