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PROCESS OF COMPARISON

A document examiner compares questioned handwriting or signatures side-by-side to the known standards. Handwriting attributes are examined both visually and microscopically. Everyone who looks at writing and signatures notices the most conspicuous features first, such as the slant of the writing and how the letters are formed. An examiner will look beyond the obvious features and study the subtle, inconspicuous aspects of the questioned signature or writing. By applying basic rules in document analysis, combined with experience observing thousands of letter formations and words, an expert examiner is able to determine if writing is genuine or is not.

A good analogy to handwriting identification taught to beginners is that you have been given a general description of a person. He is male, 30 years old, with dark hair and eyes, 170 pounds, 6 feet tall, with a scar on his forehead. He walks with a permanent limp and has a tattoo of a rose on his left arm. You must find this individual among a group of passengers who are coming off a plane at the airport. The first five characteristics are common; many men fit that general description. With the addition of the next three uncommon characteristics, the field narrows significantly. With all the traits combined, when you see this individual and your brain has processed the description, you will recognize him in the crowd. If the individual differed in weight by a few pounds or in age by a few years, that would not be significant. The general description could be off slightly without changing the identification. However, if one of the last three traits were missing, that would be significant and you may not have the right individual.

The analogy applies to handwriting. Some: writing features are common, and some handwriting characteristics are considered uncommon or even rare. The common features are referred to as class characteristics. These are writing attributes observed in a group of writers that are probably derived from a pen­manship system they learned. The uncommon handwritten characteristics, known as individual characteristics, are considered distinctive, personal, or peculiar to the handwriting of one person. An experienced document examiner is able to recognize class characteristics and avoid identifying an individual's writing solely on the basis of these common handwriting features. If the writing is naturally executed, and a combination of similarities between the questioned material and known standards is significant and individ­ual, the examiner renders an opinion that the questioned and known material were written by the same individual. If the questioned writing or signature contains a combination of significant dissimilarities or indications of forgery the examiner may proffer an opinion, of not genuine. In doing a comparison, an examiner studies characteristics, such as how letters are constructed, how they are connected, the beginning and ending strokes of letters, the relative height ratio of letters, the spacing between letters and words, the skill level, speed, size, and shading.