In the fast-paced world of forensic science, crime scenes are often associated with dramatic settings—blood-stained floors, shattered glass, or forensic firearms evidence. However, some of the most crucial evidence can be found in the seemingly overlooked writing world: letters, signatures, and handwritten notes. When pen and paper become the crime scene artifacts, forensic document examiners step in to uncover the hidden truths these documents may hold.
Understanding Document Examination
Document examination is the meticulous analysis of written or hand printed material to determine its authenticity, origin, or authorship. This field of forensic science is vital in legal investigations where the legitimacy of documents such as wills, contracts, ransom notes, checks, banking material, medical records or anonymous letters become the center focus in question. Through careful comparisons and detailed analysis, document examiners can opine whether a document is genuine or fraudulent, thereby helping to solve crimes and resolve critical disputes. A document is anything that can be written on such as lipstick on mirrors, chalk on a chalkboard, messages scratched into vehicles or on locker doors, as well as writing on any surface.
Of all of the forensic sciences, document examination is the more challenging since duplicate signatures are indictive of a copying process. No one can duplicate handwriting exactly. We use patterns to assist us in determining authenticity. To make things more challenging, writing can be cut and pasted from a genuine document and added to a fraudulent document. When a photocopy is created and declared the best evidence, it may be difficult to identify its origin.
Key Tenets of Document Examination
- Comprehensive Analysis of Handwriting: At the heart of document examination lies the study of handwriting. Every individual’s handwriting is unique, influenced by a combination of fine motor skills, lifelong habits, and personal style. Handwriting is brain writing. Once a writer has developed skill in writing, the brain directs the hand while the writer concentrates on the message. As a result, it is very difficult to capture another person’s handwriting style when one wants to create a bogus document.
- Examiners analyze various features such as line quality, pressure patterns, slant, size and proportion, letter formation, method of construction, and spacing, to determine whether a questioned writing was written by the suspect.
- Importance of Contemporaneous Exemplars: To make accurate comparisons, examiners rely on contemporaneous exemplars, that is, samples of writing produced around the same time as the questioned document. Writing samples should be within two years of the questioned material, both before and after the date of the questioned material. Document examiners also use exemplars from other time frames, especially of a writer who is consistent over a large period of time.
- Handwriting can change over time due to factors such as age, health, medications, injuries, or even stress, so using exemplars from the same period helps ensure a more reliable analysis. In this situation, examiners try and gather as many samples as possible as writing is known to have subtle and natural variations within a person’s writing habits. It is not uncommon for a skilled document examiner to cull through 20 or more exemplars to ensure consistency of the writing.
- Attention to Detail in Document Characteristics: Beyond handwriting, document examiners scrutinize other characteristics, such as the type of ink used, paper quality, paper origin, amount of pressure applied to the handwriting, angles and influence of tracing and any alterations or erasures. These fine details can provide crucial evidence about the document’s origin and whether it has been tampered with.
- Evaluation of Circumstances and Context: Understanding the context in which a document was created is essential. Whether the writing was produced under duress, in a hurry, while sitting, standing, lying down or with the intention to deceive, these factors can influence the appearance of the handwriting and the document as a whole. Was the correspondence written for regular business writing, personal writing, formal writing or other. Examiners must consider these circumstances to accurately interpret the evidence. Writers tend to have several writing styles, often with noticeable different variations for formal, business or pleasure.
- Cumulative Evidence Approach: Conclusions in document examination are not drawn from one or two isolated features but from the cumulative evidence of similarities and differences. By analyzing a range of characteristics, examiners can build a comprehensive profile of the writing, leading to more accurate and reliable conclusions. Opinions are then formed by using a percentage of certainty based on many factors, such as the condition and value of the writing samples provided. Often high-power microscopes and magnifying glasses and accurate measuring devices with the ability to read down to the mm are routine for a skilled document examiner.
- The basic rule for the identification of handwriting is that there must be similarities between questioned and known but it is always a two-fold process, there can be no fundamental unexplainable differences in order to make an identification of authenticity. Fundamental differences are irreconcilable differences. Fundamental differences in handwriting that are significant include: differences in line quality, pressure patterns, method of construction, skill level, pen strokes, or subtle subconscious handwriting characteristics. Differences in letter forms are also significant but not always fundamental differences.
- There is no set number of similarities because they can be handwriting characteristics that have more value because they are rarely seen in the population A forger must choose between maintaining good line quality and adhering to the letter forms of a model. If the forger concentrates on the line quality, the writing will not adhere to the model. If the forger adheres to the model, the line quality will suffer. Therefore, poor line quality or lack of adherence to the model writing indicates a different writer. Poor line quality looks drawn or tremulous and frequently is drawn and not written.
The Role of Document Examiners in the Justice System
Document examiners play a crucial role in the justice system, providing expert testimony in court to support or challenge the authenticity of documents. Their work can be pivotal in cases involving forgery, identity theft, medical fraud, disguise, espionage, other forms of fraud, and other crimes where written evidence is central. By revealing the truth hidden within the strokes
of a pen, these experts help ensure that justice is served by uncovering otherwise unknown or overlooked evidence.
The author1 worked a medical identification theft that involved twin sisters who were sharing an insurance medical card interchangeably between the two of them. One twin had a job with a legitimate medical insurance issued to her and she was then sharing the medical card with the other twin who did not have medical insurance of her own. This was a classic example of a felony level insurance fraud scam. The meticulous inspection and examination of the two twins handwriting and signatures, showed unequivocally that the two signatures did not match, which finally put their medical fraud days to an abrupt ending.
In another case, a former hospital employee forged a doctor’s name on several fictitious emergency room visits. They set up a scam in which they falsely claimed that a beauty product caused second degree burns to a patient’s face. Of course, there were no burns and no emergency room visits, as it turned out to be a very profitable scam until document examination techniques were deployed. Again, a meticulous inspection and examination of both the doctor’s and the perpetrators handwriting and signatures differed, finally put their bogus emergency room fraudulent visits to a fiery end.
Document examiners provide assistance in “reading” under whiteout, identifying the date paper was first manufactured based upon its watermark and determining sequence of writing. For example, geese decoys containing two different names required the document examiner to determine which name was on top. Document examiners also identify synchronous writing. Synchronous writing refers to writing done at one time as opposed to writing at a different time, usually seen in diaries or journals. One of the ways of proving that the Hitler Diaries were bogus was based upon the fact that document examiners were able to see synchronous writing since the forger was working furiously to complete the diaries making multiple entries at the same time.
One case involved a question of synchronous writing. The perpetrator claimed that she wrote contemporaneous notes during an incident when her husband suffered a heart attack. She had 25 pages of notes. I3 was able to prove that the notes were all written at the same time based upon the fact that the writing was more similar than writing done at a different time and that there were indentations on most pages from the notes on the previous page. The perpetrator claimed that she made notes on different pieces of paper but the 25 pages were all completed on a single pad of yellow lined paper.
Many cases are challenges to Last Will and Testament Documents. One of the cases involved a statement that the perpetrator stated was the Last Will and Testament of her husband. There was a document examiner who agreed with his client. The document examiner on the other side of the case declared that the document was created by the widow. The widow subsequently confessed to writing the document that she called the Last Will and Testament of her deceased husband.
Most cases do not go to court. Only about 10% of cases are adjudicated. Of those cases, document examiners rarely disagree so that it is only a small percentage of cases where document examiners present different opinions.
In a world where written words can hold the power to change lives, document examination serves as a critical role and important expertise skill set in uncovering the truth. Whether it’s validating a will or unmasking a forgery, the careful analysis of documents can turn the seemingly ordinary pen and paper into a key piece of critical evidence which can easily become the hallmark of a criminal or civil case, proving once again that when pen and paper become the crime scene, the truth lies in the details for skilled document examiners.
There may be power in the pen, but then comes a knock-out punch with the specialized tools, training and expertise of a document examiner!
The author2 is specially trained in forensic document examination, handwriting analysis and statement analysis. He has successfully utilized these skills as a law enforcement officer, corporate security director and private investigator.
Wiliam Losefsky
Katherine M. Koppenhaver
