Forensic document examiners analyze various aspects of a document to determine its authenticity and origin, including handwriting, printing, inks, and papers. They look for clues of forgery and identify unique characteristics to determine the source. They prefer to work with original documents but can examine copies of high quality. They compare documents to find valid second documents. They cannot determine a person’s age, gender, or handwriting hand. Training with an established examiner is essential, and they should not be confused with graphologists.
A forensic document examiner studies all aspects of a document to determine its authenticity and origin, including handwriting, typewriter, digital printing, commercial printing, photocopying, inks and papers. Analysts look for clues that point to forgery, such as changes, deletions, additions, and substitutions in the document. If found, analysts also try to determine where the counterfeits originated, identifying unique characteristics. Some of the documents most frequently examined by analysts include wills, medical records, deeds, timesheets, insurance policies, income tax records, loan agreements, contracts, checks, petitions and election letters, and no authors identified.
Forensic document examiners prefer to work with documents that have been preserved in their original form. The reason for this is that recording details may be lost when documents are copied or otherwise reproduced, such as by fax. However, the examination of the copies can be carried out if the copy is of high quality and the particular case allows it. Depending on the examiner and the document, a high-resolution scan may be considered an adequate specimen.
Before examining a document, an analyst may look for another document to compare with the original. Reviewers try to find a valid second document that closely resembles the original in terms of style, printing, and case. The closer the second document looks to the first, the more likely the forensic examiner will complete his study with satisfactory results.
Despite the myriad of details that can be determined by a forensic document examiner, a person’s age, gender, and the hand with which a person writes cannot be determined. Likewise, while a forensic document examiner may identify a document as a forgery, identification of the forger’s identity is less likely to occur. Forensic document examiners can also analyze documents that were written in foreign languages. However, this requires the analyst to be familiar with the details of the language and the style of writing in it. For example, distinct traits vary between languages.
The most important training that the forensic document examiner undertakes is alongside another established forensic document examiner. This hands-on training is essential for any potential analyst, as a large part of the job is knowing the difference between the variations of one person’s handwriting and the differences between the handwriting of two different people. A forensic document examiner should not be confused with a graphologist. The latter studies handwriting and tries to discover personality traits in it.
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