Crime Scene to Court - Chpt.18 - examination of documents and handwriting

due to its uniqueness, it was one of earliest forms of identification of individual

areas of expertise:

  • identification of handwriting and signatures

  • knowledge of modern office printers

  • composition of ink, paper and materials from which documents are produced

  • techniques such as electrostatic detection of impressions (ESDA)

  • imaging processes which allow origin and history of documents to be studied

qualifications and training

  • not essential

  • best form of training is 2-yr apprenticeship alongside highly experienced document examiners before examiner handles own casework

  • trainee should follow formal training and cover different areas they will encounter in case work

types of cases undertaken

areas where it might be required

  • criminal prosecution

  • coroners court

  • etc

  • fraud and forgery

  • money laundering

  • violent crime, murder, rape

  • counter terrorism

  • identity theft

  • malicious communications

  • civil litigation

  • internal investigations

used by police, HMRC, DWP

choosing an expert

up to the individual to ascertain expert is competent and credible

no formal register of experts in UK

should be able to demonstrate solid scientific background at appropriate degree level, period of training in FS lab, possession of fully equipped lab, research in field

member of Chartered Society of FS

expert should undertake range of coursework

prepared to appear in court as expert witness and understand and comply with role

examinations

why?

  • is it forgery

  • who wrote document

  • has it been altered

  • have paged been removed

  • are documents from same source

  • what is history of documents?

types of examination undertaken

  • to assess comparison/alterations

  • indented impressions

  • ink comparison

  • sequencing of entries

  • reconstruction of documents and decipherment of obliterated or faded entries

equipment used for examination

  • good lighting and use of darkened room

  • hand lens and stereo zoom microscopy allowing magnification of x5 to x40

  • infrared, UV, high intensity and transmitted light sources for studying inks, alterations, latent marks and for overlaying images accurately

  • electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA) or equivalent - study impressions

  • oblique light and transmitted light sources e.g. light box

  • methods of recording visual results by either photographic or computer image capture techniques, as well as facilities for preparing demonstration materials for presentation in court

  • use of specialist equipment shouldn’t deter expert witness from interpreting findings

identification of handwriting

development of handwriting

  • basic shapes taught in school - particular to each country pretty much

  • brain injury can affect way of writing or need to re-learn

  • gender cannot be determined

  • handwriting tends to attain maturity in early adulthood and remains consistent until effects of old age

construction of character forms

  • block capital forms e.g. EGHK can be written in distinctly different forms

  • other alterations are more subtle

  • characters are generally more rounded or angular

  • internal and relative proportions of characters will be taken into account

  • crossing H and T are distinct too

  • magnification of pen lines

  • direction of pen lines can sometimes be used to determine R or L handed

ballpoint pen lines frequently show striations following the direction of curves

pen deposits ink after change in direction

lightening of pen strokes can indicate pen leaving paper

striations always move outwards on a curve

other writing instruments produce pen lines that are more difficult to interpret

use of good stereoscopic microscope and proper lighting is essential to study character forms in detail

natural variation

all handwriting exhibits natural variation

often in shape and proportions but sometimes structure

comparison of writing

  • compared like with like

  • letter for letter

  • punctuation, formation, pen, skill, connectedness, cross strokes

affecting factors on appearance

alcohol - more spread, less legible, uncoordinated movement

drugs - dependent on type and sensitivity - may improve tremors - Parkinsons - others may reduce skill, fluency and coordination'

writing position/surface

  • graffiti

  • important to examine reverse of document also

age/illness/mood

Parkinsons - tremor in pen line and “micrographia” - small writing

Alzheimers - loss of control, angular formations, abrupt direction change, repetitions

disguised handwriting

  • some good some bad

  • detected by inconsistency in handwriting

simulated handwriting

  • difficult and cannot be obtained quickly

  • differences in detail

non-roman script

  • examiner will be familiar with UK but not other languages too

expression of handwriting conclusions

  • assemble observation of differences and similarities

  • everything is probable and isnt 100% true

copy documents

hard to make comparison between copy pictures as details are lost in print

if in copy its not possible to examine:

Graphology

analysis of handwriting to determine personality traits

no scientific basis though

examination of signatures

  • most used piece of handwriting

  • applies throughout languages

  • small amount of comparable features due to natural variation

  • ideally require original copy due to this fact

  • frequently the targets of forgery

simulation

  • using a genuine model to forge

  • but will bear no resemblance to genuine signature style

tracing

  • usually in pencil then inked over

  • detectable by lack of fluency - not the same number of strokes as original

freehand simulation

  • most encountered way

  • not most fluent way

  • can be detected by the unusual pauses before making each character

cut and paste simulation

  • non are superimposable on another

authorship simulation

  • not normally possible to identify author of simulated signature by comparing with natural handwriting as they are actively supressing their own characteristics

self forgery

  • intentionally changing length of signature or the obvious omission of a part

  • made with intent to deny at a later date

vulnerable signatures

  • signatures are short and simple containing a natural number of pen lifts

  • wide range of variation

  • signatures of elderly people naturally contain lack of pen control, undue variation and poorly formed character forms

guided hand signatures

  • elderly, blind, disabled aided in signing documents

  • characteristics are mixed between signator and assistant

comparison material

  • needs to be compared with like words e.g. jones cannot be compared with smith

  • no ideal material

  • sign multiple times on piece of paper

  • identification e.g. passport - signature

examination of copy documents

  • photocopying or electronic scanning are ways of obtaining copies

  • must be deemed authentic

  • copy may be a montage from genuine documents

  • important to demonstrate origin of document

  • two types of mark on a photocopy that can be used to do this:

-trash marks — transient and produced by dust particles or debris on glass of photocopier

-drum or mechanism marks — persist for longer period of time and can identify a specific machine, don’t appear on same position on every page but can be detected by constant intervals in which they appear,

interval is directly related to circumference of the drum and not dimensions of document being copied

development of colour photocopiers increases concern for counterfeiting

printing and typewriting

word processors

  • computer program to prepare a computer file of document which is to be printed

  • laser and jet ink printers

  • appearance of the printed characters is to a large extent governed by computer program

  • introduction of fonts has been important in authentication of documents

laser printers

  • same principle as photocopier

  • high quality images

  • very reproducible

  • extremely difficult to distinguish between the work of two different laser printers

ink jet printers

  • commonly used

  • gives print a slightly ragged appearance

  • difficult to distinguish between

typewriters

  • occasionally encountered in casework

  • hate mail correspondence

  • fixed bar and single element typewriters

origin and history of documents

authenticity of documents

examination of inks

  • establish if inks are similar or different

  • view under different lights and UV, spectroscopy and infra red, chromatography

  • some high end pens contain ‘markers’ to identify important individual who owns the pen

examination of paper

  • optical brighteners are incorporated into some - different reaction under UV

  • origin of paper identified by watermark

development of handwriting and signatures over time

  • demonstrate stages of development

  • signatures and writing can be matched back to a certain period

impressions

  • left as a result of writing on stacked material

  • need to be enhanced to make visible

  • deep impressions detected using oblique lighting

  • fainter impressions - electrostatic detection (ESDA) - not always successful

  • ‘secondary impressions’ after storing paper together that deep impression from one paper embosses the other

folds creases and tears

  • may indicate what was done with the paper

  • torn edges can be matched to another piece

staples and punch holes

  • can identify which documents have been stored together

erasures, obliterations and additions

  • erasing an entry from a document will damage it

  • mechanical removal will be physically damaging

  • chemical erasure will leave no trace to unaided eye

  • can be viewed under UV

stamp and seal identification

  • e.g. passports

printed documents

  • specially printed using methods to deter alterations or counterfeiting

  • fibres can be added to the paper

  • fugitive inks can be difficult to replicate

  • studying alterations can identify breaches in documents security

  • counterfeit must be compared with a real one

procedures, protocols, quality assurance

  • following same standards

  • ensure document retains integrity

  • record processes clearly

  • examiners report should be comprehensive drawing conclusions and results