Handwriting Analysis

QUESTION ? A piece of paper is involved in most crimes, perhaps indirectly like in a ransom note in a kidnapping or a forged signature on a check and even directly in business records of a drug operation or as a receipt for a car rental.

People’s Handwriting Like fingerprints, handwriting is one of the few definitive unique characteristics available to a person investigating someone’s penmanship, which makes it physical evidence. People’s writing habits carry on from childhood to adulthood. These habits are called class characteristics. People develop unique nuances in their writing. The combination of such unique features give their handwriting individual characteristics that differentiate one person’s handwriting from another’s. The way people write becomes so subconscious that it is quite difficult to disguise.

HOW to ANALYZE HANDWRITING The tools needed to examine a document are: stereomicroscope, templates, protractors, grids, and other measurement devices. Different types of light sources are needed to detect forgeries, changes, and obliterations. Given enough evidence and exemplars, a document expert may be able to present handwriting as individual evidence in a court of law.

Characteristics : to determine whether a signature or writing is authentic, a document examiner will generally examine 12 characteristics 1.Line quality: are the line smooth, free flowing, and rhythmic, or shaky, nervous, and wavering? 2.Spacing of words & letters: examine space between words and letter formation and consistency in the questioned and known documents. 3.Ratio of relative height, width, and size of letters: are the overall height, width, and size of the letters consistent? 4.Pen lifts and separations: check how writer stops to form letters and begin words. Forgeries may have pen lifts or separations in unusual places. 5.Connecting strokes: comparison of lowercase and capital letters, and how strokes connect. 6.Beginning & ending strokes: how a writer begins and ends a word, number, or letter. 7.Unusual letter formation: letters written backward, with a tail, or unusual capitals 8.Shading & pen pressure: check for pressure on the downward and upward strokes. 9.Slant : does the writing slant to the left or right, or up and down? 10.Baseline habits: is the writing above or below the line? 11.Flourishes or embellishments: are there any fancy letters, curls, loops, circles, etc.? 12.Placement of diacritics: check the crossing of t’s and dotting of I’s, j’s, etc.

Conclusion The examination of handwriting covers many areas of investigation, including verifying handwriting and signatures; authenticating documents; characterizing papers, pigments, and inks used in writing utensils, instruments, and copying machines; restoring erased and obliterated writing; and even determining the relative age of documents and inks.