Forensic handwriting analysis is a branch of police work that involves the investigation of evidence that has handwriting on it to determine if there is a match between that and another piece of evidence with handwriting. There are a lot of different steps to analyzing forensic handwriting in Phoenix, but how do crime scene analysts go about analyzing the handwriting of a possible suspect? Here are just a few of the steps to how forensic handwriting analysts go about determining whether a piece of handwriting is evidence that can be used in court. Basis of Handwriting Analysis The basis of handwriting analysis is that everyone in the world has a unique way of writing. Everyone learned a specific way of writing and though we all learned a different (but specific) way of writing, our characteristics of writing took over our method of handwriting and changed our handwriting into something unique over time. Our style characteristics and individual characteristics are the things that separate our handwriting from everyone else’s, and while some people share similarities in handwriting (especially between individual characteristics), it’s impossible for anyone to have the exact same handwriting. For the difference between style characteristics and individual characteristics, these are things that handwriting analysts rely on to tell the differences between different pieces of handwriting. Style characteristics are the underlying method of how we learned to write and individual characteristics are the characteristics that are unique to us and distinguish us from someone else. So, for all of these different characteristics, forensic handwriting analysts are required to learn between the different types of handwriting and usually focus on the different individual characteristics. For most analysts, they will focus on the similarities between two types of handwriting. Tools They Use The tools that forensic handwriting analysts use are numerous. For just a few of them, analysts tend to use magnifying glasses and microscopes to see the small aspects of the handwriting that the naked eye has a tough time seeing. While using these tools, they look for three different things to determine the difference between their two pieces of evidence. Letter Form: This is an important aspect to judging whether or not the two are similar enough to be from the same person. This includes, according to science.howstuffworks, the curves, slants and size of letters (the relationship between size of short and tall letters), the slope of writing, and the connected letters. Though these are important aspects of someone’s handwriting, it is also important to see where the letter is placed in the word. If the word begins with an “A,” that “a” may be extremely different from the “a” that is after another letter. Line form: This is another important aspect to determining whether handwriting is related is the line form. This includes how smooth and dark the lines are in order to gauge how much pressure the writer applied to the paper. Formatting: This also showcases a large part of how the writer writes, because it is the spacing between letters, how the letters are placed on the page and how much spacing the lines have between each other. Shortcomings of Handwriting Analysis Though forensic handwriting in Phoenix generally provides good outcomes, there are some obvious shortcomings to using forensic handwriting analysis in court. Most experts have the ability to detect a forgery, but even some can slip up at the best forgery. And with handwriting analysis being already very tricky, there are a few more things that make it even more difficult. Unfortunately, lowercase and uppercase letters cannot be compared well, and problems in a person’s life can affect their handwriting so that it cannot be appropriately compared.
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