Forensics Project Part III: Handwriting Analysis

Graphology is the study and analysis of handwriting. Some think that this can effectively assess the writer’s traits/personality. Scientific Handwriting Analysis is used primarily for authenticating a document or signature and has little to do with that person’s make-up or personality.

1. History of Handwriting Analysis

Graphology dates its genesis back to 1622 and maybe even earlier.

Throughout history, scientists, philosophers, artists and others have been interested in the relationship between the handwriting and the writer. This interest appeared as early as 1622. Efforts at handwriting analysis began in 1872, with the work of the French abbe, Hypolite Michon, who gave graphology its name. Michon and his compatriot, Jules Crepieux-Jamin developed the school of isolated signs. This attempted to relate specific handwriting elements to specific human traits.

In 1910, Milton Newman Bunker, a shorthand teacher, in Kansas, wanted to know why, as a penmanship student, he had put wide spaces between his letters and long finals on his words.

In 1915, Bunker made his unique discovery. He recognized that each of his students formed shorthand strokes in a unique manner. He suddenly and clearly realized that it was not the letter which had a trait meaning but the strokes – the shape of the formations within the letter. Graphology suggested that an O with an open top – that is a space opening, indicated a person who would speak very openly and often. He checked and found this to be true. He thought, however, that logically, other letters with the same circle formation (a,g,d & q) should have the same meaning and after checking carefully, he found that they did.

After traveling thousands of miles, and interviewing thousands of people and examining more than half a million handwriting specimens in his lifetime, the copyrighted American System of handwriting analysis - Graphoanalysis was born.

 2. List of 12 Handwriting Characteristics

There is a lot of information that can be gained from writing analysis. When examining handwriting there are 12 characteristics that an expert will consider:

Line quality: Are the pen marks smooth and free flowing or shaky and wavering? This can be connected to the speed that the document was written at.

Spacing of words and letters: What is it the spacing between letters and words? Is it consistent?

Ratio of the relative height, width and size of letters: What is the ratio? Is it consistent?

Pen lifts and separations: Does the person stop to form new letters and begin words? Forgeries may have lifts in unusual places.

Connecting strokes: Are capitals connected to lowercase letters and are there connecting strokes between letters and words?

Beginning and ending strokes: Are these straight, curled, long or short, an upstroke or a downstroke?

Unusual letter formation: Are there any unusually formed letters such as backward, letters with a tail, or unusual capitals?

Shading or pen pressure: Is the pen pressure on the upward or the downward strokes?

Slant: Is slant left or right or straight up and down? Is there consistency between the slant of letters.

Baseline habits: Is the writing above or below a line?

Flourishes and embellishments: Are there any? If so what are they?

Diacritic placement: How are the t’s crossed? Take note of the dotting of i’s, j’s. For example are the dots to the right or left of the letter?

3. Pictures and Analysis of Handwriting Analysis Template.  

Using the Handwriting Analysis Template we were able to analyze our partners writing and attempt to forge it using two different methods. The first forgery method was simply freehand forgery where we tried to replicate the original sentence. After we compare the original to the free hand forgery we could see that the letters of the forgery were not really small enough to match and some of the characteristics were a bit off.

The second was trace forgery where we could either fold the paper so the original sentence was underneath the last forgery box or cut out the last box and hold them up to a window. After this we trace over our partners original sentence to try and duplicate it. By doing this we could compared the original to the trace forgery and noticed that the letters were almost identical to the original.

I think that the tracing technique is easier and more effective for forgery although there could be more obvious signs of this use of forgery. For example, if someone was concentrating very hard they could be putting a large amount of pressure on their pen or pencil which will be evident in the final product. Also if one were trying to be very precise with their strokes it could look a bit shaky from the pressure and concentration.

4. Reflection on the Check Forgery Activity (Explain the steps/process of your check forgery?  Did you and your group identify the proper person/persons who did the forgeries?  Which characteristics were the most distinguishing in your analysis?)

In the Check Forgery Activity each person had to write out a fake check with a made up signature to hide our identities. We then tore up the face checks and paper clipped the pieces together. Then we switch all the torn check and the original handwriting analysis sheets with another group. After this re re-assembled their fake checks and proceeded to compare the writing on the checks to the handwriting analysis sheets. We looked at the shape of the letters as well as any slanting visible. We also noted if the letters were written with more deliberate strokes like print or more fluid letters like in cursive. After we matched each check to an analysis sheet we found that all our identifications were accurate.

5. Research a famous forgery case and explain how forensic handwriting analysis was used to expose the forgery.

A famous case that demonstrates how graphology can be effective in solving crimes occurred on July 4, 1956, when Mrs. Morris Weinberger, a young mother of two, left her 33-day-old baby, Peter, in his carriage on the patio in the backyard of their home in Westbury, Long Island. Although she had been gone for only 15 minutes, when she returned she found the carriage empty and a ransom note that stated a demand for $2,000 and was signed, "Your Baby Sitter." In spite of her broadcast pleas for the return of their child, no further demands were issued by the kidnapper until July 10, when the Weinbergers received a telephone call and a second note.

Under the law at that time, the FBI could not enter a kidnapping case until seven days had passed. Once that time period had been observed, experts began immediately to study the kidnapper's notes. It was decided that the ransom notes had been written on a piece of paper that appeared to have come from a lined tablet designed for use in writing public records. Among distinctive aspects of the kidnapper's writing, there was a peculiarly looped capital "P," a rounded "A" with a short tail, and a capital "Y" that was strangely bold.

Six weeks after little Peter Weinberger had been taken from his carriage, a group of handwriting analysts managed to match the handwriting on the ransom note to that of a signature by a man who had received a suspended sentence. It was the 1,974,544th document that had been studied during the desperate search for baby Peter.

Tragically, the kidnapper, Angelo John LaMarca, who lived five miles from the Weinbergers, had thought he could solve his money problems by snatching a rich family's child. LaMarca had panicked on August 23rd and left the baby in a dense thicket to die. The kidnapper was found guilty of murder and died in the electric chair.

Although handwriting analysis may provide valuable leads that in some cases may lead to the discovery of the perpetrator of a crime and that person's subsequent arrest, the testimony of graphology by itself has not been accepted by appellate courts in the United States. In spite of the claims made by graphologists, the courts have ruled that it does not meet the requirements of the kind of science