Mean length of utterance is 12.39
What does this mean?
This is the killer's ID number to ID him as the writer of the ransom note.
Printing the Sentences - MUL
Ransom Note
Mean Length of Utterance
The average number of words per sentence is called the "mean length of utterance" (MLU).
The MLU equals the total number of words in a statement divided by the number of sentences:
Total number of words / Total number of sentences = MLU
Most people tend to speak in sentences of between 10 and 15 words (ACFE Self-Study CPE Course, "Analyzing Written Statements for Deception and Fraud," 2009).
When people feel anxious about an issue, they tend to speak in sentences that are either significantly longer or significantly shorter than the norm.
Investigators should pay particular attention to sentences whose length differs significantly from the subject's MLU.
The Ransom Note has 347 words and in made up of 28 sentences.
This is known as the killer’s MUL pattern.
347/ 28 = 12.39
The killer’s MUL is 12.39.
The sentence that has 30 words shows deception.
Words per sentence from the ransom note.
This is starting from line one to the end of the ransom note.
14,11,10,13,8,7,13,12,15,12,30,13,10,19,18,11,7,13,14,18,16,13,13,7,15,4,7,7
Truthful people make frequent use of the pronoun "I" to describe their actions:
" I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery.
The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested.
The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them."
This ransom statement contains the pronoun "I" three times in three sentences.
Deceptive people often use language that minimizes references to themselves.
One way to reduce self- references is to describe events in the passive voice and use the word we.
Team JBI