Forensic Handwriting Analysis – Obtaining Handwriting Samples

When crime scene investigators (CSIs) come across a document that is part of a crime, a forensic handwriting analyst must determine if the handwriting is consistent with the person suspected of writing it or if the handwriting is a forgery. .

To make this determination, the writing examiner will require several standard handwriting samples gold rules as it’s called, to get an idea of ​​the person’s writing style and determine whether or not that person wrote the questionable note. To make matters worse, standard writing samples may have been created with a different writing instrument and under different events surrounding the document. Therefore, making comparisons of a disputed document with a known writing sample in another document may be impossible.

If it’s not usable unsolicited standard handwriting samples, existing handwriting samples known to be authentic, the forensic handwriting analyst then asks the alleged perpetrator to provide a handwriting sample while using a pen or pencil and paper similar to the questioned document so that the forensic investigator can establish what is known as a requested standard handwriting sign.

Unsolicited standards are advantageous for several reasons. The most important reason is that unsolicited samples reveal the true writing style of the writer and reveal words and phrases that the writer uses regularly. This can be used as strong evidence against the writer. For example, old documents and letters may contain key phrases that are consistent with those used in a suicide note. The main disadvantage of unsolicited standard handwriting samples is that they also need to be authenticated. If they can’t be directly linked to the perpetrator, they are of little value to the criminal investigator.

It is a fact that handwriting styles change throughout our lives. Therefore, examiners try to obtain writing samples of documents written by a presumed writer that are consistent with when a questioned document was apparently written. Suppose an examiner is asked to determine whether a 15-year-old handwritten document, such as a will, is authentic and was actually written by the apparent author. The forensic handwriting analyst will be required to examine other documents written by the apparent author from 15 years ago because those documents will be consistent with his writing style from that time period when the will was prepared.

The biggest advantage of requested writing samples is that they are already authentic. The forensic handwriting examiner visually inspects the person writing her name. The investigator may also request that the person write a specific sentence similar to one found in a questioned document so that the examiner can make word-for-word comparisons between the two sentences. Sometimes the questioned document contains information that the examiner does not want to reveal to the suspect. In this case, the examiner asks the suspect to write a sentence containing key phrases that were used in the questioned document.

Solicited writing samples also have their drawbacks. Some people get nervous and therefore focus too much on providing a writing sample. This can cause unusual anomalies in the way they normally write and sign their names. For this reason, minimal changes are presented that make it difficult to make an accurate comparison.

The alleged author may also attempt to knowingly disguise your writing style so that your handwriting sample does not match the writing on a forged check, will, or some other disputed document. It is unfortunate for the handwriting examiner that the suspect succeeds in changing her writing style in such a way that it is difficult to obtain a consistent match.

One way to circumvent this problem is to have the suspect write a large amount of content across multiple pages. While changing his style is easy when he writes short sentences, the more he writes across multiple pages, the more conscious changes give way to his normal way of writing. Verbally repeating the same content to the presumed writer multiple times is another trick handwriting analysts use to stifle anyone’s attempts to disguise their normal writing style. With each attempt, the suspect is more likely to use different styles. An overzealous examiner then discovers the hidden elements of his writing style and the devices the perpetrator used to hide them within the requested writing before making the comparison.

Criminal investigators are not concerned with a suspect’s reluctance to provide a writing sample. One might think that providing a handwriting sample would violate the Fifth Amendment which states that a person has the right not to incriminate himself. According to the US Supreme Court in one case, Gilbert v. the state of california, handwriting is part of the physical identifying characteristics that are not protected by the Fifth Amendment. Thus, the court may order a suspect to provide a writing standard even if he is reluctant.