9th Lesson- Handwriting Analysis!

Today's lesson was about handwriting analysis. :)

We were given 3 pieces of paper.
On the first piece of paper, we wrote a paragraph of words in our normal handwriting with our names labelled on it.
On the second piece of paper, we wrote the same paragraph of words in our normal handwriting WITHOUT labelling it with our names.
On the third piece of paper, we were to disguise our handwriting by writing the same paragraph more differently WITHOUT labelling it with out names.
Our teacher then swapped the second and third pieces of paper of our group with another group and see if they can match the disguised handwritings of each person to each piece of paper which has the undisguised handwriting. :)

It was a fun experience as we could get a deeper understanding of what our classmates' handwritings were like and i never actually noticed some of the small and significant details when they write certain characters. 

We learnt that handwriting analysis is used in CSI to determine whether forgery has been committed or identify the author of writing samples. Forgery is most common on cheques and therefore, handwriting analysis will reveal any forgeries being made. Moreover, people have personal habits in their handwriting that make it unique. It is possible to disguise our handwriting but experts can still eventually tell if the characters/ words were written by the same person!

No two handwritings can be the same!

Handwritings are class characteristics.

*What are class characteristics?*

Class characteristics are opposite of individualisation. The process of classification of evidence is a process of assigning it to these groups or categories. Members of a given class will share the same class characteristics, whereas evidence that can be individualised will possess characteristics that make it unique.
Class characteristics are not enough to individualise the sample or link it to one individual. Handwriting has distinctive class characters. For example: to write a capital A, two slanted lines meet at a point and are linked by a horizontal line about half way up, conversely, a Q involves a circular stroke. However, everyone writes letters in various ways, imparting individual characteristics. Almost every type of physical evidence can be classified in some way, but not all evidence can be individualised.
***
An investigator would request for a handwriting specimen to compare with the questionable document.
The collected writing are samples done before investigation and these include: applications, work documents, previous checks, etc!

We gained knowledge about the different characteristics for comparing handwriting.

1.) Line quality: do letters flow smoothly or written with very intent strokes?
2.) Spacing of words and letters + margins
3.) Ratio of height, width and size of letters: Are they consistent in all aspects?
4.) Lifting pen: Does author lift his or her pen to stop writing word/ start a new word?
5.) Connecting strokes: In what ways are the capital letters connected to lower-case letters?
6.) Unusual letter formation: Are any letters written with unusual slants/ angles?
7.) Pen pressure!
8.) Slant?
9.) Baseline habits! straight or uneven?
10.) Fancy writing habits? curls loops unique styles?
11.) Placement of diacritics: How does the author cross the t's or dot the i's.

AFTER THIS LESSON, i gained ALOT OF INTERESTING KNOWLEDGE. At first when i saw the title, i thought handwriting analysis would be about interpreting someone's personality and character just by looking at the handwriting. However, handwriting analysis in CSI and forensic science is MUCH more complicated, detailed and logical, allowing interpretations to be made sensibly and logically. :) -> helps to find out if there're any forgeries,etc!!!