NCJ Number
186068
Journal
International Journal of Forensic Document Examiners Volume: 5 Dated: December/January 1999 Pages: 71-75
Date Published
1999
Length
5 pages
Annotation
An international group of 50 forensic document examiners recently participated in a preliminary survey to determine how the field is currently evaluating photocopied handwriting evidence; this article presents survey findings.
Abstract
Photocopies are regularly submitted for examination to most government and private-practice questioned document laboratories. Because of courts' willingness to accept copies as the "best evidence" in situations in which the original has become unavailable for some reason, proper safeguards must be established to assess the reliability of the copies submitted. The results of the survey reported in this article show that although a significant number of examiners (70 percent) believe it is scientifically possible to determine conclusively the authorship of a writing or signature when it is photocopied, nearly 79 percent did not believe it to be scientifically possible to determine the authenticity of a photocopied document. Additionally, 72 percent of the respondents stated that they would consider it more scientifically accurate to separate the issues of authorship and authenticity in a written conclusion, although 74 percent believed it best to include a reference to the inherent limitations of the photocopy process in cases where the possibility of manipulation is not an issue or is unlikely. The survey results indicate there is a strong theoretical confidence among document examiners that there are sufficient details transmitted in the photocopy process to allow for the conclusive identification of a writer. There is also strong support for indicating that there are inherent limitations in the examination of copies, limitations that should be noted in the report. 1 figure and 2 references