Handwriting Analysis

The differences in handwriting play a role in everyday life. Checks and official documents are confirmed by a signature. Items with the signature of famous athletes and celebrities can sell for thousands of dollars. Experts can identify if a signature is the authentic signature of someone by examining distinguishing characteristics of the handwriting. This analysis is also used in forensic science. Whenever handwriting is found on the scene of a crime, such as a note left by a killer or a suicide note, the identity of the writer can be found by comparing it to a sample from the suspected writer's handwriting.

Characteristics of Handwriting:

Line Quality: Can be used to identify the speed that the document was written at

Spacing of Words and Letters: How far apart are words and letters from one another? Is the spacing between them consistent?

Ratio of Relative Size of Letters

Pen Lifts and Separations: Where are letters connected or separated? Where did the writer lift up his hand? Pen lifts in unusual places are a key sign of forgery.

Connecting Strokes: How are letters connected to each other?

Beginning and Ending Strokes: Straight or curled, long or short, upstroke or down-stroke

Unique Letters: Are any letters formed in unusual ways or with unusual strokes?

Shading/Pen Pressure: How dark is the shading? Is the pressure placed on the upstroke or down-stroke?

Slant of Letters and Words: Left, right, or none? How sharp is the angle of the slant?

Baseline Habits: Does the writing stay in the middle or do strokes go above or below the line?

Flourishes and Embellishments

Diacritic Placement: How/where are i's dotted and t's crossed?

 

Handwriting Analysis Lab

To practice handwriting analysis, we conducted a lab in which we first wrote a sample sentence and attempted to forge the handwriting of others, both freehand and by tracing. We then wrote a fake check using a false name, ripped up the checks, and attempted to piece together the check and identify who wrote it. The ripped up check simulated an environment in which a handwriting sample was ripped up or shredded.

Forgery Lab

     For the forgery lab each person was allowed to create a fake check. After the checks were made, we were instructed to rip the check up into pieces there after each group traded with another group and were given the task to determine who forged the checks. By using the the list above as a guide in identification process.  Since each person had distinctive characteristics in their writing it became quite easy to identify the individual. Noticeable characteristics were identified, such as the way the person left their "q's", "y's" and "g's" endings shorter and didn't allow the "tails" of the letters to loop. The spacing and slant of the words were also evident and directed my group to the individual who conducted the forgery.

Famous Case
   

     Charles Lindbergh Jr. was the 20-month-old son of the famous aviator who was kidnapped on March 1, 1932 and although a ransom of $50,000 paid, Charles was never returned. In May his body was found just a few miles from home. From tracking the circulation of the bills used in the ransom payment, authorities were led to Bruno Hauptmann. Authorities discovered over $14,000 of the ransom money in his garage. Even though Hauptmann claimed the money belonged to a friend, handwriting analysts were able to match his writing to the ransom notes. Through additional forensic research there was a connection between the wood in Hauptmann’s attic and the wood used in the make-shift ladder the kidnappers built to reach the Lindbergh’s bedroom window. Hauptmann was convicted and executed in 1936.