HANDWRITING AND SIGNATURES MADE BY 'GUIDED HAND'

• NCJ Number: 57354
• Author(s): J MATHYER
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 27 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: Switzerland
• Note: PREPARED FOR PRESENTATION AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINERS, COLORADO SPRING, 1975

Annotation

A STUDY OF ACTUAL AND EXPERIMENTAL CASES WHERE A 'GUIDED HAND' WAS USED TO WRITE A DOCUMENT IS ADDRESSED IN THIS PAPER BY A SWISS EXAMINER OF QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS.

Abstract

THE STUDY'S AIM WAS TO DETERMINE THE CONSTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF WRITINGS OR SIGNATURES FORMED BY 'GUIDED HAND'. EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED TO MAKE CLEAR WHAT SORT OF DIFFICULITIES WOULD BE ENCOUNTERED BY EACH OF TWO PERSONS INVOLVED IN PREPARATION OF A TEXT OR SIGNATURE BY 'INERT HAND' OR BY 'ASSISTED HAND'. FOUNTAIN PENS WERE USED AS THE INSTRUMENT AND EXPERIMENTS WERE BY 'GUIDED HAND' AND BY 'INERT HAND'. RESULTS SHOWED THAT IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT A DOCUMENT EXAMINER USE A MISCROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF THE WHOLE DOCUMENT AND OF DETAILS OF THE STROKES TO DETERMINE THE NATURE OF THE INSTRUMENT USED, DOCUMENTS BE STUDIED UNDER VARIOUS LIGHTS INCLUDING ULTRAVIOLET, THE EXAMINER COMMUNICATE ALL POSSIBLE INFORMATION ON THE CURRICULUM VITAE OF THE PERSON THOUGHT TO BE THE WRITER OF THE TEXT, AND THE DOCUMENT EXAMINER SPECIFY THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH HE ESTIMATES THAT THE DISPUTED TEXT WAS WRITTEN. IN CONCLUSION, IT IS STATED THAT, IN A SCRIPT WRITTEN BY 'GUIDED HAND', GRAPHICAL ELEMENTS OF THE NATURAL WRITING OF THE TWO PEOPLE INVOLVED ARE DISTINGUISHABLE. HANDWRITING SAMPLES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE INCLUDED. (MJW)