CHAPTER 16 – HANDWRITING & DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

1. Historical dating—the verification of age and value of a document or object

2. Fraud investigation—focuses on the money trail and criminal intent

3. Paper and ink specialists—date, type, source, and/or catalog various types of paper, watermarks, ink, printing/copy/fax machines, computer cartridges

4. Forgery specialists—analyze altered, obliterated, changed, or doctored documents and photos

5. Typewriting analysts—determine origin, make, and model

6. Computer crime investigators—investigate cybercrime

Document Examination

1. Forensic document examination involves the analysis and comparison of questioned documents with known material in order to identify whenever possible, the author or origin of the questioned document.

Handwriting

Handwriting analysis involves two phases:

1. The hardware—ink, paper, pens, pencils, typewriter, printers

2. Visual examination of the writing

Handwriting Characteristics

1. Line quality

2. Word and letter spacing

3. Letter comparison

4. Pen lifts

5. Connecting strokes

6. Beginning and ending strokes

7. Unusual letter formation

8. Shading or pen pressure

9. Slant

10. Baseline habits

11. Flourishes or embellishments

12. Diacritic placement

Handwriting Identification1. Analysis of the known writing with a determination of the

characteristics found in the known

2. Analysis of the questioned or unknown writing and determination of its characteristics

3. Comparison of the questioned writing with the known writing

4. Evaluation of the evidence, including the similarities and dissimilarities between the questioned and known writing

5. The document examiner must have enough exemplars to make a determination of whether or not the two samples match.

Handwriting Samples

1. The subject should not be shown the questioned document.

2. The subject is not told how to spell words or use punctuation.

3. The subject should use materials similar to those of the document.

4. The dictated text should match some parts of the document.

5. The subject should be asked to sign the text.

6. Always have a witness.

Hand writing: Individual or Class evidence?1. Class Characteristics:

– Features and dimensions of letters.– Connection of letters to each other– Capitalization– Punctuation

2. Individual Characteristics: – Unique features of letters.– Is the letter “O” open or closed– Is the “n”written with a pointed tip

**Handwriting samples change about every seven years**

Basic characteristics for comparing Handwriting1. Overall Form

– The size, shape, slant, and strokes of the letters

2. Line Features– Writing speed, pen pressure, spacing

between letters and words and how the letters are connected.

3. Margins and Format4. Content

– Grammar, punctuation and word choice

Handwriting Analysis – on a piece of loose leaf, copy the following passage. 2 minutes.

Writing is a form of expression and neat handwriting is important when writing anything that will be read by someone else. We are often judged by the quality of our handwriting and when our penmanship is poor we appear to be lazy or incompetent.

Handwriting Analysis

• Look through the 5 indicator results (Emotional Indicators, Goals, Self-Image, Social Skills, Attitude)

• Match your score with the profile• Do you agree with all of the results??

• After looking at all of your results, write a brief reaction (quick write). Do you agree with the analysis? Do you think this form of analysis is useful? Explain. To be handed in.

Methods of Forgery

1. Simulated forgery—

one made by copying a

genuine signature

2. Traced forgery—one

made by tracing a

genuine signature

3. Blind forgery—one

made without a model of

the signature

Types of Forgery

1. Check fraud

– Forgery

– Counterfeit

– Alterations

2. Paper money

– Counterfeit

3. Identity

– Social Security

– Driver’s license

1. Credit cards

– Theft of card or number

2. Art—imitation with intent to deceive

– Microscopic examination

– Electromagnetic radiation

– Chemical analysis

3. Contracts—alterations of contracts, medical records

Document Alterations

1. Obliterations—removal of writing by physical or chemical means can be detected by:

– Microscopic examination

– UV or infrared (IR) light

– Digital image processing

2. Indentations can be detected by:

– Oblique lighting

– Electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA)

– http://player.vimeo.com/video/22036861?

– http://player.vimeo.com/video/22036153

Famous Forgers and Forgeries1. Major George Byron (Lord

Byron forgeries)

2. Thomas Chatterton (literary forgeries)

3. John Payne Collier (printed forgeries)

4. Dorman David (Texas Declaration of Independence)

5. Mark Hofmann (Mormon, Freemason forgeries)

6. William Henry Ireland (Shakespeare forgeries)

7. Clifford Irving (Howard Hughes forgery)

8. Konrad Kujau (Hitler diaries)

9. James Macpherson (Ossian manuscript)

10. George Psalmanasar (literary forgery)

11. Alexander Howland Smith (historical documents)

Forensic Linguist

1. Expert who looks at the linguistic content (the way something is written) of a questioned document

2. Language that is used can help to establish the writer’s age, gender, ethnicity, level of education, professional training, and ideology.

3. http://youtu.be/4z6Krsjwc84

4. http://youtu.be/Dy4fYa-NZPk

Ink

1. Chromatography is a method of physically separating the components of inks.

2. Types

– HPLC—high-performance liquid chromatography

– TLC—thin-layer chromatography

– Paper chromatography

Paper Chromatography of Ink

Two samples of black ink from two different manufacturers have been characterized using paper chromatography.

Retention Factor (Rf)

1. A number that represents how far a compound travels in a particular solvent

2. It is determined by measuring the distance the compound traveled and dividing it by the distance the solvent traveled.

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Paper

Differences1. Raw material

2. Weight

3. Density

4. Thickness

5. Color

6. Watermarks

7. Age

8. Fluorescence

Pencils

1. Lead

2. Hardness scale– a traditional measure of

the hardness of the “leads” (actually made of graphite) in pencils.

– The hardness scale, from softer to harder, takes the form ..., 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, ..., with the standard “number 2” pencil being of hardness 2H.

Evidence

1. Class characteristics may include:

1. general types of pens

2. pencils

3. paper.

2. Individual characteristics may include:

1. unique, individual handwriting characteristics

2. trash marks from copiers

3. printer serial numbers.

There are 5 things that differ in these pictures!

Can you find them all?A

B

Spot the Counterfeit

Spot the Counterfeit

Spot the Counterfeit (same 2 bills)

Counterfeiting

1. In 1996 the government starting adding new security features to our paper money due to the advanced copying technologies that have raised the incidence of counterfeiting.

2. The $20 bill entered circulation on October of 2003, followed by the $50 in September of 2004, and then the $10 in September of 2005.

3. Subtle background colors have been added along with other features to discourage counterfeiting.

Know Your Money

Internet Crimes

1. Computer intrusions

2. Identity theft

3. Transmission of illegal items

4. Extortion and harassment

5. Piracy

6. Cyberterrorism

More about Document Analysis

For additional information about document and handwriting analysis, check out truTV’s Crime Library at:

www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/literary/1.htm

Or learn about forgery cases at:

www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/lincoln_forgers/index.html