Characteristics of Handwriting

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF HANDWRITING
Session-4

2. REAL DOCUMENT/GENUINE DOCUMENT
 A Document which has no element of forgery and
does not have any signs of any alteration and has
been issued by the competent authority stands
genuine till challenged.
e.g. a) Frequency note wound by FBI.
b) An educational certificate issued by the
compiled authority.
c) A cheque written by the holder of the
cheque books.

3. FORGED DOCUMENT
A forged document is one where forgery has been
explained by the document expert with sufficient and
sound reasons.
Forged documents are made by
i) Any alteration
ii) Any addition
iii) Erasures
iv) Transplantation
v) Replacement
vi) A has singed for B its ‘b’

4. PAPER LESS DOCUMENTS
Documents may be paper less. When no paper is
involved the document will be paperless.
a) Writing on wall
b) Suicide note on a mirror written with soap
c) The name of the murderer written with blood on his
thigh /leg.

5. PERSONAL FEATURES
Handwriting is identified by a careful study of personal
features that are unique to the individual concerned.
These includes:-
a. General qualities
b. Writing habits
c. Individual characteristics

6. A. GENERAL QUALITIES
 The general qualities under personal features
consist of pictorial effect in the handwriting,
rhythmic aspects, the typical style that is used
while writing, movement of the pen, position
of the pen when used, quality of the line
whether it is straight or wavy or sliding etc.
some of these features are described in the
normal hand to execute the writing, writing in
a moving train or in an unnatural position or
by using defective pen, paper, ink or support.

7. SOME OF THESE FEATURES ARE DESCRIBED
IN THE FOLLOWING SECTION
7
1. PICTORIAL EFFECT
2. RHYTHM
3. STYLE
4. MOVEMENT
5. PEN POSITION
6. PEN PRESSURE
7. LINE QUALITY
8. SKILL
9. TREMORS

8.  Writing habits vary a great deal from individual to
individual due to the kind of training that the
person had had in school some change, the early
years of life.
 While understanding and analyzing the writing
habit of a person. The following points should be
kept in mind.

9. 1. HEADINGS: Some writers give headings not only
at the top but to the paragraphs also.
2. PET WORDS AND PHRASES: Certain phrases
and sentences are favorites with some writers.
Their presence, frequency, use or misuse is useful
clues especially in psycholinguistic analysis.
3. PARAGRAPHING: This depends mainly on the
education and use of the language.

10. 4.SPACING: SPACING OF THE WORDS IN A LINE, OF
LINES IN A PARAGRAPH AND OF PARAGRAPHS IN TEXT ARE
VALUABLE POINTS TO BE STUDIED. SPACES LEFT ON THE
RIGHT AND THE LEFT HAND SIDES ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF
THE INDIVIDUAL.
5.ALIGNMENT: ALIGNMENT OF WRITING LINES WITH AN
IMAGINARY BASE LINE AND WITH OTHER LINES, OF THE
SIGNATURES WITH THE BASE LINES AND OF THE VARIOUS
LINES IN AN ADDRESS ARE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES.

11. 6.PUNCTUATION: The shape of the punctuation
marks, their position and frequency, the choice of a
particular punctuation mark, under-scoring, bracketing
are all characteristics of a handwriting.
7.FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS: The
use and frequency of abbreviations and the
arrangement of figures are all products of habit.

12. C. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
 PEN PRESSURE:
Those who writing with heavy pressure are slow
writers and cause indentations in the writing line. The
pressure may be uniform, graduated or impulsive.
Those writers who write very light, their writings are
relatively smoother and more rhythmic than those who
put pressure on their writing.

13.  SHADING:
Shading is not easy to imitate, because it typically
depends on the individual’s writing habit and practice.
The particular writer in all materials that he or she
writes will use this shading, which therefore is
extremely difficult to imitate and could be one of the
best clues one could have in identifying a writer. The
forger tries to imitate this shading identifying a writer.
The forger tries to imitate this shading through
retouching, which in turn can be detected with the
help of a microscope.

14. 14
 PEN PAUSE: Pen pauses in a forgery are in the
starting stroke, ending stroke, embellishments at difficult
formation of the alphabets concerned and the connection
between two alphabets. The pen pause generally deposit extra
ink on that spot concerned, and thus are detected through a
magnifier of a microscope.
 PEN LIFTS: Writers usually lift their pen when certain
letter formations are met with. For example: to put a dot, to
cross a ‘t’ to correct shading by retouching or to modify a
letter in a certain way. Pen lifts in genuine writings are quite
conspicuous, while in forgery, to give the impression that the
writing is continuous, retouching is often used to cover up the
forgery.

15.  STARTING AND ENDING STROKES:
Experienced writers start with a flourish of the pen
in the air. When the pen touches the paper, the
flourish continues and gives a fine starting line.
This is absent in forgeries. The ending stroke
tapers in to a fine tip. In forgeries, the end points
are blunt.
 HESITATIONS: In a forgery, the starting and end
strokes show hesitations through tremors or lack of
firmness. In contrast, the strokes in genuine
signatures are done rather more freely than the
rest of the writing.

16.  RETOUCHING: Retouching in a genuine handwriting
is to complete, clarify or to produce a pictorial effect
in some letters. Retouching in a fraudulent writing is
intended to imitate the shading pattern.
 EMBELLISHMENTS: These are observed in the
starting or in the ending of letters or with the
underscoring line after the signatures.
 ABBREVIATIONS: Experienced writers consciously
or unconsciously start simplifying letters and words
and it becomes a characteristic feature of the
handwriting.

17.  PLACING: The position of the dots, crossing-
strokes and placing of punctuation marks are
highly characteristic in any handwriting. Every
person places these marks are highly
characteristic in any handwriting. Every person
places these marks according to his or her own
individual habits and style. For instance the
comma may be either big or small; position of the
dots may be exactly over the stems of ‘I’ or they
may be placed towards the left or right. Similarly,
the crossings of ‘t’ may be to the left of the stem or
to the right, without touching the stem or it may
cross the stem.

18.  SLOPE: Slants of the letters like, ‘f’ , ‘g’ , ‘h’, ‘j’
, ‘k’ , ‘p’, ‘q’ , ‘t’ , and ‘y’ , should be studied. A
forger may succeed to change the slant of his
natural writing if he has to write only a few words.
But if he has to write a larger paragraph, the
forger tends to revert back to his actual style of
writing.

19.  SIZE: The length, breadth, and size of the
curves of various letters and words are personal
characteristic features, which become fixed with
the passage of time with a writer.

20. CONNECTIVE STROKES:
Connective stokes like pen-lift , joining of letters
etc., is a very characteristic habit. Length, shape,
and positioning characterize the stroke.