The United States is one of the states that made early advancements of forensic science in criminology as seen in the 1993 case of Daubert vs. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (Murphy, 2007). Through the case, the Supreme Court came up with non-exclusive criteria for use by judges when establishing the reliability of testimonies given by experts. The decision set precedence in verification of evidence including the use of handwriting to determine criminal involvement. Murphy dates the history of handwriting analysis to the 19th century but was first used in crime investigation in the early 1900s (2007). It is prevalent mainly in questioning document or text authenticity, hand printing, and the use of signatures in official records. Forensic examination in handwriting is based on three broad principles that state:
a) No two expert writers portray identical features in writing given a sufficient amount of text.
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b) All individuals possess a range of natural variations in their writing styles.
c) No writer can surpass their personal skill level
Several cases have been solved by using the forensics of handwriting analysis making it an important aspect in criminology. The United States Secret Service, FBI, and German Federal Police own writing samples from a multitude of writers (Songer, 2014). They made a comparison of the writing and came to a conclusion that no two individuals possess identical printed characteristics, therefore, making graphology a unique aspect in the collection of evidence.
Thesis Statement and Purpose of Research
Several progressions have been made in the field of forensics in evidence analysis. Crime investigators are prone to analyzing critical details such as handwriting which plays a vital role especially in investigating cases involving suicide notes, forgery, murder, and document alteration and fraudulence. Forensic science has progressed from relying on DNA, fingerprints, and ballistics to more complex aspects of handwriting analysis and toxicology (Saunders et.al, 2011). Amidst the controversies of methods used to determine the validity or uniqueness in writing, it still plays a huge role in solving crimes, and more weight should be placed on improving detection techniques.
Handwriting analysis is stated as one of the major branches in forensics investigations. Therefore, this research serves the purpose of providing an explanation of what is entailed in the analysis process, and its significance in crime detection. It will also use case studies involving evidence that applied the use of handwriting forensics to convict or acquit suspects off their charges to illustrate the significance of the process. The main research questions include:
What is entailed in forensic handwriting analysis?
What is its importance in criminology and determination of evidence?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the process?
Handwriting Analysis as a Branch of Forensic Science
The opinions of critics of handwriting analysis as a form of collecting evidence have been written off due to the principle that two skilled writers cannot have the same writing style and that people are unable to reproduce their handwritings exactly due to the natural deviation is known as variations. This section highlights existing research conducted on forensics’ handwriting analysis.
a) The procedure
The scrutiny process involves a broad and thorough comparison between the questionable text and a suspect’s writing style. The main features placed under examination as stated by Underwood in his research include particular habits, physical characteristics, and the key individualities of the document in question and the identified specimen (2010). The first step taken is to make an analysis of the recognizable writing script and an unknown sample to differentiate distinctive features. The characteristics observed include shapes of letters, word spacing, letter size and slant, and the proportionalities. Others include individual attributes, unusual formations, and flourishes. After analysis, the next step is to assess the similarities in the known and unknown sample (Underwood, 2010). Factors to consider include grammar, spelling, punctuation, and phraseology. The third and final step is the assessment stage. Differences in the two samples indicate that the suspect’s sample and that in question do not match (Underwood, 2010). However, no single similar feature regardless of its uniqueness can determine a full comparison. All the features similarities have to be reviewed, and the examiner makes a judgment based on the totality of the process.
Levels of Evidence and Reliability of the Analysis
Making a comparison of handwriting samples does not give a definite flawless result. The issue of vagueness arises in the definition of style characteristics, the sample quality and variation degree. The concept of using handwriting analysis as evidence in court is under heavy scrutiny. It has a demanding process of taking precaution in accumulation and presentation of proof, and the summary of conclusions made. In 1193 the Supreme Court came up with a set of new precautions to be considered in determining the scientific originality and relevance of evidence. The precautions include:
Whether the concept of technique has been thoroughly tested.
If the theory of technique has been subjected to publication and peer review.
The identified margin of error.
The existing standards used to maintain and control the method’s operations.
If the concept or technique used is accepted within the scientific community.
The evidence presented must meet these criteria before presentation in court. This ruling by the Supreme Court increased the pressure on the handwriting analysis procedure to prove its ingenuity in court use. An article published on handwriting identification accused the process of lacking proper expertise (Songer, 2014). It also stated that the experts in the field were reluctant to allow independent testing of their work which failed to show a universal level of accuracy according to a few studies conducted. The analysts responded to these claims in several ways. A study of forensic sciences conducted a survey of trained writing analysts and a control group. This study showed that there was a significant difference in making false matches. All the groups in the study presented equivalent results in detecting matches. However, the rate of wrong association and matching was 38% among the non-expert control group and 7% of the experts (Songer, 2014). While the non-experts focused more on distinguishing the similarities first, the professionals worked by detecting the differences before the resemblances.
The recent development of computer technologies used in handwriting analysis known as FISH has improved the method’s objective testability. The program is based on the notion that a set of algorithms is generated by performing accurate measurements on a person’s handwriting. The CEDAR (Center for Excellence in Document Analysis and Recognition) group researched on writing individuality and discovered that computerized analysis can distinctively identify handwriting to an accuracy of 98% provided there is an adequate sample (Saunders, 2011). A ruling in Massachusetts in 1999 allowed testimony regarding the dissimilarity of handwriting without conclusion about authorship showing that there is an inconsistency as to whether this evidence analysis method meets the Daubert standards (Murphy, 2007). Even though the expert distinguished the similarities or differences in the scribbling, he or she lacked the qualification to determine the author of the writing, leaving it to the jury. Other rulings have given the method more credit due to recent studies that show a broad approach to training professionals to give handwriting analysis credibility.
Cases Involving the Use of Handwriting Analysis
Robert Dust was a suspect in the Susan Berman’s murder in 2000 (DDL, 2015). However, the prosecutor lacked physical proof tying him to the event. Susan, who was Berman's long-time friend, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the back of her neck. The investigators discovered letters between the two indicating they two were not as friendly as people thought. A handwritten letter by Durst was collected in 1999 and used as evidence. The letter matched an anonymous note that had been sent to the Beverly Hills police department around the time of Susan’s death. The letter revealed to the police information unique to the killer’s knowledge. They used the identical block form writing as Durst had written the note in capital letters and also misspelled Beverly Hills by writing “Beverley” in both the note and letter.
In a different case, Denis Rader, also known as BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill), was convicted of murder after a handwriting analysis was made on his case years after committing the act (DDL, 2015). Denis had caused terror in the Wichita region for almost two decades. He had tortured ten people between a period of 1974 and 1991 without being a suspect until after 15 years. The case grew cold due to lack of leads until 2005 when Rader instigated communications with the press. Even though the police tracked his contact information from a computer floppy disk, they used handwriting analysis as supporting evidence. Rader had written letters to the police to gain attention and frighten the public. They matched these letters to those found in his home thus convicting him for the crimes committed.
In the six-year-old Jon Benet’s murder case in 1996, the forensics experts used handwriting analysis to acquit Jon’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey of the killing of their child (DDL, 2015). The main argument was that the parents and their son Burke had staged Jon’s murder to make it look like a kidnapping scene. The kidnapper wrote a note asking for a ransom but never made the call, and the girl’s body was found in their wine cellar. Investigators, however, concluded that the note was written as a distraction to the real motive, ruling out kidnapping for ransom. The police collected the handwriting samples of all family members, and the length of the note allowed the experts to establish the natural writing style of the suspect. Using this criterion, they disqualified the family members but were unable to find the real killer.
Comparison between Handwriting in Forensics and Humanities
Handwriting analysis can also be used in various social sciences and humanities fields. It is applicable in Sociology and Psychology as part of a way to determine an individual’s personality. For example, people who write in a more wavy or curvy style are more artistic that those who write in a straight form. Document examination in forensic science contains more resources than that of the humanities, and those who publish for scholarly reasons are rarely considered as professionals (Burge, 2010). Conducting an analysis for forensics entails a more rigorous progress than the research.
When it comes to the burden of proof, a lot more is riding on establishing proof without a reasonable doubt in criminology than in a scholarly setting (Burge, 2010). Convicting a criminal wrongfully for an offense has a greater impact on an individual than a scholar giving the wrong judgment on personality or the false argument in an academic article. Handwriting analysis lacks the burden of establishing proof beyond reasonable doubt in a scholarly setting as compared to forensics. The identification of handwriting in humanities depends on balancing probability whereas that in forensics depends on maintaining a healthy suspicion while conducting the analysis.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Handwriting Analysis Technique
In the absence of deliberate alteration of the handwriting style, and using the main principles in the forensic examination, this analysis technique is useful in producing evidence to acquit or convict suspects of crimes (Shelton, 2010). Advancements in technology and writing detection have also bridged the gap of errors in the analysis procedure making it more reliable. The improvements have also led to solving cases that were previously abandoned, for instance, the Denis Rader murder cases solved after 15 years. Also, while criminal offenders have the ability to rid of evidence such as murder weapons, changing their identity, and disposing of bodies, they are unable to alter their natural writing style (Shelton, 2010). Handwriting analysis has been accepted by most judicial authorities as evidence in court thus expanding the possibility of solving crimes that relied on other forms of evidence.
On the other hand, Shelton highlights some weaknesses associated with this technique (2010). For starters, due to the seriousness of which handwriting is taken as evidence in court, offenders have resorted to using typed notes or letters to avoid identification. In other cases, the writing sample may be too distorted or disguised to be used as evidence for example by use of graffiti or when a right-handed person writes with their left hand (Shelton, 2010). Secondly, as illustrated in one of the cases, determining dissimilarity acquits suspects of the crime but does not determine authorship (Shelton, 2010). Meaning that unless the investigators acquire a handwriting sample of a suspect to make a comparison, the person will most likely not get caught. Finally, unless there is proof without reasonable doubt that two sample handwritings are a complete match, the method cannot be used to convict criminals without the presence of other types of evidence (Shelton, 2010).
Conclusion
Forensic science has progressed from relying on DNA, fingerprints, and ballistics to more complex aspects of handwriting analysis and toxicology. Amidst the controversies of methods used to determine the validity or uniqueness in writing, it still plays a huge role in solving crimes, and more weight should be placed on improving detection techniques, as asserted in the report. This document also serves the purpose of providing an explanation of what is entailed in the analysis process, and its significance in crime detection. The greatest advancement in forensics by use of handwriting analysis was when experts discovered the three core principles that no two expert writers portray identical features in writing given a sufficient amount of text, all individuals possess a range of natural variations in their writing styles, and no writer can surpass their personal skill level. The report illustrates the process of analysis based on evaluating features such as word and letter shape, size, slanting, and spacing. A number of case studies are reviewed indicating how this forensics technique is used to solve criminal cases even after the police lacked further leads. The strengths of using this method outweigh the weaknesses because the presence of technological innovation further closes the gap of errors associated with discrediting the process.
References
Burge, R. (2010). Handwriting Analysis: Effective Use of a Documents Examination Expert.Dayton, Ohio.
DDL. (2015). High-Profile Cases Cracked with Handwriting Analysis. Drexler Document Laboratory . Available from http://www.drexdoclab.com/high-profile-cases-cracked-with-handwriting-analysis/
Murphy, E. (2007). The New Forensics: Criminal Justice, False Certainty, and the Second Generation of Scientific Evidence. California Law Review, 95 (3).
Saunders, C. P., Davis, L. J., Lamas, A. C., Miller, J. J., & Gantz, D. T. (January 01, 2011). Construction and evaluation of classifiers for forensic document analysis. Ann. Appl. Stat, 5, 1, 381-399.
Shelton, D. E. (2010). Criminal adjudication: The challenges of forensic science evidence in the early 21st century . Nevada. Reno Pub.(2) 1.
Songer, M. (2014).Forensic Handwriting Analysis – Expert Introduction to Handwriting Analysis. Robson Forensic , (1) 11-50.
Underwood, R. (2010). Evaluating Scientific and Forensic Evidence. Scholarly Articles .(24) 1-149.
