Questioned Documents- Ink

Questioned Documents: 

Questioned Documents

What is a Questioned Document?: 

What is a Questioned Document? A questioned document is one in which a document in its entirety, or in part, is subject to question as to authenticity and/or origin. Any signature, handwriting, typewriting, or other marks whose source or authenticity is in dispute or is doubtful.

Most Common Questioned Documents: 

Most Common Questioned Documents Letters Checks Drivers Licenses Contracts Wills Voter registration Passports Petitions Threatening letters Suicide notes Lottery tickets

Cases Involving Questioned Documents: 

Cases Involving Questioned Documents Forgery Counterfeiting Mail fraud Kidnapping Con games Embezzlement Gambling Organized crime White collar crime Art crimes Theft Robbery Arson Burglary Homicide Serial murder Psychological profiling Deviant sex crimes

Questioned Document History: 

Questioned Document History Turn of century, lifestyles changed from rural to urban. Allowed for more opportunities in education. With education and advances in ink, became more of a paper society. Instead of the exchange of money and handshake it became the exchange of money and a signature.

Questioned Document History: 

Questioned Document History Need grew for people that could distinguish the authenticity of a document. Attorneys would look toward penman for help in these cases. They testified that they could tell the difference in handwriting. Accepted in court because they used scientific methods. (example: side by side comparison)

Questioned Document History: 

Questioned Document History Dreyfus case, setback the discipline. Alfred Dreyfus, French army officer, accused of treason through letters found attempting to sell French secrets to Germany. Later found that Dreyfus did not write the letters. Albert Osborn, American handwriting expert, noticed that there needed to be a basis of handwriting knowledge. Did this through inviting penman, throughout the country, to share their experiences and expertise in handwriting cases.

Questioned Document History: 

Questioned Document History Osborn is considered the pioneer of the question document field because he published a book, Questioned Documents. Widely excepted because of his extensive use of scientific techniques. Albert Osborn and Lindbergh Baby Case Result of his work and national attention, the QD field was included in many Federal and State Agencies. Now called Questioned Document Examiners

Graphologist VS QD Examiner: 

Graphologist VS QD Examiner Graphologist Profiles character or personality by drawing conclusions from certain types of characteristics in the handwriting sample. They do not compare handwriting to determine authenticity or origin. Remember, most of graphology lack scientific proof. On the other hand, some of the principles of graphology are correct like: Handwriting can be effected by illness, old age, etc… Have many different “systems of graphology”.

Graphology Examples: 

Graphology Examples

Question Document Examiner: 

Question Document Examiner Studies scientifically the whole document in order to recognize the source or other evidence that can determine authenticity of the document in question. The first QDE where called “handwriting specialists” because that was the primary means of agreements or contracts.

Handwriting Theory: 

Handwriting Theory Handwriting is just as unique as your fingerprints. Difference between fingerprint and handwriting Fingerprints are permanent and do not change Handwriting is a learning process and lends itself to change as a normal process

Ink and Paper Comparisons: 

Ink and Paper Comparisons A study of the chemical composition of the ink used on documents may verify whether or not known and questioned documents were prepared by the same pen; and the paper itself may be analyzed. A nondestructive approach to comparing ink lines is accomplished with a visible-light microspectrophotometer. Thin-layer chromatography is also suitable for ink comparisons.

Ink Analysis: 

Ink Analysis The U. S. Secret Service has an ink analysis program and maintains a library of over 6,000 inks. Handwritten notes as well as printed documents can be analyzed. Chemical tests of ink (ink solubility, paper chromatography and thin layer chromatography) can be performed on printed or written material. Samples can be removed up to 10 plugs, approximately 1 millimeter each, of the paper containing the printing from the questioned sections and from control sections.

Thin Layer Chromatography: 

Thin Layer Chromatography

Typewriters and Printing Devices: 

Typewriters and Printing Devices The two requests most often made of the examiner in connection with the examination of typewriters and printing devices are: whether the make and model of the typewriter and printing devices used to prepare the questioned document can be identified. whether a particular suspect typewriter or printing device can be identified as having prepared the questioned document. In order to do this, the individual type character’s style, shape, and size are compared to a complete reference collection of past and present typefaces.

Characteristics From Use: 

Characteristics From Use As is true for any mechanical device, use of a printing device will result in wear and damage to the machine’s moving parts. These changes will occur in a fashion that is both random and irregular, thereby imparting individual characteristics to the printing device. The document examiner has to deal with problems involving business and personal computers, which often produce typed copies that have only subtle defects. Another area of investigation relates to the typewriter ribbon, which may contain type impressions.

Digital Technology: 

Digital Technology In the cases of photocopiers, fax machines, and computer printers an examiner may be called on to identify the make and model of a machine or to compare a questioned document with test samples from a suspect machine. A side by side comparison is made between the questioned document and the printed exemplars to compare markings produced by the machine. Examiners compare transitory defect marks, fax machine headers, toner, toner application methods, and mechanical and printing characteristics.

Alterations: 

Alterations Document examiners must deal with evidence that has been changed in several ways, such as through alterations, erasures, and obliterations. Erasures by rubber erasers, sandpaper, razor blade or knife to remove writing or typing disturb the fibers of the paper and are readily apparent when examined with a microscope. If an alteration is made to a document with ink differing form the original, it can sometimes be detected due to differences in the luminescence properties of the inks. Obliteration of writing by overwriting or crossing out to hide the original writing can be revealed by infrared radiation, which may pass through the upper layer of writing while being absorbed by the underlying area.

Types of Examinations: 

Types of Examinations Handwriting Comparisons Ink Examinations Indented Writing Alterations Paper Analysis Photocopy Analysis Typewriting And other related sections

Instruments Used in QD Lab: 

Instruments Used in QD Lab Stereo Microscope Light Microscope Video Spectral Comparator (VSC) Electrostatic Detection Apparatus (ESDA)

VSC & ESDA: 

VSC & ESDA

Examples of Questioned Documents: 

Examples of Questioned Documents

Examples of Questioned Documents: 

Examples of Questioned Documents

Examples of Questioned Documents: 

Examples of Questioned Documents

Examples of Questioned Documents: 

Examples of Questioned Documents

Examples of Questioned Documents: 

Examples of Questioned Documents