Popular Methods of Forging Signature

      1. Freehand Method -  whereby the forger, after careful practice,
         replicates the signature by freehand. Although a difficult
         method to perfect, this often produces the most convincing results.
      2. Trace-Over Method - the sheet of paper containing the genuine
         signature is placed on top of the paper where the forgery is
         required. The signature is traced over, appearing as a faint
         indentation on the sheet of paper underneath. This indentation
         can then be used as a guide for a signature.

            Methods of Signature Tracing

            1. Carbon Outline Method - carbon paper inserted between
               original and false document.
            2. Indentation Process - original document is placed over
               false one under it, to be traced later using a pen or
               pencil.
            3. Transmitted Light Process - a light source is placed
               under a light, the original document is placed under the
               false one. The light source will illuminate both
               documents so that the writings on the original document
               will be seen and traceable on the false one.

      Characteristics That May Suggest Presence of Forgery

      1. Shaky handwriting
      2. Pen lifts             
      3. Signs of retouching
      4. Letter proportions
      5. Very close similarity between two or more signatures

      Kinds of Forgery of Signatures

      1. Simple Forgery - (spurious forgery) signing of a document in
         his own or in a modified handwriting. Easy to detect once
         standards of genuine signatures are obtained.
      2. Simulated Forgery - (freehand forgery) the copying or imitation
         of a signature.

      Indicators of Forgery 
      1. Blunt starts and stops
      2. Pen lifts and hesitations
      3. Tremor
      4. Speed and Pressure
      5. Patching
          
Slant - slope of writing in relation to the base line.

Spacing -  is a blank area devoid of content, serving to separate words,

letters, numbers, and punctuation.

Striking - (stamping) making an impression of a coin on a metal blank

by pressure using steel dies.

Superimposition - placing or laying of one document over another 

in a way that it appears as a single image. The placement of an
image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually
to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to
conceal something.
Terminal - The end of a writing stroke.

      Initial Stroke - the beginning of a writing stroke.

Tremor - deviation from uniform stroke brought about by lack of

smoothness.

      Kinds of Tremors 
      1. Genuine Tremors - caused by age, illiteracy, weakness.
      2. Tremor of Fraud

Typebar - one of the bars on a typewriter that bears type for printing.

Typewriter - is a mechanical or electro-mechanical machine for writing

in characters similar to those produced by printer's movable type
by means of keyboard-operated types striking a ribbon to transfer
ink or carbon impressions onto the paper.

      Carriage Return -  referred to a mechanism or lever on a typewriter.

      It was used after typing a line of text and caused the assembly
      holding the paper (the carriage) to return to the right so that
      the machine was ready to type again on the left-hand side of
      the paper (assuming a left-to-right language).

      Typeface - the printing surface of the type block. The most

      popular type are pica and elite.

      Pica - 10 characters per inch

      Elite - 12 characters per inch

      Types of Typewriters
   
1. Keyboard typewriter - is the simplest kind of typewriter,
         functioning from the QWERTY formation of letters and having
         a type (a metallic cast with letters molded into it) that's
         attached by a bar or rod.
   
2. Single-element typewriter - enable the user to print data in
         different languages or fonts. Instead of using a bar mold for
         the type (called a type bar), single-element typewriters use
         type wheels, type sleeves or type shuttles for molds. The
         most popular single-element was the Hammond type-shuttle
         typewriter produced in 1884.
   
3. Type-bar typewriters, as the name suggests, use type bars,
         or molds of iron shaped like bars, for their types. Type bars
         are the most common kind of typewriter and the original
         invented by Sholes, Glidden and Soule was a type-bar
         typewriter.
   
4. Index typewriters - were far less costly in the pre-modern
         era, but also less useful. An index typewriter required that
         users first input what key they would like, and then perform
         another action (usually pressing a lever) to print the letter
         to a page. Usually these didn't use type bars, but instead
         type wheels, type shuttles, type plates and even more novel
         types. Examples of the index typewriter are the American
         Visible, first manufactured in 1901, and the French Virotyp
         of 1914.
   
5. Teletype Typewriters - (Teleprinters) came on the scene in
         the mid-1950s and peaked in popularity in the 1960s. They
         were used mostly for communicating information from point
         to point, much as modern fax machines are used. Most non-IBM
         computers had teletype terminals. Teletypes were completely
         mechanical and thus required regular lubrication; they didn't
         have type bars in the strictest sense and instead used
         plastic gears to print messages.
   
6. Electric Typewriters - The most modern typewriter, still
         used today, is the electric typewriter, most notably IBM
         models such as the Selectric. The electric typewriter
         minimized the force necessary to print out a message by
         using a motor and type ball to print letters on paper.

Vignette - a small illustration or portrait photograph which fades

into its background without a definite border.

Watermark - a faint design made in some paper during manufacture that

is visible when held against the light and typically identifies
the maker.

Writing - is a medium of communication that represents language

through the inscription of signs and symbols.

      Cursive Writing - also known as script, joined-up writing,

      joint writing, running writing, or handwriting is any style of
      penmanship in which the symbols of the language are written in
      a conjoined and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of
      making writing faster.

      Writing Speed - Classified Into 4 Divisions

      1. Slow and Drawn
      2. Deliberate
      3. Average
      4. Rapid
Questioned Document - is any signature, handwriting, typewriting or other mark
whose source or authenticity is in dispute or doubtful.

Graphology - study of the handwriting to determine personality traits.

Simulation - an attempt to disguise one's handwriting or copy someone Else's.

The following trait are considered in handwriting analysis:

1. letter form which includes curve, connections, slants, size and angle.
2. line quality which indicated the amount of pressure used by the author.
3. Arrangement which refers to spacing, formatting and alignment.

Characteristics which indicate that a handwriting sample has been forge.

1. shaky lines
2. dark, thick starts and finish
3. numerous pen lifts

 But they may also be the result of nervousness, alcohol impairment or other
factors.
 The content of what a person writes is analyzed by handwriting expert.
Grammatical, style, punctuation and word choice are included in the analysis
of handwriting.
 The speed or how fast a person write is not considered in handwriting analysis
though speed may affect their formatting and letter and line forms.

Calligraphy - decorative handwriting or handwritten lettering. The art of producing

decorative handwriting or lettering with a pen or brush. From Greek "Kallos"-beauty
and "Graphe"-writing.

Three Stages in the Process of Handwriting Examinations

1. Analysis - the questioned and the known items are
    analyzed and broken down to directly perceptible
    characteristics.
2. Comparison - the characteristics of the questioned 
    item are then compared against the known 
    standard.
3. Evaluation - similarities and differences in the 
    compared properties are evaluated and this 
     determines which ones are valuable for a
    conclusion. This depends on the uniqueness and
    frequency of occurrence in the items.

Handwriting Exemplar - known standards - is a piece of writing that can be

examined forensically as in a handwriting comparison.

Two Types of Handwriting Exemplars

1. Request Writings - obtained from individual
    specifically for the purpose of conducting a
    handwriting comparison.
2. Collected Writings -samples the individual produced
    for some other unrelated reason generally in the 
    course of their day to day activities.
Common Questioned Documents
1. Forgery 
2. Counterfeiting
3. Mail Fraud
4. Kidnapping
5. embezzlement
6. Theft
7. Robbery
8. Sex Crime
9. Murder
10.Homicide

Historical Dating - work involving the verification of age and worth of a document or
object.

Indicators of Forgery
1. Blunt starts ans stops
2. Pen lifts and hesitations
3. Tremor
4. Speed and Pressure
5. Patching

TERMS

Alignment defect - characters that write improperly in the following respect: a

twisted letter, horizontal misalignment, vertical misalignment, or a character "off its
feet" these defects can be corrected by special adjustments to the type bar and type
block of a type bar machine. 

Allograph - a writing or signature made by one person for another or a style (block
capital, print script, or cursive form) of one of the 26 graphemes of the English
alphabet or of the ligatures or other symbols that accompany it.

Altered document - a document that contains a change either as an addition or a

deletion.

Ample letter - that which encompasses more than the standard inner space in a
given letter.Characterized by fulsomeness and expanded ovals and loops.

Archive - collection of documents and records purposely stored for a defined period
of time.

Assisted writing - the result of a guided hand, produced by the cooperation of the
two minds and two hands of two persons.

Ball point pen - a writing instrument having as its marking tip a small, freely
rotating ball bearing that rolls the ink into the paper.Many of these pens use highly
viscous, non aqueous ink but in recent years construction of some pens have been
adopted to use water-based inks. 
Baseline - the ruled or imaginary line upon which the writing rests.

Big Floyd - the FBI super computer that contains software allowing it to search
criminal records and draw conclusions from the available information in the hunt for
those responsible for an individual crime.
Bindle paper - clean paper folded  used to contain trace evidence, sometimes
included as part of the packaging for collecting trace evidence.Most of the time, white
paper is used and has the consistency of butcher paper, the paper used in deli
markets.

Bitmap - a mosaic of dots or pixels defining an image, including dot matrix

imprints.The smoothness of the image contour depends upon the fineness of
resolution and the number of dots or pixels per inch.

Blobbing - the accumulation of ink on the exterior of the point assembly of a ball-
point pen that drops intermittently to the surface being written upon.

Blunt ending - the effect produce on commencement and terminal strokes of letters,
both upper and lower case, by the application of the writing instrument to the paper
prior to the beginning of any horizontal movement.

Boat - a dish-shape figure consisting of a concave stroke and a straight line

sometimes forming the base of letters.

Body - that portion of a letter, the central part that remains when the upper and
lower projections, the terminal and initial strokes  and diacritics are omitted.

Boustrophedun - writing in which alternate lines are written in opposite directions

and even have the posture as well as the direction of reversal letters.

Bow - a vertical curve stroke as in capitals D and C.

Braille - a system of representing letter, numerals etc. by raised dots that a visually
impaired person can read by touch.

Burring - a division of a written line into two or more, more or less equal portions by
a non-linked area generally running parallel to the direction of line generation but
moving away from the radius of a curving stroke.Sometimes referred to as splitting.
Carbon copy - a copy of a typewritten document made by means of carbon paper.An
exact replica;duplicate.

Carbon ink - (India ink) one of the oldest form of writing ink commonly referred to
as India ink even though the ink was first used in China.In its simplest form carbon
ink consists of amorphous carbon shaped into a solid cake with glue.It is converted
into a liquid for writing by grinding the cake and suspending the articles in a water-
glue medium.Occasionally,a pigmented dye is added to improve the color.

Case file - a collection of documents comprising information concerning a particular

investigation.

Case records - all notes, reports, custody records, charts, analytical data, and any
correspondence generated in the laboratory pertaining to a particular case.

Character - any typed or handwritten mark, sign or insignia, abbreviation,

punctuation mark, letter, or numeral whether legible, blurred or indistinct. 

Charred document - a document that has become blackened and brittle through
burning or through exposure to excessive heat.

Class characteristics - not all characteristics encountered in document examination

are peculiar to single person or thing and one that is common to a group may be
described as a class characteristic.Traits that define a group of items collectively.