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Handwriting Analysis. Class Characteristics. We learned to write by copying examples of letters and words Many of these have carried over into adult years. Individual Characteristics. Over the years, our knowledge of how to write becomes subconscious We develop differences in our writing
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Class Characteristics • We learned to write by copying examples of letters and words • Many of these have carried over into adult years
Individual Characteristics • Over the years, our knowledge of how to write becomes subconscious • We develop differences in our writing • It becomes difficult to disguise our writing
Exemplars • A known sample of writing that is used for comparison of someone’s handwriting
Graphology • Analyzing handwriting for personality traits • This is not true science
Making a Positive Identification • Can be done if there are enough samples and enough exemplars • And enough samples for comparison • Look at 12 characteristics
Line Quality • Are the lines? • Smooth • Free-flowing • Rhythmic or shaky, nervous and wavering
Spacing of words and letters • Average amount of space between words and letters • Is the spacing consistent?
Ratio • Of • Height • Width and size of letters • What are they overall • Are they consistent
Pen lifts and separations • How the writer stops to form new letters • And begins new words • (forgeries may have pen lifts or separations in unusual places) • In the word or even the letter
Connecting strokes • How capital letters are connected to lowercase letters • How strokes connect between letters and words
Beginning and ending strokes • How the writer begins and ends a • Word • Number • Letter • Are they • Straight • Curled • Long • Short • Made on the upstroke or downstroke
Unusual letter formation • Backwards • Unusual capitals • Mixing printing and penmanship • Punctuation styles
Shading or pen pressure • Making lines lighter or darker • Narrow vs. wide • Pressure on downward and upward lines
Slant • Right or left • Straight up and down • Consistency of slanting
Baseline habits • Above or below • Wander up or down
Flourishes/embellishments • Freestyle • Fancy letters • Curls • Loops • Circles • Double loops • underlines
diacritics • Crossing t’s • Dotting i • Dotting j • where the cross or dot is placed • European 7…put a line through to differentiate from a 1
Other irregularities • Awkward • Unnatural • Wide variations
What handwriting can tell you • Just whether it matches the exemplar • A language person may read a passage and be able to hypothesize about a person’s educational background, culture, geographical location
Natural variations • Even the writing of one person is never completely identical • In every detail • Variation is an inherent part of natural writing • This can make the tracing of a signature easier to see as a forgery • Writing can change over time; it is best to use an exemplary within the past three years