Chapter 15 Document and Handwriting Analysis Document Any

Chapter 15 – Document and Handwriting Analysis Document – Any fixed method of communication between one individual and another.

Questioned Document – Any object that contains handwritten or typewritten markings whose source or authenticity is in doubt. Example: letters, checks, driver’s license, contracts, wills, voter registration, passports, lottery tickets Exemplar: (specimen) a known sample that is used for comparison.

• Experts say no two people write exactly the same. • Fact: Writing habits may be altered beyond recognition by the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Factors that can affect handwriting • Health – various disorders, arthritis, stroke, Parkinson's, tremors. • Age – Senility • Alcohol – drugs

Chapter 16 – Document and Handwriting Analysis Class characteristics – features that are typical of a group. The more different class characteristics there are within the subject of attention, the more the size of the group can be reduced until, and ultimately, it is a group of one. It is then unique or individual evidence.

Individual characteristics – qualities that cause the subject to be unique.

In cursive • The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog.

Handwriting and hand printing examine 12 characteristics. • Line quality – lines smooth, free-flowing or shaky, nervous

• Spacing of words and letters – is spacing consistent with questioned and known documents?

Ratio of relative height, width, and size of letters – is overall height, width and size of letters in known and questioned documents consistent? Pen lifts and separations – forgeries may have lifts or separations in unusual places.

• • Connecting strokes – compare how all letters are connected Beginning and ending strokes – compare how the writer begins and ends a word, number or letter.

Unusual letter formation – Look for unusual letter formation • Shading or pen pressure – check for pressure on the downward and upward strokes.

• • Slant – slant to the left or right, or straight up and down? Most conspicuous feature of handwriting. Baseline habits – does writing follow straight horizontal line or move downward or upward? Below or above the baseline?

• • Flourishes or embellishments – any fancy letters, curls, loops ect? Placement of diacritics – check the crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s, j’s.

Forgery – an item prepared with the intent to deceive or defraud. It can be an autograph, a book, a painting, a baseball card, almost anything. Types of Forgery: • Blind forgery – one made without a model of the signature or writing being forged.

Simulated forgery – one made by copying a genuine signature. • Traced forgery – one made by tracing a genuine signature.

Backhand writing – writing in which the slant of the letters is to the left of vertical. Indented writing – impressions left under paper that has been written on.

Obliterate – to remove writing. (through chemical means) Seldom used.

Erasure – involves actual removal of writing from a document through mechanical. Most common way to alter a document. Example: pencil eraser, sandpaper, razor blade or knife.

Charred Document – any document that has become darkened and brittle through fire or heat. Holographic – entirely handwritten document

To id Paper, forensic scientist may look at these characteristics: • Material paper is made from • Color • Density • Watermark – a design incorporated into the paper during manufacturing. • Dyes or bleaches • Fluorescence under UV light • Thickness

Types of check fraud Forgery – when an employee issues a check without proper authorization.

Counterfeiting and alteration • Counterfeiting - duplicating a check with advanced color photocopiers. • Alteration – using chemicals and solvents to remove or modify handwriting and information on the check.

• Paperhanging – writing checks on closed accounts (their own or others) or reordering checks on closed accounts. • Check Kiting – opening accounts at two or more institutions and using “the float time” of available funds to create fraudulent balances.

Cybercrime – criminal activity committed on the internet. Includes: hacking, viruses, web jacking, worm, pharming, piracy.

Terms for cybercrime • Piracy – downloading to copy and sell material protected by copyright. • Cyber terrorism – use of computers for communications, propaganda all by terrorist groups. • Extortion/harassment – denial of service, spam, stalking

• Web jacking – when a hacker gains access to and control over the website of another user. • Hacking – unauthorized access to computer systems or networks. • Malware – software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s consent.

• Computer forensics – the application of specialized investigative and analytical techniques to identify, collect, examine, and preserve data from computer systems or networks so that it may serve as evidence in a court of law.

Stats • Stolen or forged credit cards are the top sale in underground services • With bank accounts coming in second.