Forensic or Scientific Handwriting Analysis
Forgery Experts Examine Questioned Documents
© Karen Lotter
Jan 6, 2009
A handwriting analyst with forensic training can determine, by comparing a document with samples of the same handwriting, if it is real
or a forgery.
A more comprehensive definition would read: forensic handwriting analysis is about comparing two or more documents and determining
within a reasonable degree of certainty whether the same person wrote them or whether different people wrote them.
Handwriting can be Almost as Distinct as Fingerprints
Even in the age of laptop computers and electronic money transfers, most people have to write at some time or other. It is said that a
person’s handwriting is as distinct at their fingerprints – ok, maybe a little harder to establish, but a good forensic handwriting analyst
should be able to compare and two or more match samples of handwriting that the same person wrote.
Graphology and Forensic Handwriting Analysis
Everybody has read the articles that tell people that if their handwriting is really small, they are subconsciously trying to hide from the
world or they are insecure; or that if they write the initial letters of their first or last name much bigger than the other letters, they like
attention. Well, this kind of analysis is usually done by a graphologist, which forensic scientists insist have nothing to do with actual
scientific forensic handwriting analysis.
However, in the United Kingdom and other regions outside the USA, the term, Graphology is regarded as part of Handwriting Analysis,
so keep that in mind.
What is Forensic Handwriting Analysis?
Forensic handwriting analysis has helped send people to jail since the days of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Many famous cases
have centered on handwriting evidence and forensic document examination.
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Acceptability in Court in the USA
For a long time forensic handwriting analysis seemed respectable in US courtrooms, but its status has been shaky since 1993, when
the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals.
Previously the chief criterion for the admissibility of expert testimony had been whether it was, based on techniques "generally
accepted" by scientists.
Forensic Comparison of Questioned Documents
Often, when crime scene investigators (CSIs) come across a document that is part of a crime scene, it is taken to a forensic handwriting
analyst or forgery expert who must determine if the handwriting is consistent with the person who is suspected of writing it or maybe if
the writing is a forgery.
In other words, a forensic handwriting analysis expert decides whether two or more samples were written by the same person, e.g.,
whether a signature was forged.
Handwriting Samples and the Fifth Amendment
In the USA, the Fifth Amendment states that every person has the right not to incriminate him/herself. It has been established that it is
not a violation of a person’s rights to provide a requested sample of their writing for comparison purposes. Therefore, the court can
order a suspect to provide a handwriting standard even if he is reluctant.
Problems with Handwriting Analysis
Because handwriting analysis cannot be scientifically measured, the results of a handwriting comparisons are still not always accepted
as evidence in a court case.
The addition of computerized handwriting analysis systems to the process, including the FISH (Forensic Information System for
Handwriting) system, may speed up the process of general acceptance of handwriting analysis as a science and as expert evidence in
court.
Database of Handwriting Samples
To date there is nothing yet like AFIS, but in its Questioned Documents Division, the US Government maintains a database of
handwriting samples. The National Fraudulent Check File, Bank Robbery Note File, and the Anonymous Letter File are all operated by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These databases contain reference files to which forensic handwriting analysts can compare
some questionable documents.
Sources:
Case law for Attorneys and Investigators. Case Law : Obtaining Handwriting Samples. www.Usalawbooks.com
Scientific Handwriting Analysis By Frits Cohen, Forensic Handwriting Analyst
The Straight Dope: Is handwriting analysis legit science? April 18, 2003 .www.thestraightdope.com
The copyright of the article Forensic or Scientific Handwriting Analysis in Crime Scene Processing is owned by Karen Lotter.
Permission to republish Forensic or Scientific Handwriting Analysis in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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What is Forensic Ballistics?
Firearms Identification is a Branch of Toolmark Identification
© Karen Lotter
Apr 26, 2008
Firearms Identification is a forensic science often referred to as ballistics. Forensic ballistics identifies firearm usage in crimes.
The term ballistics refers to the science of the travel of a projectile in flight. The flight path of a bullet includes: travel down the barrel,
path through the air and path through a target.
What is Forensic Ballistics?
Forensic ballistics is the science of analyzing firearm usage in crimes. Forensic ballistics involves analysis of bullets and bullet impacts
to determine the type. Separately from the ballistics information, firearm and tool mark examinations also involve analyzing firearm,
ammunition, and tool mark evidence in order to establish whether a certain firearm or tool was used in the commission of a crime.
One of the disciplines of forensic science is firearms identification which is defined by forensic experts as:
The identification of fired bullets, cartridge cases or other ammunition components as having been fired from a specific firearm.
Firearms Produce Unique Toolmarks
Firearm identification is also one of the branches of toolmark identification. This is because the firearm, made of a material harder than
the ammunition components, acts as a tool that leaves impressed or striated marks on the various shell casings and other ammunition
componensts with which it comes into contact.
And like fingerprints, no two firearms, even those of the same make and model, will produce the same marks on fired bullets and
cartridge cases. Furthermore, the manufacturing processes and the use of the firearm leave surface characteristics that cannot be
exactly reproduced in any other firearm. This means that the toolmarks are unique to each firearm.
Another aspect that people often don’t know, is that firearms do not normally change much over time. This allows for firearms recovered
months or even years after a shooting to be identified by forensic experts as having fired a specific bullet or cartridge case.
Firearm Evidence is Submitted to Forensic Laboratories
Most law enforcement agencies have access to a forensic laboratory to aid in their investigations where highly skilled forensic experts
conduct examinations on many different types of evidence collected at crime scenes, including on firearms, bullets and cartridge cases.
Firearms evidence submitted to a lab's Firearms Section will typically include:

a firearm

spent bullets

spent cartridge cases

spent shot shells and/or shot

shot shell wadding

live ammunition

clothing
What do Forensic Ballistic Experts Do?
Forensic ballistic experts look at certain characteristics of firearms that relate to the bullets fired from them including the caliber of the
firearm and the rifling pattern contained in the barrel of the firearm.
Cartridges and cartridge cases on the other hand are examined for similarities in what are called breech marks, firing pin impressions,
extractor marks, ejector marks and other named toolmarks.
One of the most important tools in forensic ballistics is the comparison microscope also called a comparison macroscope, where these
toolmarks can be compared side by side and matched or eliminated.
Computer Analysis and Databases Assist Crime Labs
If the firearm is not recovered, and the crime lab has the marks on a cartridge case there's yet another approach. They can input it into
one of the many databases – similar to CODIS , the DNA database. One of the ballistics databases forensic labs in the USA use is FBI
sponsored Drugfire.
The Firearms-Toolmarks Unit (FTU) is one of many subdivisions of the FBI Laboratory devoted to a specific discipline of forensic
science. They use Drugfire, an automated, national computerized forensic firearms identification system that integrates, cartridge case,
shotshell and bullet analysis, as well as electronic firearms reference libraries, on a single computer platform.
Hits are made when a system user finds a match between a specimen they added into the database and a previously filed specimen.
Sources:
FirearmsID.com
FBI FTU
The copyright of the article What is Forensic Ballistics? in Forensic Science is owned by Karen Lotter. Permission to republish
What is Forensic Ballistics? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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