Commonly Asked Questions
1. How does someone come to be deemed an expert in handwriting or signature comparison?
In Australia there is no independent educational or legal authority which decides who is deemed to be a handwriting or signature comparison expert. The individual court that is hearing the evidence shall make its own decision based on the expert’s education and experience and often it may be influenced in how deeply it looks at this issue by the acceptance or rejection of that evidence by the competing parties that are appearing in the matter before the court.
To select an expert for court the optimal criteria includes:
a) educational tertiary qualifications that are “discipline-specific” (that is, relevant to the expert skill, e.g. if the qualifications/curriculum do not include the words “forensic document” and “handwriting”/”signature” this may be grounds for caution). Also it is optimal that the qualifications are obtained from an authoritative certified educational institution and, in order to verify this, it is usually more easily done if the institution is Australian.
b) acceptance of the expert as a member of a forensic institution, preferably discipline specific and Australian, that filters membership according to education and experience, e.g. the Australasian Society of Forensic Document Examiners Inc. Beware of organisations that attempt to mimic this Society by slight differences in wording such as the non-use of the term Inc. for example.
c) the previous unopposed acceptance by Australian courts of an expert witness is always a good sign of reliable experience and authority.
2. Why do courts require evidence from handwriting experts as opposed to laymen?
The rule of evidence that demands that only an expert witness can give opinion evidence from a handwriting/signature comparison is based on two factors:
I. the rules of evidence in Australia usually prevent a non-expert person from giving opinion evidence on matters that are considered outside of their everyday experience and therefore may be unreliable.
II. the research conducted over the last 20 years into the opinions of handwriting/signature comparison experts versus the opinion of lay persons suggests that experts give consistently more reliable opinions. This does not mean that the experts have been proved to be error-free witnesses but merely more reliable than lay witnesses even if the margin is relatively small.
3. What types / categories of analysis experts are typically conducted in a handwriting or signature comparison?
Most enquires regarding signature and handwriting comparisons typically fall into these two categories:
• a disputed signature on a formal document such as a will, financial agreement or contract. In other words, is the signature a forgery?
• handwriting on a document (or any surface which can be written on) where the content of the handwriting is important for proving an issue. In other words, who wrote the handwriting?
A variation on the above is where there is a collection of signatures or handwritings which may be used to prove the likelihood of an issue if it can be shown that one person wrote all of the signatures/handwriting. This is not asking who wrote it but instead, was it all written by only one person.
4. What issues help an expert to form an opinion in comparisons of handwriting and signatures?
The methodology of a signature or handwriting comparison depends on the following factors which influence what documents are required to form a definite conclusion:
LIKE-to-LIKE: It is usually essential to compare “like to like”, e.g. cursive to cursive, upper case to upper case. It is also normally essential to compare handwriting to handwriting and NOT handwriting to a signature as many writers will depart from the normal letter designs of their handwriting to write their signatures. It is usually impossible to successfully compare signatures written in different names to one another to establish who wrote a signature. It is not possible to reliably compare letters in different formats to one another. Hence it is not always possible to reliably compare a G, a lower-case g and a cursive g. When specimen is provided it is important to provide, as much as possible, the same format handwriting as found in the questioned handwriting. Additionally, there is a difference between the different formats when making a comparison. Upper case handwriting lacks connections and differences in height between the letters. This reduces the complexity of the features to compare. In most comparisons a higher number of upper-case letters are required to be available to compare for a reliable result than when comparing lower-case and cursive writing.
CONTEMPORANEOUS: It is best to compare handwriting written at approximately the same date, as handwriting can change over time or due to injury.
SPECIMEN: A signature or handwriting written by an unknown author is described as “questioned”. It is compared against the usual or “specimen” signatures or handwriting of a known writer.
A sufficient quantity of specimen is required for a conclusive result. It is not possible to precisely advise on this quantity, as it will depend on the skill of the writer and the exclusiveness and complexity of their writing. When examining specimen it is important to have a sufficient quantity that will reveal the usual parameters of natural variation that all writers display in their signatures/handwriting, i.e. all writers vary their signatures/handwriting to some degree, some more than others. It is also the case that some writers will use a range of designs or will vary the style or format depending on the circumstances of writing. A definite opinion is prevented where there is a risk that the specimen signatures/handwriting supplied in an examination does not necessarily reveal the full range of natural variation of the writer. It is normally the case that natural variation can only be established by 12 or more specimen signatures or handwriting written over several dates although this is not an absolute rule.
INJURY or ILLNESS: It is important to know the extent of any injury or illness that may affect handwriting when obtaining specimen handwriting or where a suspect is thought to have written questioned handwriting.
COMPLEXITY. What is meant by the expression “complexity” is the relative number of intersections, retraces, multiple pen movements, connections and finer pen movements that characterise more complex handwriting. Signatures or handwriting that are low in complexity are problematic for two reasons:
firstly, the simple signature/handwriting of one person is more difficult to distinguish from the simple handwriting of another writer because there are less individualizing features to compare.
secondly, a simple signature or handwriting is relatively easy to copy by a skilled writer without revealing the tell-tale signs of forgery, i.e. tremor, pen lift, low speed, etc. If the complexity is extremely low, and there is little writing to examine, there is a certainty that the questioned material could be copied by almost any writer without revealing the tell-tale signs of forgery. Therefore if a signature or questioned handwriting is low in complexity, or there is very little of it to compare, it can prevent a definite conclusion irrespective of the other factors that are taken into account in an examination. The following examples illustrate the impact of the above factors:
In a handwriting comparison, it is not usually possible to produce a definite conclusion based on, for example, a comparison of four questioned words written in upper case even if there are many pages of specimen handwriting. The low number of comparable features in only 4 words and the relative simplicity of uppercase writing (compared to the more complex designs of cursive handwriting, for example) usually prevent a definite opinion in most cases. This is a general example only and there are exceptions to this rule – it may be possible to offer a qualified rather than definite opinion.
5. Is the quality of copies of documents important?
In comparing handwriting and signatures it is always optimal to have original documents with original ink writing but it is possible to achieve good results with copies. The chance of a definite result is enhanced by high definition copies that, when enlarged, allow the expert to see fine details such as the tapering of an ink stroke or the scrape marks within the borders of an ink stroke. Obviously high definition copies are not always available but it may still be possible to give valuable evidence by examining poor quality copies IF there is sufficient abundant handwriting to form a reliable opinion and the handwriting is sufficiently complex to form a reliable opinion.
In general terms the clarity of copied documents will depend on the detail observable when the image is enlarged.
It is always important to examine originals where there is a risk of “copy and paste” forgery, i.e. where a copy of a forged signature is imaged onto a copy of a genuine document by the forger. Cut and paste forgeries are often impossible to detect. Therefore a finding may be made that a copy of a signature is genuine but because of the possibility of cut and paste forgery it is not possible to say if the document is fraudulent. Access to the original questioned documents allows an examination with a microscope to determine if the signatures are original ink handwritten signatures. If a signature is printed at very high resolution it can be often be impossible to see that it is a copy using the naked eye.
6. Is the quantity of documents important?
Yes, if the documents are not relevant. This will increase the cost of the examination for little or no benefit. That is, providing the expert with multiple pages of documents that do not contain signatures or handwriting to be examined will add unnecessary costs to the examination as the expert is required to filter these unnecessary pages. Similarly, providing duplicate copies of documents will also require the expert to eliminate the duplicate signatures/handwriting that do not need to be examined.
7. What types of opinions can be formed after a comparison?
The types of opinion that are provided is based on the methodology an expert uses.
The majority of local Government-employed experts use a methodology created in Australia that has 5 levels of opinion, which can be summarised as two levels of definite conclusions (one for a proposition whilst the other is against), two that are either for or against a proposition but due to a limitation are not definite but qualified and one that is inconclusive. This is a very general summary as the wording of the definite opinions should include the specific and strong message that no expert can promise a 100% reliability even if they are sure of their opinion. Experts cannot offer 100% reliability in an opinion as, by virtue of the description “opinion”, the conclusion includes a subjective process. The important feature of handwriting and signature comparisons is that the general process has been repeatedly measured to provide the likelihood of the chance of error and these studies published in scientific peer reviewed journals. These important studies have shown the parameters of error in different kinds of handwriting and signature comparisons and are useful to show the relatively low rates of error in many important types of these comparisons. Many of these studies have been conducted with Australian experts and have involved testing using 5 or less levels of opinion hence the preference of many Australian experts for opinion terminology that involves 5 levels of opinion.
The types of opinions varies depending on whether a handwriting or signature comparison is conducted.
Where a positive conclusion in a signature comparison is made, i.e. “the questioned signature is genuine”, the determination indicates that not only does the questioned signature possess all of the qualities of the specimen signatures but, additionally, it is sufficiently complex so as not to have been written, by accident or forgery, by any person other than the specimen writer. It is a positive conclusion of authorship. Where, however, a conclusion is made to the effect that “the questioned signature is not genuine”, the definite statement indicates that the questioned signature is lacking in the qualities found in the specimen signatures. Such an opinion is almost always qualified by the possibility that the specimen writer could have written the questioned signature but because of the possibility, for example, of deliberate self-disguise, or the unintentional influence of ill health or drugs, or the effect of an unusual writing instrument or surface, this authorship is impossible to detect.
8. Why might an opinion be inconclusive?
Inconclusive opinions are usually given where the following circumstances arise
• insufficient number of specimen writings to assess natural variation.
• insufficient number of questioned writings to allow enough features to be compared.
• insufficient complexity of either specimen or questioned writings meaning that is impossible to eliminate the possibility of an undetectable forgery.
• low quality copies which do not allow observation of important comparable features.
9. Why can a determination as to forgery not be made from handwriting evidence alone?
The use of the term “forgery” is problematic. Forgery is normally understood at law as the act of dishonest copying, not honest copying. Copying another person’s signature handwriting on a legal document is, circumstantially, normally a dishonest act. However, a forensic expert opinion as to whether any questioned signature is a “forgery” at law requires an assessment of the writer’s intention, i.e. the proof of an intention to defraud / deceive as opposed to another intention. No expert can determine a fraudulent state of mind from a forensic examination. Hence while the term “forgery” may be heard in a report or court case it is important that an expert never gives the impression he or she can identify a forgery and instead uses terminology that states whether or not a person wrote handwriting or whether or not a signature is genuine.
10. What is the difference between a preliminary appraisal report and an expert report?
A written preliminary appraisal report allows the expert to assess the number of documents, the complexity of the comparison and give some indication of a likely result. A preliminary report is often provided before a full expert certificate for court, as it allows a useful cost benefit assessment to a certain point where the client can decide whether to incur further costs for a full examination. A preliminary examination is not as thorough as a full examination. Therefore any opinions expressed in a preliminary report are qualified by a higher chance of error compared to a full examination. In a preliminary report, there is a focus on the likely opinion conclusion and not on the fine detail of an expert report for court. Therefore in a preliminary report, there is a higher chance of typographical mistakes and minor mistakes, including missing some relatively unimportant examples of handwriting or signatures where a large number are provided. Accordingly any conclusion in a preliminary report cannot by itself be considered sufficiently reliable to support a formal / informal allegation or charge or proceedings or action of any kind that is to the detriment of an individual.
11. What would be taught in a course on forensic signature/handwriting comparisons?
Forensic Document Investigation offers a theoretical and practical seminar on forensic signature/handwriting comparisons covering key learning outcomes in areas such as:
• core comparison theories and procedures
• context bias and its effect on decision making
• natural variation in signatures/handwriting
• quality and quantity of specimen signatures/handwriting
• ‘requested’ versus ‘collected’ specimen/handwriting
• feature identification and comparison
• limitations in identification of forgeries
• terminology and standardised conclusions
• cut and paste copies
12. Is there a need to be aware of “contextual bias”?
A growing number of scientific researchers and legal advocates are critical of experts being given background information that may bias them towards a certain result. The courts hearing expert evidence might be critical of experts who do not address the need to reduce or remove context bias. In many cases, bias is perceived as the supplying of background information to show or imply that a certain opinion will benefit the party that is providing the payment. In submitting handwriting/signatures to an expert it is optimal to use a description of the comparison sought in the barest of terms without any reference to the hope or assertion by the client that a particular conclusion is the one that suits them best for the purposes of submitting the questioned handwriting/signatures.
13. What rules of evidence control handwriting and signature experts in Australia?
The NSW Rules Of Evidence require all experts to comply with the “Expert witness code of conduct” under the “Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005” including compliance to a set of general duties to the court being: “An expert witness is not an advocate for a party and has a paramount duty, overriding any duty to the party to the proceedings or other person retaining the expert witness, to assist the court impartially on matters relevant to the area of expertise of the witness.” In other jurisdictions of Australia a similar if not identical set of Rules apply. It is a prerequisite for any expert forensic certificate for any Australian court that the expert is aware of the entire content of these Rules.