Richard Orsini

Forensic Document
Examiner
For Credentials:
www.richardorsini.com
 Services
 Forgery detection
 Anonymous writings
 Handwriting authentication
 Altered & obliterated
documents
 Identity theft prevention
techniques
 Court qualified expert witness
testimony
 Seminar presentations & guest
speaker
 Sources
Richard Orsini – personal case files
Handwriting Consultants International
National Assoc. of Document Examiners
American Handwriting Analysis Foundation
Time, Newsweek, Florida Times Union
Colleagues: A. Bradley, T. Widmer, B. Link,
A. McNichol, K. Amend, D. Anthony
Seagrams
 Factors that affect
Handwriting
Physical factors: age, illness, injury,
medicine, eyesight, alcohol, drugs.

Mechanical factors: pen type, ink,

surface, position, paper quality.

Psychological factors: distress,

anger, fear, depression, dishonesty,
happiness, nervousness.
 FRAUD
1.4 million checks forged every day.
$ 27.3 million lost to forgery daily.
Employment fraud costs $ 3.5 TRILLION per
year or 5% of Gross World Product.
15 million identity thefts per year.
Median loss in fraud cases is $ 140,000.
87% of employees are first-time offenders.
81% either live beyond their means or have
financial difficulties. …ACFE 2012
THE SUNSHINE STATE
THE SUNSHINE STATE
Is there REALLY
personality in
handwriting?
Library of Congress
 Handwriting analysis was
established as a branch of
psychology in 1991.
 FBI agents were sent to Europe
to study graphology.
 Criminal Minds TV program is
based on Behavioral Sciences
Unit of the FBI.
The Felon’s Claw
YOU and Your Private “I”
by
Jane Green
313 pages
…on just the letter “I”
William D. Lindsey
The Ramsey Ransom
“Note”
Do the “bad guys” care
if you’re tired?
 The FBI reviewed
the handwriting of
73 suspects – only 1
person could not be
eliminated…
Signatures – Your
Public Face
John Mark Karr
Peter Braunstein
Dead body or rifle?
Axioms, Principles & Theories
 No writer can write better
than his best natural writing.

 Once written, a signature

cannot be identically
reproduced by the same or
another person by freehand
writing.
 AXIOMS, cont.
 A tracing can be made only
when a model signature is
available.
 A palsied hand cannot write a
normal signature.
 An illiterate, unskilled writer
cannot simulate the writing
of a literate, skilled writer.
 PRINCIPLES, cont.

 Handwriting is a learned,
complex skill of the mind,
muscles, & nerves.

 No two people are exactly

alike and no two people act,
speak, or write exactly alike.
 PRINCIPLES, cont.

 An imitation of a signature will

resemble in some manner the
genuine signature.

 The person who imitates a

signature can rarely be
identified by the imitated
signature.
 PRINCIPLES, cont.

 You cannot determine the

age, sex, or handedness with
certainty from handwriting.

 One distinctive element

alone seldom justifies a
definite conclusion.
 PRINCIPLES, cont.

 Signatures that are exactly

identical are replicas and
only one can be genuine.

 The writer who traces a

signature cannot be
identified from the tracing.
 THEORIES, cont.

 Different writers are

established when there are
structural differences
between writings.

 A person’s handwriting
changes during the course of
a lifetime.
CHECKPOINTS
Natural Variation vs Different Writer
 FORGERY CHECKLIST

 HESITATION
 UNNATURAL PENLIFTS
 PATCHING
 TREMOR
 UNCERTAINTY OF
MOVEMENT
 DRAWN QUALITY
 SPEED KILLS

THE DILEMMA FOR FORGERS:

WRITE TOO QUICKLY – LOSE

PICTORIAL RESEMBLANCE

WRITE TOO SLOWLY – LOSE

“NATURALNESS” & FLUIDITY
 HANDWRITING ID

 MOVEMENT

 FORM

 ARRANGEMENT
 MOVEMENT

 WRITING SPEED

 ZONAL PROPORTIONS

 LETTER SLANT

 WRITING PRESSURE
 FORM

 LETTER STYLE

 SIMPLE OR ELABORATE

 LETTER SIZE
 ARRANGEMENT

 SPACE BETWEEN LETTERS

 SPACE BETWEEN WORDS

 SIGNATURE LINE LOCATION

TEST TIME!
 TEST TIME!

 NO TALKING!

 NO CHEATING!

 NO LOUD LAUGHING!

 NO THROWING OF OBJECTS
AT THE INSTRUCTOR!
1
 LEFT OR RIGHT
2 HANDED?
3
 4
A

B
5
 Charles Weinstein

6
7
8
9
 10

B
GENUINE

A Bonus

Genuine

A
B
Genuine

Forged
Left Hand

Genuine
Forged
Left Hand
 Last Question
A woman, while at the funeral of her
mother, met a man she didn’t know.
She thought the man was amazing – a
dream come to true. She immediately
fell in love but forgot his name and
could not find him.
A few days later she killed her sister.
Question: What was the motive for
killing her sister?