Handwriting

History of Handwriting Analysis:

1611: Prospero Alorisio’s manuscript is probably the first book to describe how to analyze handwriting.

1830: Abba Michon became interested in handwriting analysis. He published his findings shortly after founding Sociate Graphologique in 1871. The most prominent of his supporters was J. Crapieux-Jamin who rapidly published a series of books that were soon published in other languages. Starting from Michon's integrative approach, Crapieux-Jamin ended up with a holistic approach to graphology.

1920s: After World War I, interest in graphology continued to spread in Europe as well as the United States.

1929: Milton Bunker founded The American Grapho Analysis Society teaching Graphoanalysis. This organization and its system split the American graphology world in two. Students had to choose between Graphoanalysis or Holistic Graphology.

1942: Thea Stein Lewinson and J. Zubin modified Klage's ideas, based upon their experience working for the U.S. Government, publishing their method of handwriting analysis.

Handwriting Workshops Unlimited was organized by Charlie Cole as a series of lectures for advanced students of Graphoanalysis. These lectures featured holistic graphologists such as Thea Lewinson and Klara Roman. By 1960 all of the participants had been expelled by IGAS. These individuals went on to form the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation. Later mass expulsions of IGAS members led to the formation of other societies, such as the American Association of Handwriting Analysts that were orientated towards Holistic graphology.

1976: The Council of Graphological Societies formed from the unification of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation and the American Association of Handwriting Analysis.

Early 1990s: Due to the rise of the internet, graphology organizations have suffered major declines in membership.

12 Handwritng Characteristics:

1. Line Quality: Do the letter flow or are they written with very intent strokes?

2. Spacing of words and letters: What is the average space between words and letters?

3. Ratio of height, width, and size of letters: Are the letters consistent in height, width, and size?

4. Lifting pen: Does the author lift his or her pen to stop writing a word and start a new word?

5. Connecting strokes: How are capital letters connected to lower-case letters?

6. Strokes to begin and end: Where does the letter begin and end on a page?

7. Unusual letter formation: Are any letters written with unusual slants or angles? Are some letters printed rather than in cursive?

8. Pen pressure: How much pen pressure is applied on upward and downward strokes?

9. Slant: Do letters slant to the left or right? If slany is pronounced, a protractor may be used to determine the degree.

10. Baseline habits: Does the author write on the line or does the writing go above or below the line?

11. Fancy writing habits: Are there any unusual curls or loops or unique styles?

12. Placement of diactrics: How does the author cross the t's or dot the i's?

Handwriting Analysis Activity:

In groups of four, we all wrote the following sentence in print and cursive on a piece of paper:

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

 

We wrote this specific sentence because contains each letter of the alphabet at least once. We then gave the paper to someone else in our group so they could use the list of 12 handwriting characteristics that we were given (see above) to identify the defining characteristics of the person's handwriting. Next, we tried to freehand forge that person's handwriting by re-writing that sentence. We also traced it onto another sheet of paper. I had some difficulties trying to recreate some one's handwriting; it would look very similar in the beginning, but towards the end of the sentence the handwriting looked more like my own. I think this happened because to properly forge someone else’s handwriting I had to go very slow and I didn't have the patience for it. It was extremely difficult to remain consistent in the size of the loops in their letters, the pressure of the writing utensil, the placement/slant of the words, the dotting/crossing of certain letters, etc. Tracing was easier, but still very difficult. It is very hard to imitate how much pressure the person applies to their writing, how thick the lines of their letters are, and the slant/curve of their lettering. However, I did find tracing to be much more effective in producing a more exact copy to the original handwriting than freehand forging. When trying to identify forgeries, I believe it is best look for inconsistencies within the writing such as some “y^s” having loops while others do not. For tracing forgeries, you have to trace someone’s handwriting at a rather slow pace to get the best results, so I think it is best to try to identify shakiness and the pressure applied to the writing.

 

Check Activity:

For the second part of the exercise we each wrote a fake check and ripped it up into small pieces. We then gave our ripped up checks and our original analyzed sentences to another group. Each group then tried to piece the fake check back together and identify who wrote it by analyzing the defining characteristics of the handwriting of the check and comparing to the original sentences.

Overall, I thought the exercise with the checks was not difficult at all. The most difficult part for me was putting the check back together, but I easily was able to identify who wrote the check once it was together. Everyone in my group was able to identify the person who did the forged checks the receive, as well. The characteristics that were the most distinguishing in my analysis were line quality, ratio of height, width, and size of letters, and unusual letter formation.

Famous Case:

A famous case that demonstrates how graphology can be effective in solving crimes occurred on July 4, 1956. Mrs. Morris Weinberger left her 33-day-old baby, Peter, in his carriage on the patio in the backyard of their home in Westbury, Long Island. Although she had been gone for only 15 minutes, when she returned she found the carriage empty and a ransom note that stated a demand for $2,000 and was signed, "Your Baby Sitter." On July 10, the Weinbergers received a telephone call and a second note from the perpetrator.

Under the law at that time, the FBI could not enter a kidnapping case until seven days had passed. Once that time period had been observed, experts began immediately to study the kidnapper's notes. It was decided that the ransom notes had been written on a piece of paper that appeared to have come from a lined tablet designed for use in writing public records. Distinctive aspects of the kidnapper's writing included a peculiarly looped capital "P," a rounded "A" with a short tail, and a capital "Y" that was strangely bold.

Six weeks after Peter Weinberger had been taken from his carriage, a group of handwriting analysts managed to match the handwriting on the ransom note to that of a signature by a man who had received a suspended sentence. It was the 1,974,544th document that had been studied during the desperate search for baby Peter.

Tragically, the kidnapper, Angelo John LaMarca, had panicked on August 23rd and left the baby in a dense thicket to die. The kidnapper was found guilty of murder and died in the electric chair.

Although handwriting analysis may provide valuable leads that in some cases may lead to the discovery of the perpetrator of a crime and that person's subsequent arrest, the testimony of graphology by itself has not been accepted by appellate courts in the United States. In spite of the claims made by graphologists, the courts have ruled that it does not meet the requirements of the kind of science.

Sources:
www.fbi.gov/about-us/.../famous-cases/the-weinberger-kidnapping
http://graphicinsight.co.za/background.htm
http://www.torontohandwritinganalyst.com/history.html