1. Chapter 16
Document Analysis

2. Document Analysis
• Involves the examination of handwriting, ink,
and paper to ascertain source or authenticity
• Examples include letters, checks, licenses,
contracts, wills, passports
• Investigations include verification;
authentication; characterizing papers,
pigments, and inks

3. Related fields
Historical dating—the verification of age and value
of a document or object
Fraud investigation—focuses on the money trail and
criminal intent
Paper and ink specialists—date, type, source, and/
or catalog various types of paper, watermarks, ink,
printing/copy/fax machines, computer cartridges
Forgery specialists—analyze altered, obliterated,
changed, or doctored documents and photos
Typewriting analysts—determine origin, make, and
model
Computer crime investigators—investigate
cybercrime

4. Document Examination
• involves the analysis and comparison
of questioned documents with known
material
• identifies, whenever possible, the
author or origin of the questioned
document

5. Handwriting Analysis
Handwriting analysis involves two phases:
1. The hardware—ink, paper, pens,
pencils, typewriter, printers
2. Visual examination of the writing

6. Handwriting Characteristics
• Line quality
• Word and letter spacing
• Letter comparison
• Pen lifts
• Connecting strokes
• Beginning/ending strokes
• Unusual letter formation
• Shading/pen pressure
• Slant
• Baseline habits
• Flourishes or
embellishments
• Diacritic placement

7. Handwriting Samples
Flourishes or embellishments
Connecting strokes
Diacritic placement
Word and letter spacing
Unusual letter formation

8. Handwriting Characteristics
Measuring the slant of handwriting
Using a template overlaid the sample

9. Handwriting Samples
When obtaining a writing sample:
• The subject should not be shown the
questioned document.
• The subject is not told how to spell words or use
punctuation.
• The subject should use materials similar to
those of the document.
• The dictated text should match some parts of
the document.
• The subject should be asked to sign the text.
• Always have a witness.

10. Types of Forgery
Simulated forgery: made by copying a
genuine signature
Traced forgery: made by tracing a genuine
signature
Blind forgery: made without a model of the
signature

11. Types of Forgery
Check fraud
• Forgery
• Counterfeit
• Alterations Credit cards
• Theft of card or number
Paper money
Art—imitation with intent to deceive
• Counterfeit
• Microscopic examination
• Electromagnetic radiation
Identity • Chemical analysis
• Social Security
Contracts—alterations of contracts,
• Driver’s license medical records

12. Document Alterations
Obliterations: removal of writing by physical or
chemical means can be detected by:
• Microscopic examination
• UV or infrared (IR) light
• Digital image processing
Indentations can be detected by:
• Oblique lighting
• Electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA)

13. Forensic Linguists
Expert who looks at the linguistic content (the way
something is written) of a questioned document
Language used can help
to establish the writer’s
• age
• gender
• ethnicity
• level of education
• professional training
• ideology

14. Analyzing Ink
Ink can be analyzed to help determine the source
Chromatography is a method of physically
separating the components of inks.
Types
1. HPLC: high-performance
liquid chromatography
2. TLC: thin-layer
chromatography
3. Paper chromatography

15. Paper Chromatography
• Two samples of black
ink from two different
manufacturers have
been characterized
using paper
chromatography.
• The different colors, in
different ratios, can
help to identify the
exact type of ink

16. Retention Factor - Rf
• A number that represents how far a compound
travels in a particular solvent
• It is determined by measuring the distance the
compound traveled and dividing it by the
distance the solvent traveled.

17. Retention Factor - Rf
• Each dye has a characteristic Rf based on the solvent
used during the chromatography.
• Can help to individualize the ink

18. Analyzing Paper
Analysis involves looking at the following
characteristics of paper:
• Raw material
• Weight
• Density
• Thickness
• Color
• Watermarks
• Age
• Fluorescence

19. Document Evidence
Class characteristics
may include general types
of pens, pencils, or paper.
Individual characteristics
may include unique,
individual handwriting
characteristics; trash marks
from copiers; or printer
serial numbers.

20. Counterfeiting
• In 1996 the government starting adding new
security features to paper money
• Subtle background colors have been added
along with other features to discourage
counterfeiting
• October 2003 - $20 bill
• September 2004 - $50 bill
• September 2005 - $10 bill