Handwriting Analysis

1.       History of handwriting analysis

           

Hundreds of years ago, Aristotle noticed the close relationship between handwriting and personality. The Chinese discovered the relationship between character and handwriting. Alfred Binet, confirmed that certain character traits are reflected in handwriting. It is said that handwriting is a very individual trademark of personality. No two people have exactly the same handwriting goes the same with fingerprints. A person's signature is like his own seal and cannot be reproduced by any other individual.

    

http://www.google.com/search?rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&hl=en&q=alfred%20binet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

2. List of 12 handwriting characteristics

1. Line quality: Do the letters flow or are they written with very intent strokes?

2. Spacing of words and letters: What is the average space between words and letters?

3. Ratio of height, width, and size of letters: Are the letters consistent in height, width, and size?

4. Lifting pen: Does the author lift his or her pen to stop writing a word and start a new word?

5. Connecting strokes: How are capital letters connected to lower-case letters?

6. Strokes to begin and end: Where does the letter begin and end on a page?

7. Unusual letter formation: Are any letters written with unusual slants or angles? Are some letters printed rather than in cursive?

8. Pen pressure: How much pen pressure is applied on upward and downward strokes?

9. Slant: Do letters slant to the left or right? If a  slant is pronounced, a protractor may be used to determine the degree.

10. Baseline habits: Does the author write on the line or does the writing go above or below the line?

11. Fancy writing habits; Are there any unusual curls or loops or unique styles?

12. Placement of diacritics: How does the author cross the t's or dot the i's?

http://mzielonkaforensics.blogspot.com/2009/08/twelve-basic-characteristics-for.html

3. Have pictures and analysis of a handwriting analysis template.  State how the free handing forgery and tracing forgery differ using the 12 handwriting characters. In other words, how would you tell that they are forgeries? Which do you think is easier as a forgery technique: free handing or tracing?

Usually you can easily tell the difference between tracing  and freehand forgeries,  because the hand no longer glides naturally because it is studied intently on following g the lines so perfectly that they make broken lines and an uneven flow of the ink. Even retouched lines may be made to back track to correct a wrongdoing. The shades may be different because they may have spent a more amount of time on the one letter being cautious. Contrary, free handing may have the flow but it is way harder to completely implicate it. I believe the easier one is tracing.

The top two are from the same person and are forged while the ones on the bottom are the forged ones.

4. Reflect on the check forgery activity explain the steps/ process of your check forgery? Did you and your group identify the proper person/ persons who did the forgeries? Which characteristics were the most distinguishing in your analysis?

In the check forgery activity we had a template of our printed and cursive sentences. We used every word in the alphabet. We than obtained fake checks and filled them out signing our alias names. We ripped them up and passed them to the next table. Using the sheet with our handwriting we used those to try to find out whose check we had. My group did successfully found out the person. With mine the “y” s was very distinctive.

http://www.handwritinganalysis.ca/Articles/Forgery-By-Tracing.html

5. Research a famous forgery case and explain how forensic handwriting analysis was used to expose the forgery.

There was a diary supposedly found in a metal lined container that was found in a fiery plane crash and they were accounts that were made to seem made by Hitler. Millions believed this and they were later found out to be a hoax because the historical accounts conflicted with the accounts made in the diaries. They made experts test the handwriting and after many rigorous tests they found it out to be an elaborate forgery. 

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/scams/hitler_diaries/2.html

In my reflection :

       In my class we had a template, we wrote a sentence in print and in cursive. We than had 2 different people forge our handwriting by free hand and tracing. Using the 12 charasteristics we analyzed the difference in our handwriting.