Questioned Documents

• Author: D. P. Lyle
• Pages: 339-356

Questioned Documents 339

CHAPTER 19

QUESTIONED

DOCUMENTS

Documents often come into play in crimina l and civil cases. A n embez-

zler might alter ledgers to cover his theft. Kidnappers send ransom notes.

An altered check, a back-dated insura nce policy, a forged will, and even a

lottery ticket can divert a large amount of money into the wrong hands.

In these and other situations a forensic do cument exami ner might be

asked to analyze var ious documents with an eye toward authenticity and to

look for alterations and forgeries.

Document examination dates to 1609, when François Demelle pub-

lished the first scientific treatise on the subject in France. In 1810 in Ger-

many, chemical testing of the ink dye used in a document known as Konigin

Hanschritt is believed to be the first use of document ana lysis in a legal

setting.

The modern document examiner can expect to deal with complete or

fragmentary documents that are ha ndwritten, typed, or photocopied. The

documents might be letters, checks, wills, lottery or claim tickets, receipts,

ledgers, ransom or hold -up notes, ha rassi ng letters , driver’s licen ses,

340 Questioned Documents

contracts, deeds, and counterfeited currency or stamps, not to mention

writings and symbols sc rawled on walls, doors, or any other object.

The term questioned document is applied to any document whose

source or authenticity is in question. When criminal investigators come

across suc h documents, t he forensic doc ument examiner wil l be asked to do

the following:

• Determine whether a document is authentic and was produced by

the person and at the time it was purported to be.

• Determine whether the document has been altered.

• Expose damage d or obliterated writing.

• Compare handwriting, signatures, and typew ritten or photocopied

documents.

• Determine the age and source of papers and in ks.

One very important point: A forensic document expert examines the

physical characteristics of the writing and sometimes its content but he

does not attempt to determine the writer’s personality type. This is the job

of a graphologi st, and grapholog y is a controversial subject that has yet

to gain widespread legal acc eptance.

To perform his job, the examiner will employ several microscopic, pho-

tographic, and chemical techniques, but mostly he will use his sk ill and

experience. This is an exacting ar t that can’t be completely discussed in

this book, but let’s look at some of the situations in which the forensic docu-

ment examiner might play a role.

Handwriting

Each person’s writing style is personal and unique and results from uncon-

scious, automatic actions. Furthermore, people never write the same way

twice since our handwriting is af fected by our mood, position, writing sur-

face, and by whether we use a pen, pencil, or crayon.

As we age, our writing style chang es, not always dramatically, but

enough to recognize. This is importa nt when comparing older documents,

since new samples of the author’s handwriting might differ from how she

wrote decades earlier. Illnesses such as stroke or Parkinson’s disease sig-

nificantly alter handwriting a s can fatigue, stress, impaired v ision, hand or