1ST PAGE TOPICS

DEFINITION OF TERMS (1-32)

PUBLIC DOCUMENT

A document prepared or authenticated by a public official (such as a notary public) with the formalities required by law.

OFFICIAL DOCUMENT

A document issued by a public official in the exercise of the functions of their office.

PRIVATE DOCUMENT

A document created by an individual without any public official involvement.

COMMERCIAL DOCUMENT

Any document defined and regulated by commercial law (such as the Code of Commerce).

ANCIENT DOCUMENT

Generally, a document that is very old (commonly defined as more than 20 or 30 years old) and that may require special techniques for authentication due to its age.

FRAUDULENT ALTERATIONS

Documents that show signs of erasures, overwriting, or other modifications intended to deceive.

HOLOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTS

These are documents (often wills or letters) that are wholly handwritten by one person.

QUESTIONS OF AGE OR MATERIALS

Some examinations focus on the age of the document (when it was created) or the materials used to produce it.

TYPEWRITTEN OR PRINTED DOCUMENTS (TYPE PRINTS)

These are documents where the question is about their machine-produced text - for instance, identifying the typewriter font or printer technology used.

TECHNICAL/CRIMINALISTIC EXAMINATION

This involves the scientific analysis of the document's physical and chemical attributes to detect signs of tampering or forgery. Examiners use tools like magnifiers, microscopes, special lighting (infrared and ultraviolet), filters, and other laboratory equipment to uncover forgeries, erasures, obliterations, or alterations that are not obvious to the naked eye.

HANDWRITING IDENTIFICATION

In cases involving handwritten documents or signatures, examiners perform a comparative analysis of writing. The fundamental principle is that handwriting is individualistic - over time, each person develops unique habits and fine motor skill patterns in their writing.

MICROSCOPE

are fundamental in document analysis.

SPECIALIZED LIGHTING AND FILTERS

Document examiners use various lighting techniques to reveal features not visible under normal light.

ELECTROSTATIC DETECTION APPARATUS

The _________ is a specialized instrument used to visualize indentations on paper

DOCUMENT SCANNERS AND PHOTOCOPIERS

High-resolution document scanners and photocopying devices are used to create enlarged or enhanced copies of documents for analysis.

DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING SOFTWARE

Modern forensic document examination often employs software to assist in analysis.

VIDEO SPECTRAL COMPARATOR

Comparator is an integrated system that combines lighting sources, filters, and a digital camera with a monitor, allowing the examiner to systematically examine a document under various wavelengths of light.

THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY

___________is a technique for separating the components of ink dyes. Note: _________ is considered a destructive technique since it consumes part of the evidence ink; it is usually performed only when necessary and with appropriate permission.

EXEMPLAR COLLECTIONS (REFERENCE SAMPLES)

A crucial resource in questioned document work is a collection of standard samples or exemplars for comparison

COLLECTED (PROCURED) STANDARDS

authentic specimens of a person's writing or documents, gathered from real life sources (e.g. previous documents like letters, signed forms, diaries, canceled checks).

REQUESTED STANDARDS

writings that are taken under controlled conditions specifically for the investigation.

PAPER ANALYSIS TOOLS (CALIPERS AND MICROMETERS)

Examiners will also examine the paper of a document - its thickness, weight, and other properties - to see if pages are mismatched or if a page has been substituted.

PHOTOGRAPHY

is an indispensable technique in questioned document examination. It serves both analytical and demonstrative purposes.

ULTRAVIOLET PHOTOGRAPHY

In ______ photography, the document is illuminated with ______(often with all visible light excluded or filtered out). Many materials react to UV by fluorescing (glowing) or absorbing the UV differently than visible light.

INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY

____________ involves using _______ lighting and appropriate filters to either record ____________reflectance or I_____luminescence from the document.

 

CUT-OUT EXHIBITS

These are composite photographic exhibits created by cutting out individual words, letters, or signatures from photographs of documents and arranging them for direct comparison.

DISPLAY EXHIBITS

This refers to large, blown-up photographs of documents or parts of documents that are mounted for display (e.g., on an easel) in the courtroom.

HAND EXHIBITS

These are normal-sized or slightly enlarged photographic copies of a document (or its parts) that car: be handed to each juror to examine closely.

MICROPHOTOGRAPHS

These are highly reduced photographs of documents.

PHOTOMICROGRAPHS

These are photographs taken through a microscope, essentially capturing a magnified view of a portion of a document.

PHOTOCOPY

In forensic terms, this simply refers to any reproduction of a document onto paper using a copying process.

XEROX

Commonly used as a verb or noun to mean a photocopy, _______ is actually a trade name (a brand of photocopy machines and the company that makes them).