Handwriting

Transcript:

What can documents tell us?

● Verifying handwriting and signatures

● Authenticating documents

● Characterizing papers, pigments, and ink

● Restoring erased or obliterated writing

● Determining relative ages of documents and inks

Direct vs. Indirect Involvement

Paper is involved in most crimes

Directly - can be in the form of a random note, suicide note, etc

Indirectly - business records in a drug operation, a receipt for a car rental

What do they use?

● Stereomicroscope

● Templates

● Protractors (measurements, angles, etc.)

● Grids

● Light Sources

● Other measurement devices

Stereoscope

● A stereoscope shows one image in one eyepiece and another image in another eyepiece ● Shows depth

Light Sources

● Light sources are used to detect:

● Forgery

● Changes to documents

● Obliterations

● Usually shine light source from below paper up through to look for discrepancies ● IR Luminescence:

● Inks reflect luminescence differently

● Can show erased writing and differentiate between the types of ink

Templates

● General templates for different ways of writing letters

● Used to identify traits or characteristics of the writer

Why can handwriting be used?

● When children learn to write, they develop class characteristics, which mimic the templates students are learning from

● When we become adults, our writing becomes more subconscious and styles develop that are different from everyone else's

● difficult to disguise our handwriting for this reason

● handwriting can serve as individual evidence

Vocabulary

Questioned document - any object that contains handwritten or typewritten markings whose source or authenticity is in doubt

- letters, checks, driver's licenses, contracts, wills, passports

Exemplar- (specimen) a known sample that is used for comparison

12 Characteristics

Scientists use 12 characteristics to determine whether a signature or writing is authentic. Handwriting experts may be able to make an identification if:

-there are enough samples for examination

-enough samples to compare to.

1. Line Quality

Are the lines smooth, free-flowing, and rhythmic, or shaky, nervous, and wavering?

2. Spacing of words and letters

Examine the average amount of space between words and letter formation.

Is the spacing between words and letters consistent in the questioned and known documents? 3. Ratio of relative height, width, and size of letters

What are the overall height, width, and size of the letters in the questioned vs. known documents? Are they consistent?

4. Pen lifts and separations

Check how the writer stops to form new letters and begin words.

Forgeries may have pen lifts or separations in unusual places, for instance, in writing a single letter.

5. Connecting strokes

Compare how capital letters are connected to lowercase letters and how strokes connect between letters and between words.

6. Beginning and ending strokes

Compare how the writer begins a word, number, or letter and how the writer ends a word, number, or letter.

Are the strokes straight, curled, long, or short?

Are they made on the upstroke or downstroke?

7. Unusual letter formation

Look for unusual letter formation

- letters written back to front

- letters written backwards

- letters with a tail

- unusual capitals

8. Shading and pen pressure

Individuals use different amounts of pressure with a pen or pencil, making the lines darker and wider. Check for pressure on the downward and upward strokes.

9. Slant

Does the writing slant to the left or right, or is it straight up and down?

Are some letters consistently slanted more or less than others?

10. Baseline habits

Does the writing tend to follow a straight line, move downward, or move upward? Is it above or below the line?

10. Baseline habits

11. Flourishes or embellishments

Are there any fancy letters, curls, loops, circles, double loops, or underlines?

12. Placement of diacritics

Diacritic - The crossing of t's and dotting of i's and j's

Check the crossing of t's and dotting of i's, j's, or any other letters or punctuation marks. Is the line on the t long in proportion to the stem? Is it located to the left or right? Are the i's dotted above or to the left or right?

Factors that can affect handwriting:

Health - various disorders, arthritis, stroke, Parkinson's, tremors

Age - Senility

Alcohol or Drugs

Methods of Forgery

Forgery - an item prepared with the intent to deceive or defraud.

The most common type of forgery is a signature.

Blind Forgery

Blind forgery - where the forger uses his or her handwriting without even trying to copy the signature or model being forged

They are usually done during petition fraud, anonymous harassment, and other civil and criminal cases. Investigators have the highest success rate in identifying this type of forgery.

Simulated forgery

Simulated forgery occurs when a genuine signature is copied by carefully drawing it - Usually, the forger practices the signature so much that they can avoid the normal breaks

Usually identified by discovering microscopic handwriting habits present in the known and not present in the questioned.

It is very different to identify a suspect.

Traced Forgery

Traced forgery is done by tracing a genuine signature onto a document using a lightbox or similar device. - can also use carbon paper or trace the original

A stereomicroscopic examination can determine whether this happened because the line quality may be inconsistent.

Obliterations

Obliteration - the removal of writing by physical or chemical means

- Erasing with a rubber eraser or by scraping off ink disturbs the upper layer of fiber or the paper's coating, which can be seen under the microscope.

- Using oxidizing agents like chlorine and sodium hypochlorite can make ink colorless but can be seen in UV or IR