HandwritingAnalysis,Forgery,andCounterfeiting

ForensicScienceChapter10

Introduction• Documentanalysis– examinationandcomparisonof

questioneddocumentswithknownmaterial.Expertsestablishtheauthenticityofthedocumentsanddetectanychanges,erasures,orobliterationsthatmayhaveoccurred.

• Questioneddocuments– anysignature,handwriting,typewriting,orotherwrittenmarkwhosesourceorauthenticityisindisputeoruncertain.Exs:checks,certificates,wills,passports,licenses,money,letters,contracts,suicidenotes,receipts,lotterytickets.

• DocumentExpert– speciallytrainedpersonwhoscientificallyanalyzeshandwritingandotherfeaturesinadocument,oftentodetectchangesfromtheoriginal.Thisisnotthesameasagraphologist.Agraphologiststudiesthepersonalityofthewriterbasedonhandwritingsamples.Graphologyisnotawidelyacceptedpartofforensics.

History• Likefingerprints,everyperson’shandwritingisuniqueand

personalized.Handwritingisdifficulttodisguiseorforgeandanalysiscanprovideausefultoolinforensicsinexcludingpersonswhendeterminingamatchbetweenknownmaterial(exemplar).

• 1930s,handwritingplayedagreatroleinthetrialofBrunoRichardHauptmann forthekidnappingandmurderofthesonofCharlesLindbergh.Analysisofthemanyransomnotes,alongwithsamples,ledtoHauptmann’sconvictionandexecution.Hauptmann’sinvolvementisstillbeingquestionedduetohandlingofthedocuments.

• Courtshavenotalwaysacceptedhandwritinganalysisasacreditableformofevidence.In1999,theU.S.CourtofAppealsdeterminedthathandwritinganalysisqualifiedasaformofexperttestimony.

HandwritingandForgery• Everyone’shandwritingexhibitsnaturalvariationduetoseveralfactors.Penvs.pencil,marker,orcrayon,mood,age,andspeedcanallcontributetothedifferencewenoticeinourownhandwriting.

• Despitetheseminorvariations,eachpersonhasauniquehandwritingstyle.Slant,curl,andheightcandistinguishouridentity.Adultsshowslightvariation(thebrainhasbeentrained)becausethecharactersareformedasaresultofhabit.(Trythis,write“Ismellgoodfood”whilelookingatyourpaper.Nowwriteitagainwithoutlooking.Thehandwritingshouldstillbeverysimilar,maybeonlycrooked.Neat,huh!)

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Everyone’shandwritingshowsnaturalvariations.Hereare6ofthe12major,specifictraits.

The traits are functions of formatting or of letter or line form. Here are the other 6 of the 12 major, specific traits

CharacteristicsofHandwriting• Handwritingexpertsexamine12majorcategoriesof

exemplars.Thesearefunctionsofletterform,lineform,andformatting.

• Letterform includestheshapeofletters,curveofletters,theangleorslantofletter,proportionalsizeofletters,andtheuseandappearanceofconnectinglinesbetweenletters.(Are“i”sdottedand“t”scrossed?)

• Lineform includesthesmoothnessoflettersandthedarknessofthelinesontheupwardcomparedtothedownwardstroke.Lineformisinfluencedbyspeedandpressureandoccasionallythechoiceofwritingutensil.

• Formatting includesthespacingbetweenletters,thespacingbetweenwordsandlines,theplacementofwordsonaline,andthemargins.

Line quality

Spacing (excessive)

Four signatures from same person demonstrating variation

Low-skilled writer High-skilled writer

Purposely distorted

HandwritingExaminationAnalyzingaHandwritingSample

• Thegoalofforensichandwritinganalysisistoanswerquestionsaboutasuspiciousdocumentanddetermineauthorshipusingavarietyofscientificmethods.“Twowritingsaretheproductofonepersonifthesimilarities…are…[unique]andtherearenofundamentalunexplainabledifferences.”

• Forgeries – documentsmade,adapted,orfalsifiedwiththeintentionofdeceivingsomeone.

• Thereare3basicstepsintheprocessofanalyzingahandwritingsample.1: thequestioneddocumentandthestandards(exemplars)areexaminedanddetectablecharacteristicsarerecorded.Asampleshouldbeobtainedwithoutlettingthepersonknowwhatforifpossible.Greatexemplarswouldbeletters,greetingcards,andnotes.2:Characteristicsofthequestioneditemarecomparedwiththeknownstandard.3: Expertsdeterminewhichcharacteristicsarevaluablefordrawingaconclusionabouttheauthenticityandauthorshipofthequestioneddocument.

• Obviousdifferencesbetweenastandardandaquestioneddocumentwouldshowdifferentauthors.Suchsamplescanbevisuallyeliminatedwithouteverhavingtoassessthelistofhandwritingcharacteristics.

• Similaritiesdonotguaranteecommonauthorship.Sometimescharacteristicsofonepersoncanoccurinanotherperson’shandwriting.

• Documentexpertsmusttakeintoaccountagreatnumberoffactorsandastatisticallysignificantrepetitionofsimilarities intheiranalyses.Proscantellifapersonhastriedtodisguisetheirhandwritingorcopysomeoneelse’s.

• 1:Asuspectshouldnotbeshownthequestioneddocument2:asuspectshouldnotbegivenanyinstructionsaboutpunctuationorspelling3:thepenandpapershouldbesimilartothatofthequestiondocument.

TechnologyUsedinHandwritingAnalysis

• Initialcomparisonsaredonewiththenakedeye,ahandheldlens,oramicroscope.Specializedequipmentcanrevealminordetailsabouthowadocumentwaschanged.Infraredspectroscope candetermineifmorethanonekindofinkwasusedonthedocument(differentinks,differentlightreflections).

• BiometricSignaturePads – anewresearchtool,hasbeendesignedforidentityauthentification.Thiscomputerpadrecognizesyoursignaturebasedonspeed,pressureandrhythmofsigningyourname.

• ComputerAnalysis – thiscanbefasterandmoreobjective.Pressureissubjective,butwhenplacedinacomputer,thepenpressurecanbeobjectivelyanalyzedbytheshadinginthepixels.TheForensicInformationSystemforHandwriting(FISH)databaseismaintained/usedbytheSecretService.Documentsarescannedinanditcanbedeterminedthatnotwowriterspentheirwordsexactlythesamenordotheyhavethesamecombinationofhandwritingcharacteristics.

HandwritingintheCourtroom• Afterbeingexpertlyanalyzed,theexpertwillpreparea

witnessreportandboththedefenseandtheprosecutorwillaskquestionsabouttheanalysis.Theanalyzer,nowonthestandasanexpertwitness(andexpertinhandwriting)willanswerquestionsaboutdocumentcomparisonsandhowguiltorinnocencewasimplied.Manysampleswillbeshowntothejury.Shortcomings in Handwriting

Analysis•One limitation is that the quality of the standards obtained often determines the quality of a comparison analysis. Another limitation could be the effects of mood, age, drugs, fatigue, and illness on a person’s handwriting. Analyzers have to be certified. The American Board of Forensic Document Examiners is one establishment that offers such training for certification. Handwriting is considered a reproducible and peer-reviewed scientific process.

Forgery• Whenamaterialgain,suchasmoney,accompaniesaforgery,

itiscalledfraudulence.Generally,theprimarypurposeofforgingsomethingistoprofitfromthefakeoralteration.

• CheckForgery – Approx.$27million inillegitimatechecksarecashedeachday.Criminalscanalteroracquirechecksinmaywayslikeorderingsomeoneelse’schecksfromadepositslip,directlyalteringacheck,interceptingsomeone’scheck,alteringit,andcashingit,orcreatingforgedchecksfromscratch.Intheirattempttopreventcheckfraud,manybankshopetoeventuallyeliminatechecksaltogether.Fig.10-8inyourbookhasmethodstopreventcheckfraud.

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Preventing Check Forgery Thesearesomemethodsusedtopreventcheckforgery:

LiteraryForgery• Thisreferstoapieceofwriting,suchasanhistoricletteror

manuscript.• Thebestliteraryforgerstrytoduplicatetheoriginal

documents,sothematerialsusedaresimilartothoseusedintheoriginaldocument.Theydothisbycollectingoldpaperoroldbooks.Becausetheprocessofpapermakinghaschanged,itisessentialforforgerstouseagedpapertopassthemicroscopicexaminationtests.Inkshavealsochanged,sointelligentforgerswouldmixtheirowninksfrommaterialthatwouldhavebeenusedatthetime.Writingutensilsandwritingstylesfromtheeraarealsoconsidered.

• Chemicalsmaybeaddedtothepapertoageboththepaperandtheink.Inthe1980s,MarkHofmannmadeseveralforgeriesincluding116pagesofa“lost”Mormondocument.IntheplanningforasecondforgedMormondocument,Hofmannsetoffthreebombsinabuilding.ThefirstkilledaninnocentMormonbusinessleaderandthethirdaccidentallywentoffinhiscar,attractingpoliceattention.Hofmanniscurrentlyservingalifesentence.

Counterfeiting

• Whenfalsedocumentsorotheritemsarecopiedforthepurposeofdeception,itiscalledcounterfeiting.Travelers’checks,savingsbonds,andcurrencyareamongthemostoftencounterfeiteditems.Otheritemscouldbefoodstamps,postagestamps,orcoins.

• Inthepast,withaccesstoascannerandcolorprinter,itwasnotverydifficulttocreatecounterfeitcurrency.NowtheSecretServicewiththeaidoftechnologyhasaddedfeaturestopapercurrencythat,whenscanned,preventthecurrencyfrombeingcopied.Counterfeitmoneyalsofeelsdifferentbecauserealmoneyisprintedonspecialpaper.The#1waypeoplecatchfakesisbecauseitdoesn’tfeelright.

DetectingCounterfeitCurrency• Counterfeitdetectingpensareinexpensive

specialpens/markerscontainingtheelementiodine.Whentheycomeincontactwithacounterfeitbill,thepapermarkedwiththepenwillchangecolortoabluish-black.Thisisbecauseofstarch,foundinregularprinterpaper.Realmoneydoesnotcontainstarchbuthasadifferentfiber.Whenthepenismarkedonrealmoney,it’llleaveapaleyellow-brownlinethatfadesquickly.

• Penmanufacturersclaimthepentohavea98%accuracy,butsomecounterfeiterswillbleach$1billstohavethecorrectpapertoprintofflargerbills.Thereiscurrentlyaglobalmovementtochangetopolymermoney,atypeofplasticmoneybecauseit’smuchmoredifficulttocounterfeitandlessexpensivetomake.

• 1.Theportraitismorelifelikethanoncounterfeitmoney.• 2.Therearefine lines,smoothandunbroken linesprintedbehind thepresident

andbehind thebuilding onthereverse.• 3.Thereisapolymer threadwoveninthebill.Thethreadinthe$100billreads

"USA100"andthe$50billreads"USA50".Thethreadcan'tbereproducedwithcopiersorprintersbutisvisiblewhenthebillishelduptoalightorappearsyellowwheninultravioletlight.Genuinebillsalsohaveredandbluethreadsembeddedinthepaper.Oncounterfeitmoneythelineslooklikethey'reprintedon thepaperbutongenuinebillsthelinesappeartobeinthepaper.

• 4.Thereisawatermarkor"shadow" totherightofthefaceonthebill.Itisn'tvisibleunlessthebillishelduptothelight.

• 5.Colorshifting inkisusedforthenumber inthelowerrighthandcorneronthefrontof thebill.Theinkappearsgreenuntil thebillisheldatanangle,thentheinklooksblack.Theinkisalso"neverdry"ink,whichmeansthatitcanberubbedoff.Sometimes;however,theinkoncounterfeitmoneycanalsoruboff.Onthe$50,thenumber50isprintedinlargeprint.

• 6.Onthe$100billmicroprintedwordsarewrittenaroundtheportrait.Tothenakedeyeitlooks likeablacklinebutunderamicroscopethewords"TheUnitedStatesofAmerica"canberead.Onthe$50bill,"50"iswrittenaround theportraitand"UnitedStatesofAmerica"isprinted inGrant'scollar.

• 7.GenuinebillshavetheFederalReserveandTreasuryseals.Thesaw-toothpointsonthesealareclear,distinct,andsharp.Thesealsoncounterfeitmoneymayhaveuneven,blunt,orbrokenpoints.

• 8.Alongwiththesealsoneachbillthere'saserialnumberprinted inthesamecolorinkastheseal.Numbersandlettersareevenlyspaced.

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Verifying Authentic Currency

Somefeaturesfoundinthenewseriesbills: