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Handwriting analysis. Analyzing handwriting to figure out who wrote a note, or if a document is forged, is an important tool for investigators A forgery is illegal, and is when you imitate someone’s signature to pretend to be them
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Analyzing handwriting to figure out who wrote a note, or if a document is forged, is an important tool for investigators • A forgery is illegal, and is when you imitate someone’s signature to pretend to be them • By the time a person is an adult, his or her handwriting is often as unique to them as a fingerprint.
Line quality: do the letters flow? Are they written in individual strokes more like printing? • Spacing between words and letters (Big? Small?) There are 12 basic characteristics used for comparing handwriting
Ratio of height, width and size of letters • Lifting a pen: is the pen picked up between words? • Connecting strokes: How are the capital letters connected to lowercase letters?
Strokes begin and end: Where does the letter begin and end on a page • Unusual letter formations • Pen pressure: is it different on up and down strokes? • Slant: do the letters slant right or left?
Baseline habits: does the author write on the line, or above or below the line? • Fancy writing habits: are there any unusual curls or loops? • Placement of diacritics: does the author cross the T’s or dot the i’s? How does it look?