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Explore the world of document analysis and handwriting examination in forensic investigations. Learn how experts analyze handwriting characteristics, paper types, and ink sources to authenticate documents and identify forgeries. Discover the fascinating field of forensic document examination.
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What is the difference between graffitti and art? Graffitti is something scrawled/drawn on someone else’s property (even a rock or tree)… something drawn/written where others did not necessarily want it. http://auntiehathaway.blogspot.com/2009/08/gang-graffiti-links-and-notes.html
Chapter 15Document and HandwritingAnalysis “The handwriting on the wall may be a forgery” —Ralph Hodgson, British poet
Why would anyone be concerned about a piece of paper? Believe it or not, paper is involved in most crimes: Directly, as a ransom note in a kidnapping or a forged signature on a check. or Indirectly, as business records in a drug operation or as a receipt for a car rental…
Document Analysis • Expert analysts can individualize handwriting to a particular person. • There are three types of forgery. • Different types of paper can be characterized
Document Analysis • Analyze handwriting uses 12 points of analysis. • It is possible to detect deliberately disguised handwriting. • Detect erasures and develop impression writing. • Paper chromatography can be used to determine which pen altered a note. • There are safeguards against the counterfeiting of U.S. currency.
Questioned Documents • Examination of handwriting, ink, paper, etc. to ascertain source or authenticity • Examines letters, checks, licenses, contracts, wills, passports • Verify, authenticate, characterize papers, pigments, and inks
Related Fields • Historical Dating: verify age and value of document or object • Fraud Investigation: focus on money trail and criminal intent • Paper and Ink Specialists: date, type, source, and/or catalogue various types of paper, watermarks, ink, printing/copy/fax machines, computer cartridges • Forgery Specialists: analyze altered, obliterated, changed, or doctored documents and photos • Typewriting Analysts: determine origin, make, and models • Computer Crime Investigators: investigate cybercrime
The analysis and comparison of questioned documents with known material to identify if possible, author or origin of questioned document for legal purposes. Forensic Document Examination
Handwriting analysis two phases: • Hardware: ink, paper, pens, pencils, typewriter, printers • Visual examination of the writing
Line Quality Word and Letter Spacing Letter Comparison Pen Lifts Connecting strokes Beginning & ending strokes Unusual Letter Formation Shading or pen pressure Slant Baseline Habits Flourishes or embellishments Diacritic Placement: (how we cross t’s or dot i’s and j’s) The 12 Handwriting Characteristics
AND Irregularities such as an awkward or unnatural appearance or circle shapes made up of different strokes. There is wide variation in how people make their uppercase (capital) letters and the lowercase letters y, j, g, and q.
However, judging character from handwriting is not quite science… yet
This type of analysis is called graphology and is junk science. Handwriting also cannot be related to sex, race, education, religion, and usually not to health and age. A linguist, however, can often postulate the type of person and his or her background. One example of this happened in the Lindbergh kidnapping case.
Graphology the study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology it is considered a pseudoscience. False science (It is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to forensic document examination.)
Handwriting Identification • Analysis of “knowns” with a determination of characteristics found in the known • Analysis of questioned or unknown writing and determination of its characteristics • Comparison of questioned writing with known writing. • Evaluation of evidence, including similarities and dissimilarities between the “questioned” and “known” writing • Document examiner must have enough exemplars to make a determination of whether or not the two samples match.
Handwriting Identification Basically this means comparing unknownhandwriting to a known source to see if there is a match.
Handwriting Samples • The subject should not be shownthe questioned document • The subject is not told how to spellwords or use punctuation • The subject should use materials similar to those of the document • The dictated text should match some parts of the document • The subject should be asked to sign the text • There should always be a witness
Methods of Forgery • Blind forgery: made without a model of the signature • Simulated forgery: copying genuine signature • Traced forgery: tracing a genuine signature
Blind forgery is the most common Where the forger uses his or her own handwriting without trying to copy the original signature. He or she may not even know what the real signature looks like.
Simulated Forgery Copying a genuine signature by carefully drawing the signature. Often the forger practices the signature so much that he or she can avoid many of the hesitations and pen lifts usually seen in a forgery.
Traced Forgery Made by tracing a genuine signature onto a document using a light box, similar device, carbon paper or even pressing hard over a genuine signature and tracing the indentation. Stereomicroscopic examination can disclose this type of forgery, because the line quality may be inconsistent
Check Fraud Forgery Counterfeit Alterations Paper Money Counterfeit Identity theft Social Security Driver’s license You are going to have to add these to your notes: Credit Cards Theft of card or number Art: imitation with intent to deceive Microscopic examination Electromagnetic radiation Chemical analysis Contracts: alterations of contracts, medical records Types of Forgery
Document Alterations • Obliterations: writing removed by physical or chemical means can be detected by: • Microscopic examination • UV or infrared (IR) light • Digital image processing • Indentations can be detected by: • Oblique lighting • Electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA)
Digital image processing is becoming more a useful tool in making obliterated markings more visible through lightening, • darkening, contrast, and filters.
Forensic Linguist • Experts that look at linguistic content (the way something is written) of a document in question. • Language used can help establish writer’s age, gender, ethnicity, level of education, professional training, and ideology.
Ink Chromatography: method to physically separate ink components Types HPLC: high-performance liquid chromatography TLC—thin-layer chromatography Paper Chromatography
Paper Chromatography of Ink Tell apart ink from different manufacturers characterized with paper chromatography.
Retention Factor (Rf) • A number that represents how far a compound travels in a particular solvent • It is determined by measuring the distance the compound traveled and dividing it by the distance the solvent traveled.
Paper Differences • Raw material • Weight • Density • Thickness • Color • Watermarks • Age • Fluorescence
Pencils • Lead • Hardness Scale: traditional measure “lead” hardness (actually made of graphite) in pencils. • From softer to harder: 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, ..., with the standard "number 2" pencil being of hardness 2H.
Evidence • Class characteristic: general types of pens, pencils or paper. • Individual characteristics: unique, individual handwriting characteristics; trash marks from copiers, or printer serial numbers.
Counterfeiting 1996 the government began adding security features to our paper money because of advanced copying technologies raising incidences of counterfeiting. • $20 bill on October of 2003. • $50 in September of 2004. • $10 in September of 2005. Subtle background colors have been added and features to discourage counterfeiting.
As well as… the magnetic strip in larger bills Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
On a genuine bill, the saw-tooth points of the Federal Reserve and Treasury seals are clear, distinct, and sharp. Counterfeit seals may have uneven, blunt, or broken saw-tooth points. The genuine portrait appears lifelike and stands out distinctly from the background; counterfeit portraits are lifeless and flat. Details merge into the background, which is often too dark or mottled
Old fashioned handwriting: A cooking recipe
Notice the I joined to the following word – weird… Idid Ihave
William (Bill) Gates Michael jackson