Handwriting Features Guide E-Book

Nicole Crown

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 84

Beschreibung

Forensic handwriting examination follows a process comprised of four main steps: Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification (ACE-V). While the process itself has been described and refined, very little effort has been undertaken to establish a clear and detailed list of features that the forensic handwriting examiner (FHE) must analyse in the first step of the examination. In-depth analysis of graphical features of handwritten texts or signatures is integral to the work of FHEs when requested to give an expert opinion, typically to determine whether a questioned handwritten item has been written by a specific writer. Indeed, it is these graphical features that will be compared between questioned and known samples, to establish similarities and differences that will finally be evaluated under two or more mutually exclusive propositions to reach a conclusion. A robust analysis based on clearly defined features is necessary to provide reliable and unbiased opinions. Numerous books and articles describe handwriting features that should be observed during the analysis stage of the examination. However, the descriptions can be vague, and several authors may use different terms to describe the same feature. It may also happen that the same term is used to define different characteristics. Moreover, illustrations of terms are often scarce and some- times of little help to understand what the corresponding features are. These problems are exacerbated when trying to equate terms in different languages. This project presents a comprehensive depiction of writing fea- tures (particularly found in Latin script) relating to the whole hand- written text or signature, which the authors consider relevant to help answer questions commonly ad- dressed by FHEs. It is the authors hope that the FHE community utilises this illustrated list of writing features, which we believe can promote a thorough and complete analysis and provide a common language for FHEs. Thus, this project seeks to contribute to establishing a systematic and standardized approach to forensic handwriting examination and move the discipline towards reproducibility and validation.

Leseprobe

Handwriting Features Guide

A reference list of defined and illustrated features used by forensic handwriting examiners

Introduction

Forensic handwriting examination follows a process comprised of four main steps: Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification (ACE-V). While the process itself has been described and refined [1, 2], very little effort has been undertaken to establish a clear and detailed list of features that the forensic handwriting examiner (FHE) must analyse in the first step of the examination. In-depth analysis of graphical features of handwritten texts or signatures is integral to the work of FHEs when requested to give an expert opinion, typically to determine whether a questioned handwritten item has been written by a specific writer. Indeed, it is these graphical features that will be compared between questioned and known samples, to establish similarities and differences that will finally be evaluated under two or more mutually exclusive propositions to reach a conclusion. A robust analysis based on clearly defined features is necessary to provide reliable and unbiased opinions.

Numerous books and articles describe handwriting features that should be observed during the analysis stage of the examination (see Bibliography). However, the descriptions can be vague, and several authors may use different terms to describe the same feature. It may also happen that the same term is used to define different characteristics. Moreover, illustrations of terms are often scarce and sometimes of little help to understand what the corresponding features are. These problems are exacerbated when trying to equate terms in different languages.

To date there isn’t an internationally used, comprehensive and fully illustrated list of handwriting features for forensic handwriting examinations. FHEs may use a catalogue specific to their laboratory. However, this may be challenging when collaborating with external colleagues, especially internationally. For instance, lack of precision in terms can be problematic when comparing results of collaborative exercises or other tests, because it cannot be known whether different experts observed the same things. It is therefore not possible to determine whether discrepancies between expert opinions are due to a difference in observed features, or some other reason (such as a difference in attribution of similarities and differences during the comparison stage, or different evaluation of the findings).

This project presents a comprehensive depiction of writing features (particularly found in Latin script) relating to the whole handwritten text or signature, which the authors consider relevant to help answer questions commonly addressed by FHEs. Note that the anatomy of individual characters has been excluded, as a reference illustrating handwriting anatomy for the Latin alphabet and numerals has recently been provided by Hunter [3].

In this document, feature definitions are detailed and illustrated to increase understanding between examiners working with different approaches and in diverse laboratories. The definitions have been set by consensus between the authors – FHEs from different parts of the world. If several terms are commonly found to describe the same feature, they have been listed in square brackets together with the recommended term. Several books and articles, considered to be especially relevant to achieve the aim of this project, have been preferentially consulted and are provided in the Bibliography. The harmonization that this document intends to achieve is around what the features are, rather than the way features should be described. However, along with the feature definitions, examples are given of how the features might be described. They may be qualified (for example through predefined categories) or quantified, by using traditional instruments and/or software. Examples of particular categories or variations of feature are illustrated.

The variation of a given feature as it appears in a piece of writing is not addressed (nor the way in which this variation should be dealt with). However, variation must be considered in the analysis stage of the examination, as it is an essential part of the determination of similarities and differences in the comparison stage. The present document does not cover the comparison, evaluation and verification stages of the examination process.

This catalogue of characteristics has been created keeping in mind the general principle of forensic analysis going from the general to the particular. Thus, features of the overall pictorial appearance are described first, followed by features that include arrangement, size, and shape, to end with detailed features of line quality and writing pressure. The features have thus been classified in eight chapters:

1. Overall pictorial appearance,

2. Spatial relationships,

3. Size and proportions,

4. Shapes and construction,

5. Diacritics and punctuation marks,

6. Connectivity,

7. Stroke direction and pen movement,

8. Line quality, speed and pressure.

The authors acknowledge that certain features evident in the writing trace can be considered under more than one classification, so cross referencing occurs between chapters, where relevant.

The catalogue terms are presented in English. A version containing German and French terms will also be produced.

It is the authors’ hope that the FHE community utilises this illustrated list of writing features, which we believe can promote a thorough and complete analysis and provide a common language for FHEs. Thus, this project seeks to contribute to establishing a systematic and standardized approach to forensic handwriting examination and move the discipline towards reproducibility and validation. However, due to the focus of this catalogue on Latin script, the vast variability of handwriting, and range of particular features possible in handwriting, this catalogue cannot be exhaustive and may not fulfil the needs of every FHE or every type of examination (particularly of scripts other than Latin). It is advised that FHEs do not restrict their analysis to the list of features presented in this document, but rather use it as a reference to help name and describe features, as well as a guide to avoid missing characteristics that might be important for the examination at hand.

Like any other tool intended to improve working methods, we expect this document may evolve with time, through refinement of definitions and modification of the list of features to be examined. It might also be translated into languages other than English, German and French.

Finally, the authors want to emphasize that this document is not intended for graphologists who deal with another aspect of handwriting, i.e., the inference of psychological traits based on handwriting features. We believe graphology should not be used for forensic purposes to assist the judiciary in solving cases involving handwriting. We therefore do not support the use of this document by graphologists. This document is intended for forensic handwriting examiners, members of the field of forensic science, to help them achieve greater consistency in the analysis phase of forensic handwriting examination.

Table of contents

1. Overall pictorial appearance

Handwriting style

Signature style

Complexity

Consistency

Legibility

Writing movement

Lateral expansion

Embellishments and abbreviations

2. Spatial relationships

Arrangement

Vertical and horizontal spacing

Line [interlinear] spacing

Word [interword] spacing

Letter [intraword] spacing

Baseline alignment

Slant and slope

3. Size and proportions

Size

Proportions

Vertical proportions

Horizontal proportions

4. Shapes and construction

Shapes

Types of shapes

Construction

Number of strokes

Sequence of strokes

Stroke direction

Starting and ending points

Connecting strokes

5. Diacritics and punctuation marks

Diacritics Punctuation marks

Features of diacritics and punctuation marks

Type

Shape and structure

Orientation

Size

Location

6. Connectivity

Connectedness

Connections

Connecting strokes

7. Stroke direction and pen position

Stroke direction and pen position

Striations

Gaps

Memory effect

Gooping

Ink drags

Sister lines

Line crossing

Preferential ink build-up

8. Line quality, speed and pressure

Line quality

Fluency

Writing speed

Stroke impulse

Smoothness

Connections and connectedness

Pen drags

Air bridges

Beginning and ending strokes

Slurring and simplification

Tendency to right

Writing pressure

Line saturation

Indentations

Relative pressure habits

Line quality changes over time

Bibliography

Authors

1. Overall pictorial appearance

The overall pictorial appearance [4] of a handwritten text or a signature refers to the general impression that it gives. Style, complexity, consistency, legibility, writing movement and embellishments (or simplification) play a significant role in the overall pictorial appearance. These features will be seen hereafter in turn.

HANDWRITING STYLE

Definition: Handwriting style [handwriting design] is defined according to degree of connectedness (see Chapter 6, Connectedness) and class of allographs used [5].

With respect with connectedness, handwriting style can be classified in three categories, illustrated on Figure 1.1:

Cursive (letters are mainly connected)

Print [script] (letters are mainly disconnected and often similar in design to printing characters)

Semi-cursive [mixed, composite] (some letters are connected, and some are disconnected).

Handwriting style is further characterized by the class of allographs used, which can be (see Fig. 1.2):

Lower case [small, minuscules]

Upper case [capitals, majuscules]

Mixed case.

Block lettering [handlettering, hand-printing] is a style of handwriting using disconnected uppercase letters (see Fig. 1.2b).

1.1a Cursive

1.1b Print

1.1c Semi-cursive

■ Figure 1.1: Different handwriting styles (connectedness).

1.2a Lower case

1.2b Upper case

1.2c Mixed case

■ Figure 1.2: Different handwriting styles (class of allographs).

SIGNATURE STYLE

Definition: Signature style is defined according to legibility of the signature.

Signature style can be categorized as stylized (one or no allograph is legible), mixed (at least two allographs are legible) or text-based (all allographs are legible) [4] (Figure 1.3).

Signature style must be distinguished from signature type, which corresponds to the type of signature chosen by a given writer to fit a given purpose, whether it is formal or informal or whether the writer needs to affix a full signature or a short form (for example on the first pages of a contract) (Figure 1.4).

1.3a Text-based

1.3b Mixed

1.3c Stylized

■ Figure 1.3: Different signature styles (from different writers).

1.4a