Functions of a forensic document examiner

Who wrote the threatened letter to the mayor? Whose signature is this on the dotted line of the contract? Is the endorsement signature on the back of the check genuine? When was this document typed? What does the faded writing say? Is this a genuine or counterfeit document? An individual who is trained in the field of questioned documents is the person who can answer these questions.

A forensic document examination can involve the comparison of handwriting and signatures, typewriters and printing devices, alterations and obliterations of documents, counterfeiting, photocopy manipulation, rubber-stamp impressions, inks, paper, and much more. The document examiner may be involved in criminal cases involving written threats, anonymous letters, extortion, fraud, identity theft, elderly abuse, white-collar crime, and contract disputes. Many examiners are employed by government agencies. Other examiners in private practice are involved in civil casework, such as medical malpractice and insurance fraud.

A document examiner's expertise may be needed for the verification of a person's signature on a sign-in sheet. This may be used to prove or disprove the alibi of an individual who claims to have been at a particular location or present at a certain time. The identification of an individual's writing on checks, credit card invoices, or contracts may reveal those who are involved in fraud. The writing-on-demand notes or threatening letters can serve to identify the individual.

From the examiner's analysis, an opinion is rendered in the form of a report that the attorney can use to assist his or her case. If the case goes to trial, the document exam­iner should be prepared to state his or her opinion clearly to the judge or jury and demonstrate to the court why such an opinion was formed. Such a demonstration usually takes the form of an enlarged photograph of the known and questioned material. The examiner can then point out significant similarities or dissimilarities and discuss their merits before the court.

The document analyst examines only the physical characteristics of the signature or writing. The examiner cannot tell the person's personality from handwriting. (This is known as graphology, the role of which in the criminal justice system has been debated.) The document examiner cannot tell the sex, age, race, or educational level of a person from his or her writng.

Schools that offer a degree in forensic science have coursework dealing with the study of; questioned documents. George Washington; University in the District of Columbia offers a course in questioned documents in its graduate; program. Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has a criminalistics course, which includes questioned documents. Marshall University in Huntington, WV, offers a forensic comparative science class that lists questioned documents as one topic. These are introductory courses with a limited amount of time to deal with the study of questioned documents. A single course taken at a college does not prepare a person to become a qualified document examiner. Trainees learn the discipline by on-the-job training within a government crime laboratory. Usually a training program consists of a 24-month internship. The trainee works and learns from a senior document examiner. There the trainee has practical problems to work, literature to read, and research to-do.-There are lectures; tests, actual casework with the trainee giving reasons for arriving at an opinion, and mock trials. The FBI and Secret Service offer schools in questioned documents that the individual should attend for additional training. Examiners should also continuously avail themselves of the various questioned document seminars and workshops presented by professional affiliations and law enforcement agencies.

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