Documents

Documents

• A document is defined as anything on which a mark is madefor the purpose of transmitting a message.

• A questioned document is one where it’s origin is unknown.

• A standard/exemplar is a document of know origin.

• A standard/exemplar is used for comparison

• Forgery is the act of falsifying documents.

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• A standard/exemplar vs. questioned document.

1956 Weinberger Kidnapping:“your baby sitter”

• An FBI-conducted analysis and made a match between the top two sign-offs ("Your baby sitter"), pulled from the ransom notes, and the bottom two, from the prime suspect .

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Documents as Evidence

• Because no two people have the same handwriting itis individual evidence.

• However, a person’s physical and emotional well-beingcan alter an individual’s writing.

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Handwriting Development

• As an individual matures, their handwriting becomes subconscious and habitual shapes sand patterns distinguishit from others.

• When children first learn to write, their handwriting is similar,with differences based on skill.

• Basic patterns are set for most people by young adulthood.

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Handwriting Analysis

• Handwriting experts may be able to make a positive identificationif there are enough samples for examination and enough exemplarsagainst to compare those samples.

• To determine if a signature or writing is authentic, a documentexaminer will generally examine 12 characteristics.

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Handwriting Analysis

1. Line quality: Are the line smooth, free flowing, and rhythmic oror shaky, nervous, and wavering?

2. Spacing of words and letters: Is the spacing between the wordsletters consistent between exemplar and known document?

3. Ratio of relative height, width, and size of letters: Are theyconsistent between exemplar and known document?

4. Pen lifts and separations: Check to see how writer stops to form new letters. Forgers may have pen lifts or separarionsin unusual places.

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5. Connecting strokes: Compare how capital letters are connectedlower case letters and how strokes connect between letters andwords.

6. Beginning and ending strokes: Compare how a writer begins and ends a word. Are they straight, curved, upstroke, down stroke?

7. Unusual letter formations: Does the letter have a tail or any unusual capitals?

8. Pen pressure: Individuals use different amounts of pressurewhen writing.

Handwriting Analysis

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9. Slant: Dose the writing slant to the left or right, or is it straight up and down?

10. Baseline habits: Does the writing tend to move upward, downward, or continue on a straight line?

11. Embellishments: Are there many fancy letters, curls, loops,circles, etc.

12. Placement of diacriticals: Check the crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s and j’s.

Handwriting Analysis

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Handwriting Analysis “Graphology”

Graphology is the study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology.

Graphology is based upon the following basic assertions:

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1. When we write, the ego is active but it is not always active to the same degree. Thus influencing our handwriting.

2. When the action of writing is comparatively difficult, the writer uses those forms of letters which are simpler or more familiar.

3. Written strokes reflect both transitory and long term changes in the central nervous system such as Parkinson’s disease, drug or alcohol usage.

4. The movements and corresponding levels of muscular tension in writing are mostly outside of conscious control. Emotion, mental state, and biomechanical factors such as muscle stiffness and elasticity are reflected in a person's handwriting.

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5. One must examine the handwriting or drawing movements by considering them as movements organized by the central nervous system and produced under biomechanical and dynamical constraints. Given these considerations, graphologists proceed to evaluate the pattern, form, movement, rhythm, quality, and consistency of the graphic stroke in terms of psychological interpretations. Such interpretations vary according to the graphological theory applied by the analyst.

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Approaches to “Graphology”

This approach holds that specific stroke structures relate to personality traits. Most systems within this approach use a cluster of stroke formations, to score a specific personality trait. Systems that fall under this umbrella are: fixed signs, trait stroke, French System and Graphoanalysis. It has been described as starting from the inside, and working to the outside.

1. Integrative Graphology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphoanalysis

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In this approach a profile is constructed on the basis of form, movement and space. It has been described as starting from the outside, and working to the inside. In this approach, individual traits, such as legibility, are not assigned specific meanings, but can take on different meanings depending on the overall context.

2. Holistic Graphology

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In this approach, one looks for symbols seen in the handwriting. This can be either Major symbolism, or Minor Symbolism

3. Symbolic Analysis

Major symbolism is the meaning ascribed to the stroke, as it related to the page.

Minor symbolism ascribes a meaning to the stroke, depending upon the picture that the stroke draws. For example, John's Wayne’s signature shows a blackened out portion, that represents his lung cancer.

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Validity to “Graphology”

Recent studies testing the validity of using handwriting for predicting personality traits have been consistently negative.

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JonBenet Ramsey Case

• According to the testimony of Patsy Ramsey, on December26, 1996, she discovered her daughter missing after finding atwo and half-page ransom note on the kitchen staircase, demanding $118,000 for the safe return of her daughter, which was the exact value of a bonus her husband receiveearlier that year.

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Ransom Note

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Handwriting Slant Analysis

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Result of Handwriting Analysis:

In handwriting analysis, it is not the similarity of the letters by themselves that is important, it is the TOTALITY of the similar letters in addition to other factors. Anyone can have a few similar traits in their handwriting, but it is not the traits alone that define authorship. The analysis must be taken as a whole, and other components such as spacing, rhythm, pressure, margins, primary zones, connecting strokes and pastosity are all part of the comparison.

Patsy Ramsey has ALL of the above-mentioned traits in common with the Ransom Note writer. I have pointed out only a few of the obvious similarities, but there are many more. Patsy Ramsey waspresent in the house and had means, motive and opportunity to write the Ransom Note. The odds of someone else with the exact same handwriting traits coming in and killing her daughter, leaving a three page ransom note and staging a crime scene are absolutely astronomical.

In addition, it would be impossible to successfully forge a three-page ransom note in Patsy’s unique handwriting. That type of forgery has been tried in various experiments, and has failed.

Together, the handwriting analysis and linguistic analysis give one result.

Patsy Ramsey is the author of the Ransom Note.

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Ink

• Ink can be studied with Chromatography.

• Chromatography is a simple procedurewhere a solvent is used to separate inkinto basic components.

• It is than possible to compare a notewith a certain pen.

• Manufacturers are “tagging” inks andchanging it every year to make datingquestioned documents easier.

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Spectral Comparator

• An indispensable tool for a document analysts the Spectral Comparator.

• It uses different light sources to see what the eye cannot.

UV Light (ink) UV Light (paper) UV Light (watermark)