When Evidence is on the Line
by Ruth Brayer
The examination. Once hired, the handwriting examiner will conduct the examination by comparing the suspect document with the samples provided by the security manager. Individual letters and words will be dissected with the use of magnifying glasses, microscopes, and various other instruments to measure the size of letters, the distance between words, the width of letters, and other elements of the sample handwriting.
Involuntary patterns. The first thing an examiner tries to identify is the involuntary patterns of the handwriting - those aspects of the handwriting that a person cannot control. Involuntary features are so subtle and have become so automatic that an individual is not even conscious of making them. For example, an individual may inadvertently, but consistently, make one leg of a capital "A" darker than the other. In addition, a person might hesitate or change directions in the middle of writing certain letters.
Under a microscope, those hesitations turn into breaks in the flow of the letter; those changes in direction turn into unique angles and shapes in the letter formation. Because the person is not aware of these actions, he or she tends to duplicate them even when trying to voluntarily change handwriting style.
In one recent case, for example, a senior executive of a major company received three anonymous letters in which he was personally threatened. One of the notes had a drawing of a bomb ready to explode and the words: "The new year is coming. Prepare for surprises!"
An internal investigation identified two possible suspects: one was a former employee who had been laid off a month earlier and was resentful of the executive for receiving a promotion that the former employee believed belonged to him. The second was a current employee who had a strained relationship with the executive. Samples of the suspects' writing were provided to a handwriting examiner along with the threatening letters.
The examination, which took several hours, eventually identified the former employee as the writer. He was confronted with the evidence and confessed. Although the former worker tried to disguise his handwriting, several involuntary patterns gave him away. For example, the letter "p" in "surprises" was similar to the letter "p" in several writing samples the employee had made when he was working for the company. The lower extension of the "p" was slightly raised above the baseline, for example, while the shape and character of the top portion of the letter matched. The examiner noticed similar spacing between letters as well as similar proportions between capital and lowercase characters.
Three zones. In addition to shapes and sizes of letters, the handwriting expert will also take note of how an individual's handwriting fits into the "three zones" of handwriting - known as the upper, middle, and lower zones. The upper zone includes all capital letters as well as lowercase letters that extend upward, such as the letters h, 1, t, and d. The middle zone is occupied by letters that extend above the baseline but do not extend upward when written, such as n, m, a, and e. The lower zone includes all parts of a letter that go below the baseline. For example, the top part of the letters p and g are in the middle zone, but the lower portions extend below the baseline and are in the lower zone.
Most people tend to prefer, or exaggerate, one or two of the zones. Some people prefer the upper zone and write their letters with long, sweeping extensions. Others prefer the lower zone and write letters like y and g with long downward extensions.
By knowing an individual's writing patterns in the three zones, the handwriting examiner can identify certain types of forgery or identify the writer of a letter. For example, President Bill Clinton favors the middle zone when signing his name. The two I's at the end of Bill are the same size or even smaller than the letter i. If a person tried to forge Bill Clinton's name and extended the I's into the upper zone (the way most people do), the forgery would be easily identified.
Forgeries. When analyzing a signature, the handwriting expert will look for certain clues to determine whether it is a forgery or the real thing. If it is a forgery, it will fall into one of three categories: fictitious, traced, or simulated.
A fictitious signature is one in which the forger has not seen the authentic signature and makes no attempt to duplicate it. These can be easily identified if security has a copy of the authentic signature.
A traced forgery is one in which the forger actually traces an authentic signature to make it look identical to the real thing. However, there are several signs that can help detect the traced signature. Under close examination, handwriting examiners will usually find hesitation marks in the letters, which won't flow naturally. These marks occur because the forger must write slowly and deliberately as he or she traces the genuine signature. In addition, there are usually changes in pen pressure and breaks in the letters.
A simulated signature occurs when a forger has studied the genuine signature and attempts to write it from memory. These are more difficult to detect, but not impossible. Although the forger has memorized the style of the real signature, the imitator will often revert back to some of his or her own involuntary writing patterns.
On close examination of the forgery, the handwriting expert can often discover subtle inconsistencies from the authentic signature, such as pen pressures, slight curvatures in letter formations, and letter angles. In addition, people tend to write their signatures at basically the same length. Signatures should be measured and compared to the real thing. In many cases, forgeries turn out to be slightly shorter or longer than the genuine signature.
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