Factors affecting handwriting

1. Factors Affecting
Handwriting

2. Intrinsical factors
 These are the factors that are within the control
of the writer or these are adopted by choice.
 (A) Imitation - Beyond the various writing
systems to which we are exposed, we are
influenced by what we see and like in the writing
of others.
 Imitation is probably one reason why the
handwritings of classmates, close relatives, and
those who have lived together for a long period
of time, often have so much in common.

3.  Sinistrality and the adoption of the inverted-
hand posture, have some factors to them that
may be hereditary or be simply the imitation of
parents or siblings.
 It is typical of the acquired handwriting styles
occurring in particular teacher-pupil
relationships, in professional and social groups,
and in the fashionable or popular writings of a
social strata at a particular time

4.  The permanence of the changes will likely
depend on the duration of the interest in the
group or individual adopted as the model.
 (B) Circumstantial - There are factors
influencing writing that vary with circumstances
under which the writing is executed.
 Osborn, Harrison, Hilton, and Ellen have each
commented on the affect that circumstances may
have upon writing, usually under the broad
caption of “writing conditions.”

5.  These comments have dealt with extreme
circumstances and the claims that have
been made in defense of unskillful
simulations.
 For example, the writing is claimed to have
been executed against walls, on the roofs of
cars, in moving vehicles, upon one’s knee,
or on a clipboard held in the hand.

6.  It is well known that writing up against walls, on
the roofs of cars, in moving vehicles, writing on
one’s knee, or while standing without stable
support for the document, or in a confined
space at the bottom of a document are
conditions that often occur with genuine
executions of recipient or attesting signatures.
 The use of these conditions as excuses for
apparently poor writing is understandable.

7.  It is also well-known that writings under these
circumstances may be badly distorted, erratic,
and imprecise.
 Retraces are difficult to execute, bowls of letters
are not carefully closed.
 There are other circumstances, or variations in
normal circumstances, such as changes in the
nature of the writing instrument or changes in
the nature of the document being signed are less
extreme and, accordingly, their effects upon the
writing may not be as pronounced.

8.  There are six circumstantial factors that an
examiner should consider:
1. The writing media employed,
2. The writing posture, including stance and
orientation to paper,
3. The writing purpose,
4. The writing space available and location,
5. The writing surface and support
6. The writing environment

9. (c) Temporal States (Induced
Conditions) of the Writer
 The use and abuse of many different
pharmacological agents in contravention of the
law and the consequences of such abuse within a
forensic arena has stimulated the interest of
handwriting examiners called upon to identify
the writings of the users that become the
perpetrators of other crimes.
 It comes as no surprise, then, that the drug most
often studied in relation to handwriting changes
has been alcohol.

10. (1) Alcohol
 Questions frequently arise in matters under
litigation respecting the effects of drugs,
particularly alcohol and hallucinogens, upon the
writing of the individual.
 The argument contending that the writer was
intoxicated at the time is proposed to contest
the writer’s knowledge and responsibility for
his/her actions.

11.  The studies conducted are attempts to answer a
few fundamental questions:
 1. Does handwriting contain evidence of a
writer’s consumption of alcohol within a certain
time period prior to execution? If so, what
evidence?
 2. Does this evidence, if any, correlate reliably
with the writer’s blood alcohol concentration
(BAC)?
 3. Could the evidence of intoxication in
handwriting be mistaken for another condition/
circumstance, or vice versa?

12.  the findings of the several investigators are as
follows –
 1. The ingestion of alcohol results in
handwriting impairment, although the BAC at
which it becomes apparent, and the elements of
writing affected varies with the individual,
his/her drinking practises or history, and the
circumstances under which the writing is done.

13.  2. The quality of one’s writing deteriorates
progressively with the elevation of BAC, and
more profoundly in extended writing than in
signatures.
 3. The legibility of one’s writing deteriorates
progressively with the elevation of BAC,
partially due to the distortion of letter forms.
 4. The dimensions of one’s writing increases
with the elevation of BAC. A given word or text
will occupy more space.

14.  5. The lateral expansion of one’s writing
increases with the elevation of BAC.
 6. The alignment of one’s writing deteriorates
progressively with the elevation of BAC.
 7. The irregularity of letter slopes increases
progressively with the elevation of BAC.
 8. The point load of the writing instrument (pen
pressure) increases or may become irregular with
the elevation of BAC.

15.  9. The speed of writing decreases markedly
with the elevation of BAC.
 10. Errors, letter omissions, and
overwriting increase in frequency with the
elevation of BAC.
 11. Erratic movements or sudden changes
in the writing line or tremours may occur
with the elevation of BAC.

16.  12. The influence of alcohol on writing can
vary somewhat with the individual’s
temperament, state of health, emotional
state, or with fatigue.
 13. The quality of writing of an alcoholic
may not be fully recovered during the
withdrawal (sober or hangover) stage of
his/her drinking behavior.

17.  14. Tremor is a likely characteristic of the
writing or line drawing of chronic drinkers and
alcoholics, drunk or sober, that may be reduced
or eliminated at low levels of BAC.
 Studies that have attempted to use changes in
handwriting as a measure of the level of
intoxication or BAC of a subject have not yet
proven successful.

18. 2. Hallucinogens and Hard
Drugs
 persons addicted to hard drugs such as heroin,
cocaine, and the many varieties of them
experience, initially, a certain state of well-being
with the ingestion of the drug during which
performance in any neuro-motor task is
improved over that in a state of withdrawal or
abstinence.

19.  It has been observed in some studies that effects
similar to those of alcohol are obtained in
writing under the influence of other drugs such
as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) and of
BOL-148 (d-1-brom lysergic acid diethylamide).
 Cases do arise, however, involving the writing of
wills or other communications in conjunction
with or prior to the taking of drug overdoses
resulting in death.

20.  Cheques and receipts are sometimes signed
while in a drugged state, after which, and on
return to a normal state, the writer may have no
recollection of the writing act.
 Hallucinogenic and addictive drugs of most
kinds, like alcohol, have an affect upon the
neuromuscular system, and while the effects are
somewhat varied there is some consistency in
the conditions reported.

21.  Many studies have been conducted of the effects
of alcohol on performance when taken in
conjunction with other drugs.
 It was found that there was a greater
(synergistic) effect on human performance and
judgment from a combined dosage of
meprobamate and alcohol than from either of
these drugs taken singly.

22.  Studies have been conducted of the effects of
cannabis sativa, common name: marijuana, or
the active ingredient THC and alcohol in
simulated driving tests.
 THC has been found to have a stronger affect
on one’s ability to estimate time and distance,
but that both drugs slowed one’s reaction time.

23. 3. Hypnosis
 Hypnosis is a trance-like condition or an induced
state that resembles sleep in which the subject
experiences diminished will power and is very
responsive to the suggestions of the person who is
hypnotizing.
 In a study of 17 subjects and of their ability to
simulate or forge signatures when hypnotized, it
was found that neither hypnosis nor posthypnotic
suggestion improved the subject’s ability to
simulate or forge another’s signature.

24. 4. Fatigue or Physical Stress
 There are two forms of stress that the human
being may experience: emotional stress and
physical stress.
 Fatigue is the physical form of stress.
 One can find mention of the effects of fatigue
upon writing in papers dealing with alcohol,
but little that describes in any detail what the
effects are.

25.  A study was conducted, consisting of 30 writers
under extreme and moderate states of fatigue,
and fatigue localized to the writer’s forearm.
 It was observed that there is an increase in
vertical height in both lowercase and uppercase
letters, without a significant change in
proportions or relative heights and an increase in
letter width or lateral expansion.

26.  Expansion and contraction were both found in the
spacing between the words, but it was noted that
whichever tendency exhibited, remained constant.
 Slope was not significantly effected, nor was speed,
rhythm, or fluency habits.
 Only minor deterioration was noted in writing
quality, that tended to produce a scrawl and exhibit
less care.
 In some cases greater pen pressure was displayed.
 No evidence of tremor was found.

27.  Remarkably, fewer patching and overwriting
occurred in writing under fatigue.
 Minute movements tended to be enlarged, but
there was no fundamental change to most
writing habits.
 There was some propensity to abbreviate, to
commit spelling errors, and to omit punctuation
and diacritics (“i” dots).

28.  Impairment of the writing in this case was judged
on the strength of the following:
 1. Deterioration in letter formation, coupled with
overwriting and corrections.
 2. An increase in lateral expansion, particularly of
the spacing between letters, and a frequent
misjudgment of the length of words at the ends
of lines.
 3. A tendency to write larger.

29.  4. A reduction in the speed of writing,
accompanied by an inconsistency in point load
(pen pressure).
 5. A failure to maintain good alignment or a
proper baseline.
 6. A general failure in writing quality and greater
carelessness.

30. D. Literacy and Education
 Harrison has believed that skill in
paragraphing reflects the educational status
of the writer.
 He suggests further that punctuation and
spelling, presumably when correctly done,
may also be indicative of a reasonable level
of education.

31.  This is so, because it is believed that an educated
person to be more competent in the written
language, and more capable of sorting and
organizing thoughts, from which proper
paragraphing and punctuation original.
 Correlation is not to be expected between artistic
quality (i.e., writing skill) and education or
intelligence, that has been the evidence proffered
by written prescriptions executed by medical
professionals, with which we are all familiar.