A Quick Overview of Forensic Handwriting Analysis
No two persons have the same fingerprint. Every person also has a distinct handwriting that can be assessed for its unique characteristics and features. While some people may share similar writing styles, the likelihood of handwriting being completely identical is rare or impossible. Many studies have been attempted to find two sets of handwriting that are identical with not one example found.
Handwriting analysts say that similarities in writing styles could be a result of characteristics acquired from handwriting lessons in school. Of course, there are cases where handwritings by two different individuals can, by coincidence, appear similar and it can be difficult to tell them apart. However, a skilled handwriting comparison expert is trained to distinguish between a coincidental similarity and a forgery where handwriting is deliberately copied by a forger imitating another person’s writings.
The assessment of handwriting and signatures for forgery is where forensic handwriting analysis comes into the picture. Learn more about this procedure and how it helps solve crimes of forgeries and alterations of documents.
Why analyse handwriting?
There have been numerous cases in which unsuspecting persons have lost their money through forgeries of signatures. Forensic handwriting analysis seeks to absolve the innocent in these scenarios. This analysis falls under the section of forensic science in which analysts (called questioned documents examiners or QDEs) examine questioned documents.
Forensic handwriting analysis looks for differences between two writing samples: one sample is from a known writer and the other is from an unidentified writer. Before looking for similarities, questioned documents examiners or QDEs search for differences in the document. To fish out any forgery, they assess letter design, variation in stroke pressure, spacing, height ratios, connections, slope and the apparent fluency/line speed of the pen strokes. These features can be generalised as falling under three headings:
Letter Form
Slants, curves, slopes and appearance of connecting lines, and comparable size of letters between their height and width – these are the elements that make up letter form. These elements differ among various individuals. The letter form also depends on its position in the word, which is why analysts are able to assess each letter and distinguish one’s handwriting from others.
Line Form
This involves smooth or dark lines that indicate the speed of a person’s writing. Line form also indicates the pressure applied by the writer. In signature forgery analysis, line form helps QDEs analyse the differing elements that can determine the original writer.
Formatting
This includes the spacing between letters and words. Formatting also involves the placement of words in a sentence, the space a writer left on the margins, and the spacing between lines. Spelling, grammar, phrasing, and punctuation marks can also make up formatting elements. Questioned document examiners check these elements including the stroke direction in lines for any similarities or dissimilarities.
What are the steps involved in handwriting analysis?
Questioned document examiners (QDEs) are highly trained in handwriting and signature forgery analysis. They use different methods to examine different types of documentation and determine their origins. These examiners mainly follow three steps in analysing a questioned document:
Analysis
In this step, examiners perform a thorough review of the known writing sample and the document written by an unknown writer to determine distinctive characteristics. They look for unique features like word spacing, slant, letters, and unusual formations of words.
Comparison
Having two papers in precisely the same characters written by different writers is very rare. Thus, comparison plays a crucial role in forensic handwriting analysis. This is where examiners make a distinction between the elements in both known and unknown documents. QDEs look at the formatting elements like grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Evaluation
After making all necessary analyses and comparisons, QDEs then evaluate the similarities in both the known and unknown samples. However, no single character can determine a match. This is why differences are mostly evaluated. QDEs consider all likenesses and make a judgment by evaluating the complete features of both the known and unknown documents.
The Primary Challenge
In many texts on forensic document examination the act of forgery is called simulation. This refers to the attempt to copy or disguise another person’s handwriting, which makes it harder to determine the outcome of a questioned document. Detecting simulation can be the primary challenge when analysing questioned documents. QDEs careful look at the document and look for factors of forgery such as shaky lines, pen lifts, and slow starts and finishes to pen stokes. These factors are present in a document if someone has attempted to copy letters and formed them slowly. By identifying these factors, QDEs can determine the noticeable differences from the original document. In the original sample written by the known writer, all letters are naturally and fluently written without a second thought.
Inaccuracy in comparisons can sometimes occur in an assessment of the specimen handwriting or signatures – sometimes called exemplars. QDEs carefully assess specimen handwriting and signatures to ensure they are consistent with being written by one person. QDEs also have to look into factors like drugs, exhaustion, illness and old age in this assessment..
How accurate is handwriting analysis?
Handwriting and signature analyses performed by highly trained forensic analysts are legitimate evidence. Thanks to a long and well documented history of scientific research (much of it based in Australia) there is a rich source of data to measure the low error rates associated with this field of forensics.
Handwriting forgery analysis is routinely accepted as expert evidence in Australian courts including the Supreme, District and Coronial jurisdictions. This evidence assists both Judges and juries in understanding the crime of signature forgery and document falsification.
For handwriting and signature comparisons in Sydney and all States and Territories of Australia, turn to Clifford Hobden of Forensic Document Investigation (FDI) today. Working in the NSW court system for the last 30 years, you can trust that the word conducted by Forensic Document Investigation (FDI) by Clifford Hobden can provide a reliable and respected expert service on handwriting and signature comparisons.
