Investigaciones

research forensic document examiner


Ipdf-iconNVESTIGACIONES CIENTÍFICAS, ARTÍCULOS Y PAPELES.

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1. Sargur SRIHARI y Graham LEEDHAM (2003). A Survey of Computer Methods in Forensic Handwritten Document Examination. Proceedings 11th International Graphonomics Society Conference, Scottsdale, AZ.

 

ABSTRACT

El análisis forense de documentos está en una encrucijada debido a los desafíos planteados a su científico base así como debido a la disponibilidad de nuevos métodos informáticos revolucionarios. Este trabajo revisa los recientes esfuerzos para establecer una base científica del análisis forense de escritura a mano, herramientas de software para ayudar a los examinadores de documentos y sistemas de software que automatizan algunos procesos de análisis. Esto incluye herramientas que calculan funciones y proporcionan una visualización para ayudar al examinador de documentos, métodos de verificación para devuelven el grado de concordancia entre documentos dubitados y documentos de procedencia cierta, bases de datos con muestras escritas de escribientes conocidos y arquitecturas de software que permiten una variedad de herramientas forenses integradas.

KEY WORDS: CEDAR-FOX, software, métodos computerizados.


2. M. Uma Devi, C., Raghavendra Rao y Arun Agarwal. (2010). A Survey of Image Processing Techniques for Identification of Printing Technology in Document Forensic Perspective. IJCA Special Issue on “Recent Trends in Image Processing and Pattern Recognition”
(RTIPPR)

ABSTRACT

Este artículo comenta diversos técnicas de procesamiento de imágenes y distintas herramientas disponibles para la identificación de las distintas tecnologías de impresión. La tecnología de impresión y los problemas asociados en documentos cuestionados han sido planteados como desafios en la aplicación de procesamiento de imágenes. Varios enfoques de procesamiento de imágenes se basan en texturas, en la variación espacial, en el modelo de color HSV, correlación espacial y características basadas en histogramas y algunos métodos de reconocimiento de patrones como la  matriz de concurrencia de escala de grises, rugosidad/textura del texto o el perímetro de las áreas destacadas. Este artículo dedica más atención a una reciente contribución llamada, “Gaussian Variogram Model (GVM)” para la clasificación de impresoras.

KEY WORDS: Questioned Documents/Documentos dubitados/Análisis de documentos, Variogram, Gaussian Variogram, Reduct, Reduct based decision tree (RDT), Impresoras, tecnología de impresión.


3. Hu-Sheng Chen, Hsien-Hui Meng y Kun-Chi Cheng. (2002). A survey of methods used for the identification and characterization of inks.  Forensic Science Journal, 1:1-14.

ABSTRACT

Durante los últimos 40 años , los examinadores de documentos se han esforzado en el examen científico y la identificación de las tintas de escritura. Las agencias gubernamentales a todos los niveles y abogados en el sector privado están utilizando el examen de las tintas como medio de establecer la autenticidad o la naturaleza fraudulenta de documentos cuestionados . Este trabajo traza el desarrollo de la exploración e identificación de tinta, desde la década de 1950 hasta la década de 1990 . Estas técnicas incluyen la cromatografía en papel , electroforesis en papel, luminiscencia, microespectometría , espectroscopía infrarroja con transformada de Fourier (FT IR), luminiscencia fotografía, de excitación láser y la espectroscopia, cromatografía en capa fina, cromatografía líquida de alta resolución y electroforesis capilar. Esta encuesta puede ayudar a documentar examinadores en los sectores gubernamental y privado para encontrar métodos necesarios y útiles en el examen de tinta e identificación.

KEY WORDS: escritura tinta, análisis de tintas, análisis de documentos, Thin-layer chromatography/cromatografía en capa fina, High-performance liquid chromatography/cromatografía líquida de alta resolución, Capillary electrophoresis/Electroforesis Capilar, Forensic documents.


4. Board of Forensic Document Examiners. Study Guide: General Knowledge Examination. 

RESUMEN

Se trata de la bibliografía recomendada por una de las agrupaciónes americanas más reconocidas y prestigiosas de EEUU, la BFDE. En este documento se listan una serie de publicaciones agrupadas según los distintos temas o saberes que un experto analista forense de documentos debería conocer.

KEY WORDS: bibliografía, Forensic Document Examiner, estudios, Board of Forensic Document Examiners BFDE


5. Milena Pugnaloni, Roberto Federiconi. (2013). Forensic. Handwriting Analysis: a research by means of digital biometrical signature. Conference paper.

ABASTRACT
 El examen de escritura forense tiene una nueva frontera : la firma digital en la modalidad biométrica utilizada, para fines de reconocimiento, la anatomía y características de comportamiento como prueba individual cuando se firma con su nombre. Datos como el dinámicamente capturado dirección, trazo, la distancia, el tamaño, la presión y la forma de la firma de un individuo permiten a la escritura ser un indicador fiable de una identidad de indivudual. “Namirial” es una empresa italiana que ha creado un sistema biométrico de firma llamado ” GrafoCerta ” (seguro de firma) que tiene un sector forense particularmente adecuado para la investigación. Un equipo de expertos ingenieros informáticos y -expertos- de escritura a mano colaboran en el proyecto y crearon un laboratorio de investigación en escritura. En este artículo voy a exponer el estudio que hicimos en la correlación entre la presión y la velocidad.

KEY WORDS: autenticación, firma digital, biométrica, GrafoCerta.


6. Bonnie L. Schwid and Hans-Leo Teulings. (2013). Writings of a person with dissociative identityt disorder – A longitudinal and a kinematic study. Journal of Forensic Document Examination.

ABASTRACT
Los examinadores forenses de documentos (FDE’s) pueden confrontar manuscritos de personas diagnosticadas de Trastorno de Identidad Disociativo (DID, en inglés), anteriormente conocida como Trastorno de Personalidad Múltiple. Si bien existe investigación científica, la mayor parte de la investigación relacionada con la escritura en el DID es anecdótica. Muchos artículos se refieren a las variaciones de la escritura de cada personalidad, pero no se ha encontrado evidencia utilizando un enfoque cinemático recogiendo datos dinámicos de la escritura. Este documento será el primer estudio conocido para comparar las diferentes personalidades de un sujeto diagnosticado de DID mediante el registro de movimientos y medición de variables utilizando una tableta digitalizadora Wacom y el software MovAlyzer. Los resultados de la investigación cinemática en comparación con un análisis convencional: los primeros resultados muestran diferencias dinámicas entre los sujetos. Además este estudio documenta la estabilidad de la personalidad de los sujetos durante el periodo de 1993 a 2011.

KEY WORDS: Dissociative Identity Disorder, DlD, Trastorno de Identidad Disociativo,  Multiple personalities, Trastorno de personalidad múltiple, parametrización de la escritura, movimiento escritural, MovAlyzer.


7. Emli-Mari Nel, Johan A. du Preez, IEEE, Member, and B.M. Herbst. (2005). Estimating the Pen Trajectories of Static Signatures Using Hidden Markov Models. IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, Vol. 27, nº11.

ABASTRACT
Las firmas estáticas provienen como imágenes escritas a mano en documentos y por definición no contienen ninguna información dinámica. Esta carencia de la información, conlleva que los métodos de verificación que se plantean a partir de la firma estática resultan considerablemente menos fiables que sus equivalentes dinámicos. Este estudio implica extraer la información dinámica de imágenes estáticas, expresamente la trayectoria de la pluma al crear la firma. Asumimos que podemos captar una versión dinámica de la firma(normalmente obtenido durante un proceso de registro previo). Derivamos un modelo de Markov de la firma estática y lo igualamos a la versión dinámica de la imagen. Este cotejo resulta en el trayectoria de la pluma estimada de la imagen estática.

KEY WORDS: Patrones de reconocimiento, procesamiento de texto y escritura, análisis de documentos, análisis de escritura.


ABASTRACT
Frecuentemente se requiere a los analistas forenses de documentos para examinar borraduras de lapiz. Es frecuente el uso del lapicero en notas de trabajo o documentos informales. En ocasiones los documentos se alteran o modifican, en ocasiones por mero desarrollo del documento o debido a causas fraudulentas. Si los documentos conforman la base de un litigio o afirman en contra de un individuo o una empresa las alteraciones deben ser investigadas y evaluadas, esta es la tarea de los analistas forenses de documentos.

KEY WORDS: lapiz, borraduras, Ordway Hilton.


ABASTRACT
Con la emergencia de las tecnologías modernas existe una tendencia a crear máquinas u ordenadores que decidan sobre la autoría de firmas. Actualmente tenemos sistemas computerizados y expertos muy entrenados para la comprobación de autoría de firmas. La cuestión es que cuál será más eficiente: hombre o máquina. La respuesta puede ser bastante subjetiva, sin embargo, en este documento proporcionamos un enfoque empírico comparando los resultados obtenidos por los dos bajo condiciones equivalentes. La novedad del estudio reside en en que hemos utilizado “lo último” y más modernos sistemas; reuniendo resultados y proporcionando los mismos resultados a los investigadores y finalmente llevando a cabo una comparación de ambos en función de la precisión y el error. Se trata de una investigación en curso y este estudio hace referencia a los resultados obtenidos durante nuestros experimentos.

KEY WORDS: autoría, autenticación de firmas, métodos computerizados.

10. Valentina Garrote y Antonio Forte. Estudio de documentos. 

RESUMEN
En este capítulo, nos referiremos al análisis que se efectúa sobre un documento cuando se sospecha de la autenticidad del mismo; ya sea porque éste ha sido adulterado, es decir se le ha modificado parcial o totalmente su naturaleza original, o bien es el resultado de una falsificación, ya que se lo ha confeccionado imitando otro documento.

  • Análisis químico de un documento.
    • Ensayos químicos a la gota.
    • Examen cromatográfico en capa delgada.
  • Cromatografía Líquida de Alta Perfomance.
  • Métodos de Análisis.
  • Interpretación de los resultados

KEY WORDS: métodos de análisis, documentoscopia, cromatografía líquida en alta resolución, cromatografía en capa fina.


ABSTRACT
El tema que trata de las similitudes entre personas emparentadas o independientes ocupa un lugar importante en el campo de la investigación forense sobre la escritura. Las similitudes en la escritura ocurren frecuentemente entre gemelos. Aunque la concordancia no es lo suficiente, causa problemas a la hora de discriminar la escritura de cada uno de los gemelos. La cuestión de si afecta la condición monocigótica o dicigótica a la similitud entre las escrituras de los gemelos está todavía abierta. Por eso, el objetivo de este estudio es determinar si en las escrituras de gemelos monocigóticos (MZ) se hallan más similitudes que las escrituras de gemelos dicigóticos (DZ) y cómo se distribuyen las características gráficas comunes en cada uno de los dos grupos. El análisis se basa en escrituras y firmas de 54 pares de gemelos, 31 pares MZ y 23 pares DZ. Cada individuo escribió una carta que contenía todas las letras del alfabeto y su firma habitual. Estas muestras se examinaron en función de 32 características. El grado de similitud para cada característica fue dado por dos expertos independientes en base a una escala de 4 grados “Definitivamente diferente”, “Más bien diferente”,  “Más bien similar” y  “Definitivamente similar”. Se asignaron los valores (-2, -1, 1 y 2) respectivamente y se calcularon las medias definiendo el grado de similitud en la escritura para cada par de gemelos. El estudio reveló que las diferencias eran predominantes sobre las similitudes en ambos grupos, no obstante, en el grupo de gemelos MZ esta condición fue ligeramente menor.

KEY WORDS: escritura; similitud en la escritura de familiares; gemelos.

 

ARTÍCULOS PUBLICADOS POR EDITORIALES O JOURNALS CON DERECHOS RESERVADOS*

Rosenblum, S., Simhon, H. and Gal, E. (2016). Unique handwriting performance characteristics of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 23, pp.235-244.

ABSTRACT
Knowledge about the handwriting performance characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is scarce, despite this skill’s importance for their academic and social participation. The objective was to compare the handwriting process and product characteristics of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) to those of typically developing children to determine the best means of differentiation between the groups. Participants were 60 children, aged 9-12 years; 30 of them were diagnosed with HFASD, and 30 were aged and gender-matched typically developed controls. All participants performed three graded writing tasks on an electronic tablet, which is part of a computerized handwriting evaluation system (ComPET). Their paragraph copying product was then evaluated using the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE). Significantly inferior handwriting performance among children with HFASD was found in both handwriting process and product measures. Significant correlations between these measures, supplemented with discriminant analysis and regression analysis results, emphasize unique handwriting performance dynamics among children with HFASD. Evaluation of the characteristics of both the handwriting process and product of children with HFASD may provide a more comprehensive picture of individual deficits. Identifying performance features may lead to more focused and adapted intervention and enhancement of school participation among these children.

Braz, A., López-López, M. and García-Ruiz, C. (2015). Raman imaging for determining the sequence of blue pen ink crossings. Forensic Science International, 249, pp.92-100.

ABSTRACT
This manuscript presents a preliminary investigation on the applicability of Raman imaging for non-destructive and rapid analysis of blue crossing ink lines. The MCR method was used to facilitate visualization of the distribution of inks of the same colour and the most predominant Raman signature at the crossing was used to interpret the order of application of inks. Different pen ink types, different times separating the application of the two ink lines and different paper substrates were used. From the 90 Raman images examined, the correct order of application was determined in more than 60 % by direct observation. The remainder cases were not as clear due to the uneven distribution of inks and the empty spaces similar to a net-like pattern observed at the crossing. This pattern was possibly caused by physical impediments (the first ink applied acting as a physical barrier) or chemical impediments (the two inks did not stick). Such impediments were more strongly observed in the crossings involving the Uniball Eye pen ink, causing the complete skipping of this ink line. Moreover, most crossings showed some mixing between the two inks and it was more accentuated when the times separating the application of the inks were shorter, since the ink was fresher. The use of white or certificate papers did not seem to influence in the inks distribution nor determining the order of the inks. Although this study provided useful insights regarding crossing ink lines, future statistic studies may be helpful for more objective examinations.

Kumar, R., Kumar, V. and Sharma, V. (2017). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics for the characterization and discrimination of writing/photocopier paper types: Application in forensic document examinations. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 170, pp.19-28.
ABSTRACT
The aim of the present work is to explore the non-destructive application of ATR-FTIR technique for characterization and discrimination of paper samples which could be helpful to give forensic aid in resolving legal cases. Twenty-four types of paper brands were purchased from local market in and around Chandigarh, India. All the paper samples were subjected to ATR-FTIR analysis from 400 to 4000 cm− 1 wavenumber range. The qualitative feature and Chemometrics of the obtained spectral data are used for characterization and discrimination. Characterization is achieved by matching the peaks with standards of cellulose and inorganic fillers, a usual constituents of paper. Three different regions of IR, i.e. 400–2000 cm− 1, 2000–4000 cm− 1 and 400–4000 cm− 1 were selected for differentiation by Chemometrics analysis. The discrimination is achieved on the basis of three principal components, i.e. PC 1, PC 2 and PC 3. It is observed that maximum discrimination was procured in the wave number range of i.e. 2000–4000 cm− 1. Discriminating power was calculated on the basis of qualitative features as well, and it is found that the discrimination of paper samples was better achieved by Chemometrics analysis rather than qualitative features. The discriminating power by Chemometrics is 99.64% and which is larger as ever achieved by any group for present number of samples. The present result confirms that this study will be highly useful in forensic document examination work in the legal cases, where the authenticity of the document is challenged. The results are completely analytical and, therefore, overcome the problem encounter in traditional routine light/radiation scanning methods which are still in practice by various questioned document laboratories.

Caligiuri, M., Teulings, H., Dean, C., Niculescu, A. and Lohr, J. (2009). Handwriting movement analyses for monitoring drug-induced motor side effects in schizophrenia patients treated with risperidone. Human Movement Science, 28(5), pp.633-642.

ABSTRACT
Epidemiologic studies indicate that nearly 60% of schizophrenia (SZ) patients treated with conventional antipsychotic drugs develop extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) such as parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia. Although the prevalence of EPS has decreased due to the newer antipsychotics, EPS continue to limit the effectiveness of these medicines. Ongoing monitoring of EPS is likely to improve treatment outcome or compliance and reduce the frequency of re-hospitalization. A quantitative analysis of handwriting kinematics was used to evaluate effects of antipsychotic medication type and dose in schizophrenia patients. Twenty-seven schizophrenia patients treated with risperidone, six schizophrenia patients who received no antipsychotic medication and 47 healthy comparison participants were enrolled. Participants performed a 20-min handwriting task consisting of loops of various sizes and a sentence. Data were captured and analyzed using MovAlyzeR software. Results indicated that risperidone-treated participants exhibited significantly more dysfluent handwriting movements than either healthy or untreated SZ participants. Risperidone-treated participants exhibited lower movement velocities during production of simple loops compared to unmedicated patients. Handwriting dysfluency during sentence writing increased with dose. A 3-factor model consisting of kinematic variables derived from sentence writing accounted for 83% (r=.91) of the variability in medication dose. In contrast, we found no association between observer-based EPS severity ratings and medication dose. These findings support the importance of handwriting-based measures to monitor EPS in medicated schizophrenia patients.

Dewhurst, T., Ballantyne, K. and Found, B. (2016). Empirical investigation of biometric, non-visible, intra-signature features in known and simulated signatures. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 48(6), pp.659-675

ABSTRACT
With the continued proliferation of electronic point of transaction signature recording devices, research into biometric indicators of spurious handwriting is attracting increasing interest. Whilst many investigations have focused on the static and dynamic indications of known or spurious behaviour in handwriting, little empirical research is available regarding the identification of such writings through the analysis and comparison of non-visible, intra-signature, kinematic parameters. These features are associated with segments within a signature formation where the pen is momentarily lifted from the page, such as might occur between a first and last name, or when the pen is lifted from the page for the purpose of crossing a ‘t’ or dotting an ‘i’. It is postulated that this type of feature analysis may be of value in support of examiners’ static examinations of disputed writings, and subsequent formation of opinion as to genuineness or otherwise. To investigate this, 13 skilled writers generated 195 known signature formations, which were then simulated 1560 times by eight simulators. All signatures, known and simulated, were simultaneously captured both statically and dynamically. The presence of non-visible features in the known signatures was recorded, analysed and compared with the prevalence of similar features in the simulation attempts. The duration, absolute size, straightness error and jerk (disfluency measure) of the extracted segments were examined and compared, with the result that simulated signatures showed an increase in all the above parameters, compared with the known signatures. Furthermore, the visualised representation of the non-visible, intra-signature segments illustrated an overall gross pictorial disparity between the known and simulated signatures, which may be of use during first pass authenticity examinations

Mohammed, L., Found, B., Caligiuri, M. and Rogers, D. (2014). Dynamic Characteristics of Signatures: Effects of Writer Style on Genuine and Simulated Signatures. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 60(1), pp.89-94.
ABSTRACT
The aims of this study were to determine if computer-measured dynamic features (duration, size, velocity, jerk, and pen pressure) differ between genuine and simulated signatures. Sixty subjects (3 equal groups of 3 signature styles) each provided 10 naturally written (genuine) signatures. Each of these subjects then provided 15 simulations of each of three model signatures. The genuine (N = 600) and simulated (N = 2700) signatures were collected using a digitizing tablet. MovAlyzeR® software was used to estimate kinematic parameters for each pen stroke. Stroke duration, velocity, and pen pressure were found to discriminate between genuine and simulated signatures regardless of the simulator’s own style of signature or the style of signature being simulated. However, there was a significant interaction between style and condition for size and jerk (a measure of smoothness). The results of this study, based on quantitative analysis and dynamic handwriting features, indicate that the style of the simulator’s own signature and the style of signature being simulated can impact the characteristics of handwriting movements for simulations. Writer style characteristics might therefore need to be taken into consideration as potentially significant when evaluating signature features with a view to forming opinions regarding authenticity.

Found, B. and Ganas, J. (2013). The management of domain irrelevant context information in forensic handwriting examination casework. Science & Justice, 53(2), pp.154-158.
ABSTRACT
That domain irrelevant context information can potentially bias human decision making processes is accepted in the psychological sciences. Although many forensic pattern examination sciences use human perceptual and cognitive processes almost exclusively to form opinions regarding evidence, we have been slow to engage with any procedure that might control for any potential effects associated with context information. The critics of pattern evidence have described how opinions may be unintentionally incorrectly formed and how bodies of evidential information might conspire to form cases where the sum of the totality of the evidence may be significantly more than its specialist parts. Given the body of evidence supporting the potentially serious implications of domain irrelevant information, it was decided to introduce a context management scheme at the Document Examination Unit of the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department. Existing laboratory wide evidence submission procedures were modified in the scheme such that, as far as was agreed to be practical, all handwriting cases were stripped of all but essential information for carrying out examination and comparison tasks. As yet no negative outcomes have been reported as a result of the scheme implementation.

Found, B., Dick, D. and Rogers, D. (2013). The structure of forensic handwriting and signature comparisons. International Journal of Speech Language and the Law, 1(2), pp.183-196.

ABSTRACT
The method of comparing questioned to known handwriting and signature formations is complex in that there are many steps where subjective judgements need to be made. With the introduction of computer aided examinations, more information should become available to the examiner on which to base subjective decisions. It is unlikely however that the majority of these subjective steps will be excluded. Decisions as to the consistency of a given questioned image to a body of standard images are based almost entirely on an individual’s ability to make reasoned choices in view of the limitations of the technique that they are performing. This article summarizes a method used to compare handwriting in the forensic environment and is primarily aimed at forensic practitioners who are new to document examination or related disciplines and to individuals with a legal background who require a basic understanding of the structure of forensic handwriting examination.

Caligiuri, M., Mohammed, L., Found, B. and Rogers, D. (2012). Nonadherence to the isochrony principle in forged signatures. Forensic Science International, 223(1-3), pp.228-232.

ABSTRACT
Highly programmed skilled movements are executed in such a way that their kinematic features adhere to certain rules referred to as minimization principles. One such principle is the isochrony principle, which states that the duration of voluntary movement remains approximately constant across a range of movement distances; that is, movement duration is independent of movement extent. The concept of isochrony suggests that some information stored in the motor program is constant, thus reducing the storage demands of the program. The aim of the present study was to examine whether forged signatures can be distinguished from genuine signatures on the basis of isochrony kinematics. Sixty writers were asked to write their own signatures and to forge model signatures representing three different writing styles: text-based, stylized, and mixed. All signatures were digitized to enable high precision dynamic analyses of stroke kinematics. Vertical stroke duration and absolute amplitude were measured for each pen stroke of the signatures using MovAlyzeR(®) software. Slope coefficients derived from simple regression models of the relationship between stroke duration and amplitude served as our measure of isochrony. The slope coefficient reflects the degree to which stroke duration increases in relation to stroke amplitude. Higher coefficients indicate greater increases in stroke duration for a given stroke amplitude and thus violate the isochrony principle. We hypothesized that the duration-amplitude coefficients for forged signatures would be significantly greater than for genuine signatures suggesting non-adherence to the isochrony principle. Results indicated that regardless of the style of the writer, genuine signatures were associated with low slope coefficients Pen strokes forming forged signatures had significantly greater duration-amplitude slope coefficients than genuine signatures. These findings suggest that when forging signatures, writers execute pen movements having steeper duration-amplitude relationships than for genuine signatures.

Found, B. and Edmond, G. (2012). Reporting on the comparison and interpretation of pattern evidence: recommendations for forensic specialists. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 44(2), pp.193-196.

ABSTRACT
The structure of expert forensic reports varies widely in the pattern evidence sciences. Since many of the forensic disciplines dealing with pattern evidence have historically evolved outside of the mainstream academic sciences, report writing styles can bear little similarity to traditional scientific report writing norms. This paper outlines a proposal from representatives of both the academic sciences and the academic legal community and aims for a transparent approach to report writing in the pattern evidence disciplines. The adoption of this framework should encourage a reporting environment and form of report that would better allow a pattern evidence specialist’s opinion to be assessed when being reviewed by practitioners and others within the wider socio-legal community.

Houck, M., Robertson, J., Found, B., Kobus, H., Lewis, S., Raymond, M., Reedy, P., Ross, A., Roux, C. and Vining, R. (2011). A Round Table Discussion on Forensic Science in Australia. Forensic Science Policy & Management: An International Journal, 2(1), pp.44-54.

ABSTRACT
This manuscript is an edited transcript of a round table discussion held during the Australian New Zealand Forensic Science Society International Symposium held in Sydney in 2010. The discussants covered a variety of topics, including the management of science, the handling of quality issues, and the report on forensic science from the U.S. National Academies of Science National Research Council. This discussion offers a frank account of the current state of Australian forensic service providers. These views are then considered in the context of recent events unfolding in the United Kingdom and in a broader international context. It poses the question, are there lessons to be learned from the Australian experience that would have relevance to other parts of the world?

Mohammed, L., Found, B., Caligiuri, M., Rogers, D. (2011). The Dynamic Character of Disguise Behavior for Text-Based, Mixed, and Stylized Signatures. J Forensic Sci, January 2011, Vol. 56, No. S1 pp. S136-141).

ABSTRACT
The aims of this study were to determine if dynamic parameters (duration, size, velocity, jerk, and pen pressure) differed for signing style (text-based, stylized, and mixed) and if signing style influences handwriting dynamics equally across three signature conditions (genuine, disguised, and auto-simulation). Ninety writers provided 10 genuine signatures, five disguised signatures, and five auto-simulated signatures. All 1800 signatures were collected using a digitizing tablet resulting in a database of each signature’s dynamic characteristics. With genuine signatures, there were significant differences between styles for size, velocity, and pen pressure, and there were significant differences between genuine signatures and at least one of the un-natural signature conditions for all parameters. For velocity and size, these changes with condition were dependent on style. Changes with condition for the other parameters were similar for the three styles. This study shows that there are differences among natural signature styles and disguise behaviors that may be relevant in forensic signature examinations.

Bird, C., Found, B., Ballantyne, K. and Rogers, D. (2010). Forensic handwriting examiners’ opinions on the process of production of disguised and simulated signatures. Forensic Science International, 195(1-3), pp.103-107.

ABSTRACT
Large-scale blind testing of forensic handwriting examiners (FHEs) has shown that authorship opinions on disguised and simulated signatures attract higher misleading and inconclusive rates than genuine signatures do. To test whether this is due to the failure of FHEs to detect the indicators of disguise/simulation behaviours we examined their opinions regarding the ‘process of production’ (which in this case was a choice between written naturally or written using a disguise/simulation strategy) of the questioned disguised and simulated signatures in blinded skill testing trials. The relationship between their process opinions and authorship opinions is then assessed. It was found that the majority of the inconclusive authorship opinions for both disguised and simulated signatures had a correct process opinion (707 of 1241, 57.0% for disguised; 3838 of 4368, 87.9% for simulated), with only 7.3% (90 of 1241) of the disguised and 0.85% (37 of 4368) of the simulated signatures exhibiting incorrect process opinions. For the total misleading authorship opinions relating to disguised signatures, the majority of the process opinions were correct (167 of 241, 69.3%) indicating that a disguise/simulation process was detected, but misinterpreted as being by another writer. These results show the usefulness of FHEs offering a first stage simulation/disguise process opinion without going on to form an opinion on authorship, as the support for the proposition that a signature is something other than genuine may be, in itself, of strong evidential value.

Bird, C., Found, B. and Rogers, D. (2010). Forensic Document Examiners’ Skill in Distinguishing Between Natural and Disguised Handwriting Behaviors. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 55(5), pp.1291-1295.

ABSTRACT
Disguised handwriting is problematic for forensic document examiners (FDEs) and attracts higher misleading and inconclusive rates on authorship opinions than does genuine writing (Found B, Rogers D, International Graphonomics Society, 2005). There are currently no published empirical data on FDEs’ expertise in distinguishing between natural and disguised writing behavior. This paper reports on the skill of FDEs for determining the writing process of 140 pairs of natural and disguised writings and compares their results with those of a control group of laypeople. A significant difference was found between the examiner and lay group. FDEs’ expertise is characterized by their conservatism, where FDEs express a higher proportion of inconclusive opinions (23.1% for FDEs compared to 8.4% for the control group). This leads to the FDEs expressing a smaller percentage of misleading responses when calling writings as either naturally written or disguised (4.3% for FDEs compared with 12.2% for the control group).

Dewhurst, T., Found, B. and Rogers, D. (2008). Are expert penmen better than lay people at producing simulations of a model signature?. Forensic Science International, 180(1), pp.50-53.

ABSTRACT
Although forensic signature examination is considered to be an identification science, it is a theoretical possibility that an individual may learn to forge another person’s signature that is free from indications of simulation behaviours. This proposition was tested in a signature blind trial that was administered to 42 forensic handwriting examiners (FHEs). Participants expressed opinions on the authorship of 100 questioned signatures. The questioned signatures comprised a mixture of genuine, disguised and simulated signatures. Calligraphers formed part of the population of individuals who provided simulated signatures for the trial. A total of 3100 opinions were expressed of which 1254 were correct, 224 misleading and 1622 were inconclusive. Of the opinions expressed regarding the simulated signatures, the misleading score for the calligraphers’ forgeries were approximately four times that of the lay persons’ forgeries. These results provide strong evidence in support of the proposition that calligraphers are more skilled at simulating signatures than are lay people and can produce forgeries that some FHEs have difficulty detecting.

Dyer, A., Found, B. and Rogers, D. (2008). An Insight into Forensic Document Examiner Expertise for Discriminating Between Forged and Disguised Signatures. Journal of Forensic Sciences, p.???-???.

ABSTRACT
It has previously been shown that forensic document examiners (FDEs) have expertise in providing opinions about whether questioned signatures are genuine or simulated. This study extends the exploration of FDE expertise by evaluating the performance of eight FDEs and 12 control subjects at identifying signatures as either forgeries or the disguised writing of a specimen provider. Subject eye movements and response times were recorded with a Tobii 1750 eye tracker during the signature evaluations. Using a penalty scoring system, FDEs performed significantly better than control subjects (t = 2.465, p = 0.024), with one FDE able to correctly call 13 of the 16 test stimuli (and three inconclusive calls). An analysis of eye movement search patterns by the subjects indicated that a very similar search strategy was employed by both groups, suggesting that visual inspection of signatures is mediated by a bottom up search strategy. However, FDEs spent greater than 50% longer to make a decision than the control group. The findings are suggestive that for some stimuli FDEs can discriminate between forgeries and disguises, and that this ability is due to a careful inspection and consideration of multiple features within a signature.

Found, B. and Rogers, D. (2008). The probative character of Forensic Handwriting Examiners’ identification and elimination opinions on questioned signatures. Forensic Science International, 178(1), pp.54-60.

ABSTRACT
This 5-year study investigated the character of Forensic Handwriting Examiners’ (FHEs) authorship opinions on questioned signatures through the medium of blind validation trials. Twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and eleven authorship opinions were expressed by FHEs on trial kits comprising randomized questioned genuine signatures (written by the specimen writer), disguised signatures (written by the specimen writer) and simulated signatures (not written by the specimen writer). Results showed that, as a group, FHEs were significantly more confident at identifying writers’ genuine signatures than identifying writers’ disguised signatures or eliminating specimen writers from having authored simulated signatures. It is proposed that the difference in FHE confidence arises from the difficulty they have in deciding which alternative authorship explanation accounts for perceived combinations of similar and dissimilar features between specimen and questioned signatures.

Dyer, A.G., Found, B. & Rogers, D. (2006). Visual attention and expertise for forensic signature analysis. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 51 (6), 1397-1404.

ABSTRACT
Eye tracking was used to measure visual attention of nine forensic document examiners (FDEs) and 12 control subjects on a blind signature comparison trial. Subjects evaluated 32 questioned signatures (16 genuine, eight disguised, and eight forged) which were compared, on screen, with four known signatures of the specimen provider while their eye movements, response times, and opinions were recorded. FDEs’ opinions were significantly more accurate than controls, providing further evidence of FDE expertise. Both control and FDE subjects looked at signature features in a very similar way and the difference in the accuracy of their opinions can be accounted for by different cognitive processing of the visual information that they extract from the images. In a separate experiment the FDEs re-examined a reordered set of the same 32 questioned signatures. In this phase each signature was presented for only 100 msec to test if eye movements are relevant in forming opinions; performance significantly dropped, but not to chance levels indicating that the examination process comprises a combination of both global and local feature extraction strategies.

Found, B. & Rogers, D.K. (2005). Investigating forensic document examiners’ skill relating to opinions on photocopied signatures. Science & Justice, 45 (4), 199-206.

ABSTRACT
Many forensic document examiners are hesitant to express authorship opinions on photocopied handwriting as the photocopying process results in less feature information than original writing. This study aimed to test the accuracy of 15 examiners’ opinions regarding whether photocopied questioned signatures were genuine or simulated. Each examiner received the same set of original signature exemplars, from one individual, and a set of eighty questioned photocopied signatures comprising of genuine and simulated signatures. The overall misleading (error) rate for the grouped examiners’ opinions was 0.9% providing strong evidence that examiners can make accurate observations regarding the authorship of non-original handwriting.

Sita, J., Found, B. & Rogers, D. (2004). A model using quantitative data for forensic signature identification. Journal of Forensic Document Examination, 16, 91-101.


Sita, J., Found, B. & Rogers, D. (2004). A quantitative analysis of the spatial properties of questioned signatures and the relationship to forensic document examiners’opinions. Journal of Forensic Document Examination, 16, 77-89.


Sita, J., Found, B. & Rogers, D. (2002). Forensic handwriting examiners’ expertise for signature comparison. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 47, 1117-1124.

ABSTRACT
This paper reports on the performance of forensic document examiners (FDEs) in a signature comparison task that was designed to address the issue of expertise. The opinions of FDEs regarding 150 genuine and simulated questioned signatures were compared with a control group of non-examiners’ opinions. On the question of expertise, results showed that FDEs were statistically better than the control group at accurately determining the genuineness or non-genuineness of questioned signatures. The FDE group made errors (by calling a genuine signature simulated or by calling a simulated signature genuine) in 3.4% of their opinions while 19.3% of the control group’s opinions were erroneous. The FDE group gave significantly more inconclusive opinions than the control group. Analysis of FDEs’ responses showed that more correct opinions were expressed regarding simulated signatures and more inconclusive opinions were made on genuine signatures. Further, when the complexity of a signature was taken into account, FDEs made more correct opinions on high complexity signatures than on signatures of lower complexity. There was a wide range of skill amongst FDEs and no significant relationship was found between the number of years FDEs had been practicing and their correct, inconclusive and error rates.

Found, B., Sita, J. & Rogers, D. (1999). The development of a program for characterising forensic handwriting examiners’ expertise: Signature examination pilot study. Journal of Forensic Document Examination, 12, 69-80


Found, B., Dick, D. & Rogers, D.K. (1994). The structure of forensic handwriting and signature comparisons. Forensic Linguistics: International Journal of Speech Language and the Law, 1, 183 – 196.

ABSTRACT
The method of comparing questioned to known handwriting and signature formations is complex in that there are many steps where subjective judgements need to be made. With the introduction of computer aided examinations, more information should become available to the examiner on which to base subjective decisions. It is unlikely however that the majority of these subjective steps will be excluded. Decisions as to the consistency of a given questioned image to a body of standard images are based almost entirely on an individual’s ability to make reasoned choices in view of the limitations of the technique that they are performing. This article summarizes a method used to compare handwriting in the forensic environment and is primarily aimed at forensic practitioners who are new to document examination or related disciplines and to individuals with a legal background who require a basic understanding of the structure of forensic handwriting examination.

Found, B., Rogers, D. & Schmittat, R. (1994). A computer program designed to compare the spatial elements of handwriting. Forensic Science International, 68, 195- 203

ABSTRACT
The comparison of questioned and standard line traces in forensic handwriting examination has to date been based almost entirely on subjective techniques. Handwriting examiners have not been equipped with a basic user-friendly technique to perform measurements on what are non-linear and variable behavioural artifacts. This paper describes a technique developed through research into human motor control which has been modified to be used by forensic handwriting examiners. The program provides a series of measurement tools. These tools can be applied to scanned images for the purpose of determining the spatial consistency of a disputed sample with a body of known writings. It is thought that the immediate application for this technique in the forensic casework environment is for the comparison of disputed signatures. In addition, the program can be used for any forensic research project requiring objective spatial data. If the field of forensic handwriting examination is to be considered a scientific endeavour, then the move toward the inclusion of objective measurement as part of the overall comparison methodology must be made.

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