Handwriting Analysis

The differences in handwriting play a role in everday life. Checks and official documents are confimed 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. The characteristics used to distinguish handwriting are:

• 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 Seperations: Where are letters connected or seperated? 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 downstroke
• 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 downstroke?
• 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?

Famous Case of Forgery 

In 1983, a German news magazine published what it believed to be authentic diaries from Adolf Hitler. The "diaries" had been purchased for 10 million German Marks from journalist Gerd Heidemann. They were later discovered to be fakes, and poorly disguised fakes at that. The diaries were actually written by Konrad Kujau, who was sentenced to 42 months in prision. Heidemann was also imprisioned for his role in the forgery.

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 enviroment in which a handwriting sample was ripped up or shredded.