New linguistics research casts doubt on decades-old murder conviction

By Helen Fraser, Director of the Research Hub for Language in Forensic Evidence, The University of Melbourne
Eleanor Kettle, PhD Candidate in Forensic Linguistics, The University of Melbourne
Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University
Michele Ruyters, Associate Dean, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University
Rod Gardner, Associate Professor of Linguistics, School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland

On September 8 1988, 20-year-old Janine Balding was abducted, raped, and brutally murdered in New South Wales. Police quickly arrested four youths, who accused an older man nicknamed “Shorty”.

Two weeks later, police interviewed Stephen “Shorty” Jamieson. Within a few hours, they had a full confession, typed by one of the detectives, and signed by Jamieson as a “record of interview” given of his own free will.

But when Jamieson arrived at his committal hearing, the youths called out to…

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