Extracting and Formalizing Criminal-law Terminology Using DEXTER

Abstract

In this article we discuss the processes of terminology extraction and specialized knowledge conceptualization taking the field of criminal law as an illustrative case in point. Regarding the first process, we provide an overview of DEXTER, a tool that has proven effective in detecting specialized units from a collection of texts with minimal effort on the part of the user. Regarding the conceptualization phase, this article illustrates the conceptual definition of some representative units belonging to the field of "criminal offenders". The purpose of conceptual modeling along these lines is the inclusion of specialized units of thought into a knowledge base known as FunGramKB. The aim of this paper is to show that the combination of an extractor such as DEXTER with the semantic expressiveness of FunGramKB constitutes a solid basis for the improvement of specialized technological tools aimed at jurists, legal specialists, or other practitioners interested in legal terminology.