Forensic Research: Handwriting Analysis

History Of Handwriting Analysis

Hand writing analysis, known as graphology is the study of a person’s hand writing (obviously) as well as whether or not an article of writing is forged and even the character of the writer. The first direct research document was a book written by an Italian physician named Camillo Baldi written in 1622 but evidence shows that there was interest over 2000 years ago. Later in the 1870’s Frenchman Jean Michon would coin the name graphology as well as expand on its research. His work started a growing interest in graphology that moved through Europe.

In 1897 a man froms Switzerland known as Dr. Max Pulver made a further contribution to graphological research regarding symbolism in handwriting. In both direction and in symbolism of space, His division of the handwriting into the three vertical 'zones' explains aspects of the handwriting previously misunderstood; vertical movement, horizontal movement, and depth.

In 1979 a company known as HRC revolutionized handwriting analysis with a hand writing analyzing program known as the computer handwriting analysis profile system (aka CHAPS). This development created an accurate way of matching characteristics of an individual with their hand writing.

The Components of Calligraphy

In hand writing analysis forensic scientists have determined 12 basic characteristics of identification. These 12 are used to determine criminal messages as well as forgeries. They components are as followed.

Line Quality –are lines faded or thick

Size consistency – Compare ratio of height to width
Word and Letter Spacing– Is the writing spaced out or crowded

Connecting letters – are capitals and lower-case letters connected and continuous?
Letters complete – are letters fully written or partially ?
Continuous - Does the pen lift or is it continuous writing?

Cursive/Printed – cursive printed or both (when)
Pen Pressure – equal up and down strokes
Slant – does it lean left or right? Does it even slant?

Flourishes or Embellishments – Does it have fancy curves?
Diacritic Placement – correct, misplaced, t’s crossed towards top/bottom, i’s dotted? Dotted to the right/left/centered?
Line Habits– above line, below line, on line?

Forgery!

The main purpose regarding handwriting analysis is determining forgeries invalid and scientists have thus created a protocol for determining validity. As stated in the previous section there are 12 main characteristics of forgery. The following image is of my personal handwriting (frightening) of the sentance "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."

In most cases of freehand forgery a forger copying a signature might make awkward starts and stops. This is due to the fact that a forger may reposition a pen to get the right spot, and when finished with a certain piece of the writing will firmly lift up to end their writing to avoid any errors but in doing this leaves behind an identifiable mistake. This will result in signs of hesitation and pen lifts. These traits can be observed in this person's forgery of my hand writing. As it can be seen there are more distinct and static lines as 'Bruce Wayne' tries to mimic my erratic handwriting.

While freehand forgeries have a lot of dissimilarities between the original piece and the copy, trace forgeries are almost identical to the original work in almost every aspect. That in itself gives it away as no two signatures (even if by the same person) are 100% identical. Trace forgeries are preformed typically by holding the origional signature and document destined to bear the fals signature to a light source and copy the image, while another method is to place pressure on the origonal document in order to leave an idention on the sheet behind it which will then be traced directly. The giveaway in this picture is that it is almost identical to the origional and it also has distinct lines from where the pencil was pressed (the forger did not start the cursive replica).

From reviewing the types of forgery I believe that trace forgery is a much easier method as opposed to free handing as you can succesfully replicate an identical copy. However I feel that trace forgeries can be much more easily identified as they will bear an uncanny resembalence to the origional document.

Infamous Case

At the end of WWII the plane carrying Hitler's private archives crashed, apparently destroying Hitler’s written archives for good, however no evidence of them being destroyed could be found. Later a man named Gerd Heidemann purchased the first volume of Hitler's diary from a man who claimed he acquired them from an East German general. Heidemmann’s supervisor purchased the copies for a substantial amount of money without checking for authenticity. Debates arose about the authenticity when people noticed the similarities between the articles and another published work. Upon further inspection the writing in the diaries didn’t match up well with Hitler’s and labels on the diary, supposedly meant to have been typed in 1943, were dated only to have been written 9 years earlier through handwriting analysis. The diary's binding contained polyester threads which were not first manufactured until 1953 and the paper also contained a type of fluorescent brightener that was not introduced until 1954. The forger of the diary and Gerd Heidemann were both sentenced to four and a half years in jail based on this evidence.

This document is Hitler's own photographed hand writing, compare it to the forgery from the book mentioned in the above paragraph.

While the image is blurry you can still see slightly heavier lines in sections as well as it's rigid structure. This most likely was a free handed forge.