Forensic Handwriting Analysis Reading Answers

Forensic Handwriting Analysis

The forensic science discipline of handwriting examination and analysis initially surfaced as evidence in courts in around 1868, when a forged will was exposed. Over at least the last 150 years, many published scientific studies have focused on the individuality and reproducibility of handwriting for use in a forensic setting. The discipline primarily relies upon a trained handwriting examiner assessing the similarities of known and unknown samples in order to generate a conclusion. Handwriting is a complex motor skill that is created by a combination of sensory, neurological, and physiological impulses. Factors such as visual perception and acuity, comprehension of form, central nervous system pathways, and the anatomy of the hand and arm all combine to produce the desired output.

Most people learn to write by copying letter formations from a copybook at a young age. The ability to reproduce these varies from one person to the next and is based on each writer's perception of the shape and his or her ability to reproduce it. The act of handwriting is mastered through practice and repetition. Once this occurs, writers focus on the subject matter rather than the physical act of writing and deviate from the copybook forms, interjecting their own individualities. The writing becomes a pattern of the subconscious, and habits, which are repeated from one piece of writing to the next.

The comparison and evaluation of these individual features or habits enable forensic document examiners to identify or exclude, if possible, a known writer as the source for any questioned writing. Lay people may recognise the handwriting of an individual and differentiate between individuals to some degree; however, they observe only the gross features of the handwriting, such as letter formation, size, or slope of the handwriting. Lay people typically do not consider the subtleties in the writing that may differentiate it from other very similar writing. In contrast, document examiners analyse and can differentiate both the gross features and the less conspicuous elements in writing. Handwriting features that examiners evaluate include pen pressure, pen lifts, the spacing between words and letters, the position of the writing on the baseline (the position of the character in relation to the ruled or imaginary line), height relationships, beginning and ending strokes, and line quality. A writer's identity cannot be established through an individual feature in the writing. Rather, identity is established through a combination of the significant features between the writings, with no significant differences.

Not all handwriting is identifiable. For example, when a person traces another individual's signature, that person imitates the writing habits of the original signer, and therefore, the imitator's own handwriting characteristics are not manifested in the tracing. The forensic document examiner would be able to identify the writing as a tracing and associate the writing back to the model signature, if available, but would not be able to identify the writing with the person who traced the signature. No one person writes exactly the same way, even within several repetitions of writings. This is known as natural variation, or intra-writer variation. Human beings are not capable of machine like precision and repetition. As a result of the neuromuscular process, this variation in style is expected. Variation is an integral part of an individual's writing. It describes the changes and deviations, often minute, that are found in repeated samples of one person's writing. More specifically, variation refers to the different ways that a writer makes each letter or character. This variation is normal and serves as an added factor to personalize and individualize writing. Handwriting examination is a subset of the forensic science discipline of questioned documents.

Forensic document examiners conduct scientific examinations, comparisons, and analyses of documents in order to establish genuineness or non-genuineness, to reveal alterations, additions, or deletions, identify or eliminate persons as the source of handwriting, identify or eliminate the source of machine produced documents, typewriting, or other impression marks, or relative evidence, and preserve and/or restore legibility. Forensic document examiners help lawyers by examining and offering written opinions on a variety of disputed document problems including: wills, deeds,

medical records, income tax records, time sheets, contracts, loan agreements, election petitions, checks, and anonymous letters. Each analysis begins with an independent examination of the questioned and then the known writing using proper lighting and magnification to determine if the writing is original writing, for example ink on paper, and whether it exhibits the characteristics of freely and naturally prepared writing. Some of the characteristics of naturally prepared writing include consistent slant and size, thickening and thinning of the lines as the writing instrument changes direction, and

tapered beginning and ending strokes that occur once the writing instrument comes into contact with or leaves the paper.

Additionally, each body of writing is examined to assess internal consistency, comparability, and variation. The most suitable text for comparison is natural writing, void of any attempt to disguise and/or distort the writing; however, any writing can be of value for comparison. As a discipline, forensic document examination has been consistently accepted in the judiciary in spite of court challenges. Published papers demonstrate the validity of the expertise and support the principle of handwriting individuality. Published criteria ensure consistency in methodology and document examiners in both public and private laboratories use these standards. Ongoing research continues to support the forensic document examination community in strengthening the scientific foundation for forensic handwriting analysis.