FORS-2107EL Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Toner, Charge-Coupled Device, Luminescence
27 Jun 2018
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Forensic Science - Day 17 2018.03.26
Forensic Document Analysis
Role of the Forensic Document Examiner
-The Forensic Document examiner (FDE) conducts technical examinations of
documents for the purpose of determination of authenticity and relationship to a
person (authorship), thing, event, or time
-It’s important to note that any object that contains handwriting/typewriting whose
source or authenticity is questioned constitutes a questioned document
-Things we question
-Document genuinity?
-Document alteration? How was it altered? Obliterations? Additions?
-Who /what wrote (what kind of pen, printer, etc.) /produced the document? Connect
to a particular author?
-Document age? Can you age a document absolutely? Relatively?
-Impression/Indentation evidence: analyze the document, without the document?
Handwriting Comparisons
-FDEs use the “Principle of Identification” in their assessment of whether two or more
samples of writing are the product of a single writer
-“Two or more writings are the product of one writer if the similarities, taken in
combination, are sufficiently individual and there are no fundamental differences”
-A fundamental difference is: a different in some natural feature that is indicative of a
person’s writing habit and whose presence cannot be reasonably explained
-Handwriting is a complex skill that is learned and becomes habitual
-It is considered to be individual, so no two people (have been shown to) write exactly
alike
Critical Features
-All questioned handwriting samples must be compared to know handwriting samples
of handwriting from the individual suspected of generating the questioned writing
sample
-The sample must include:
-The variety of letters and other features must be maximized
-The number of “similar” examples is sufficient to note natural variation
-When possible, the time between the questioned writing and the sample should be
minimized, to ensure that no inclinations in the natural writing pattern of an
individual changed over the time between sample collection and questioned writing
collected
-It is important to collect multiple samples collected in the same manner as the original
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Document Summary
The forensic document examiner (fde) conducts technical examinations of documents for the purpose of determination of authenticity and relationship to a person (authorship), thing, event, or time. It"s important to note that any object that contains handwriting/typewriting whose source or authenticity is questioned constitutes a questioned document. Who /what wrote (what kind of pen, printer, etc. ) Fdes use the principle of identi cation in their assessment of whether two or more samples of writing are the product of a single writer. Two or more writings are the product of one writer if the similarities, taken in combination, are suf ciently individual and there are no fundamental differences . A fundamental difference is: a different in some natural feature that is indicative of a person"s writing habit and whose presence cannot be reasonably explained. Handwriting is a complex skill that is learned and becomes habitual.
