Can you tell an individual's personality from examining handwriting?
Forensic document examination does
not develop information about personality. There is a separate field of study
called "Graphology" which deals with personality and handwriting.
Forensic document examination does
not develop information about personality. There is a separate field of study
called "Graphology" which deals with personality and handwriting.
Unlikely. There are
three areas that cannot be determined by examining handwriting. One of them is
whether the writer is right-handed or left-handed. The other two are the
writer's age and gender.
Only in some rare cases. Some
writers write in a mix of cursive and printed forms, thereby allowing the
examiner to carry out some level of examination on either cursive or printed
writing. There are also many factors other than letter formation that enter
into the examination and analysis process. However, it is generally accepted
that the materials to be compared need to be written in the same style: cursive
to cursive, hand printing to hand printing, upper case to upper case, lower
case to lower case, and one of the first steps in methodology is to determine
that the materials provided are indeed comparable according to this principle.
Yes, it is possible, but the
examiner must first learn about the characteristics of the written language and
how that writing is taught. For example, in some languages, placement of
diacritics (distinguishing strokes) is important, and in other languages,
shading of handwritten strokes is significant. The actual methods of
examination are the same, but factors are weighed differently when the
structure of the writing varies among languages.
There is no definite number of
specimens to be considered adequate. However, a forensic document examination
cannot be adequately performed when comparing one signature to one other
signature. Handwriting identification is based on habits. Habits can only be
determined through the scrutinization of numerous specimens. The client should
make a dedicated effort to obtain as many specimens as they can possibly find.
Ordway Hilton states, “With many problems, 10 – 20 signatures should constitute
an adequate sample, but there are a certain number of cases that may require
30, 40 or even more to reveal the writer’s habits, ability, and range of
variation. Regardless of these suggestions, though, a person submitting a
problem should always strive to obtain as large a quantity of handwriting as
possible rather than merely to fulfill minimum requirements.”
There is a wide range in
reproduction quality of faxed documents. Until recently a faxed document was of
minimal use for comparison of handwriting. The fax process could digitize the
writing line, obscure details, and add flaws to the document. A large number of
fax machines still produce poor quality documents. However, there are now
higher quality fax machines, and there is also a process of electronic faxing
in which a document is scanned and transmitted to a virtual fax number through
the internet. As a result, there are some faxed documents of improved clarity
and containing more detail. It is best to evaluate faxed documents on a
case-by-case basis. It is always best handled by examination of the actual
documents.
This question must be answered on
a case by case basis. If the copy is of good quality, and if there is enough
information in the writing to allow an opinion, a copy can be sufficient. But
there are some situations where the opinion rests on a subtle aspect of the
writing that might only be visible on an original viewed under the microscope.
In such situations, examination of the original is critical. Often the
examiner's opinion must be qualified due to limitations on the examination
process due to submission of non-original documents.