Handwriting Analysis

Handwriting is very useful for criminal cases. It can be used to identify forged checks, signatures, or even to identify someone from a note that was written by them. People have been interested in the relationship of the writer to their handwriting since as early as the 17^TH century. Handwriting analysis, however, did not truly emerge until the late 19^TH century, when a French abbe founded a school that tried to compare writing to traits to the writer. It was not until 1915 when a teacher from Kansas made a true breakthrough. The teacher noted that it was not the letter that defined the writer, but instead it was the shapes that formed the letter that made a writer’s handwriting unique.

http://www.torontohandwritinganalyst.com/history.html

There are 12 characteristics of handwriting. The list below is found at http://www.clt.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/112506/fsp10_handwriting.pdf

Line quality: Are the pen marks smooth and free flowing or shaky and wavering? This can be connected to the speed that the document was written at.

Spacing of words and letters: What is it the spacing between letters and words? Is it consistent?

Ratio of the relative height, width and size of letters: What is the ratio? Is it consistent?

Pen lifts and separations: Does the person stop to form new letters and begin words? Forgeries may have lifts in unusual places.

Connecting strokes: Are capitals connected to lowercase letters and are there connecting strokes between letters and words?

Beginning and ending strokes: Are these straight, curled, long or short, an upstroke or a down-stroke?

Unusual letter formation: Are there any unusually formed letters such as backward, letters with a tail, or unusual capitals?

Shading or pen pressure: Is the pen pressure on the upward or the downward strokes?

Slant: Is slant left or right or straight up and down? Is there consistency between the slant of letters.

Baseline habits: Is the writing above or below a line?

Flourishes and embellishments: Are there any? If so what are they?

Diacritic placement: How are the t’s crossed? Take note of the dotting of i’s, j’s. For example, are the dots to the right or left of the letter?

In a lab I participated in during class, I was part of a group in which we wrote a sentence both in cursive and regular print that contained every letter of the alphabet. We then had to switch papers, and try to freehand forge another person’s handwriting and then trace their handwriting. Freehand forging was very difficult; it is nearly impossible to replicate exactly another person’s writing. You have to copy the size of the loops in their letters, the placement/slant of the words, the dotting/crossing of certain letters, the pressure of the writing utensil, etc. Tracing was easier, but still very difficult. It is very hard to imitate how much pressure the person applies to their writing, how thick the lines of their letters are, and the slant/curve of their lettering. However, I did find tracing to be a lot more effective in producing a similar copy to the original handwriting.

After completing the previously mentioned activity, we were then required to write a ‘check’ in our own handwriting and then trade it with another person. We then had to attempt to identify who wrote the forged checks. It was fairly easy to identify who wrote the checks. Each check had very distinguishable features, such as the size of loops, slant of words, curves of letters, etc. We were successful in identifying the original writers, based on the fact that handwriting always provides the tell-tell signs of forgery, and if you are provided with an original sample, you can very nearly identify who wrote the forgery based on their handwriting characteristics.

One famous case in which handwriting analysis was used involved a German publisher who claimed that he had obtained a compilation of sixty-two notebooks that comprised Adolf Hitler’s diary. When compared to known samples of Hitler’s handwriting, analysts concluded that the documents were genuine. However, upon further investigation of the ink and paper used in the documents, the investigation revealed that the dictator could not have written the documents. This shows that it is possible to imitate handwriting and be successful.

http://www.enotes.com/handwriting-analysis-reference/handwriting-analysis