Answer the comprehensive questions.

 

As you review the various forensic science careers, consider the unique career: forensic document examiner. If you become a document examiner, you will not conduct crime scene searches, street investigations, interviews, or interrogations. Document examiners are laboratory investigators — not field investigators — most of the time. But know this, as a document examiner you will not be bored. Be assured, you will not find your work routine or mechanical.

You will usually work your cases solo — just you and the documents. You will use your eyes, your intellect, your experience, and optical tools such as the stereo-binocular microscope and camera. Examining questioned documents is a personal and mostly subjective decision-making business. When the examiner’s name on the report is yours, you alone will be responsible for the findings and conclusions. And you will be expected to show judges and jurors why you believe you are right. And you will do it alone.

So as a forensic document examiner you will usually have two basic problems to resolve: (1) solving the evidence puzzle itself and (2) convincing judges and jurors that your opinions (conclusions) are correct.

A forensic document examiner studies all aspects of a document to determine its authenticity and origin, including handwriting, typewriting, fingerprinting, commercial printing, photocopies, inks and papers. Analysts look for clues that point to forgery. If found, analysts also try to determine where the forgery originated. Some of the most frequently examined documents examined by analysts include wills, medical records, loan agreements, contracts, checks, and letters that have no identified authors.

Forensic document examiners also testify as expert witnesses in court. A Forensic Document Examiner (also known as Questioned Document Examiner) discovers and develops evidence from a document or signature that can be used in a Court of Law. Forensic document examiners may cross and examine all forms of documents without losing any credibility in their testimony.

Here are some qualifications you will want to meet:

1. General qualifications: A Forensic Document Examiner must be a person of good moral character, high integrity, and good repute and must possess high ethical and professional standing.

2. Educational qualifications: A Forensic Document Examiner must have a sound basic education through the baccalaureate degree. The typical training period is two years of study and practical experience in an established questioned documents laboratory where the examiner trainee studies the basic literature, completes study projects, becomes familiar with the role of forensic sciences in general and questioned documents in particular as they relate to the legal system.

So, is it a career for you? Obviously, you will have to answer for yourself.

 

1. Comprehensive questions:
2. What will you do as a forensic document examiner?
3. How does a forensic document examiner work?
4. What are two basic problems for a forensic document examiner?
5. What aspects of a document does a forensic document examiner study?
6. What is the role of a forensic document examiner as a witness?
7. What general qualifications is a forensic document examiner to meet?
8. What educational qualifications is a forensic document examiner to meet?

 

1. Tick the true statements and correct the false ones.

1. Document examiners conduct crime scene searches, street investigations, interviews, or interrogations.
2. Examining questioned documents is a personal and mostly subjective decision-making business.
3. The examiner is not responsible for the conclusions and doesn't have to persist in his opinion.
4. A forensic document examiner studies all aspects of a document to determine its authenticity and origin, including handwriting, typewriting, fingerprinting, commercial printing, photocopies, inks and papers.
5. Forensic document examiners never testify as expert witnesses in court.
6. The other title for a Forensic Document Examiner is an expert witness.
7. A Forensic Document Examiner doesn't have to meet any special requirements.
8. A Forensic Document Examiner needs two years training period of study and practical experience in an established questioned documents laboratory.

 

 

3. Fill in the chart with appropriate information from the text:

JOB	PLACE OF WORK	EDUCATION	RESPOSIBILITIES

4. Render the text using information from the chart and t hink over the question:

Do you want to be a forensic document examiner?

 

TEXT 5

Find the answers to the following questions:

1. What is graphology?
2. What does the word “graphology” mean?
3. What do graphologists believe in?
4. What do strokes, pressure, slant and size indicate?
5. How can handwriting analysis help you?

 

 

GRAPHOLOGY

 

 

Graphology is the study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology. The activity dates back many centuries, having originally (as far as we can tell) been taken from Southern India to China and from there to Greece, circa 2,000 BC. Aristotle claimed that he could define a person’s soul from studying his handwriting. The Roman historian Suetonius claimed that Emperor Augustus did not separate his words which led him to conclude that the Emperor did not pay attention to detail in forming a picture of the whole situation. In 1870 French monk named Jean Hippolyte Michon coined the phrase "Graphology" (from the Greek: "Graph" meaning, 'To write' or 'I write', and "Logos" meaning 'doctrine' or 'theory'), believed the brain, and not the hand, controlled handwriting. He broke handwriting down into a series of strokes, assigning a personality trait to each stroke.

Those who specialize in graphology, the practice of handwriting analysis, believe your penmanship harbours more than the power of self-expression; they believe it bears the unique imprint of your personality. Handwriting reveals hundreds of elements of the person's "personality and character" which includes glimpses into the subconscious mind, intellect, energy, fears, motivations, imagination, integrity, aptitudes, etc.

For instance, the stroke depicts life force, energy flow. Pressure indicates the capacity for vigorous activities. The slant indicates the writer's emotional response to external forces. Most of us write average size, indicating an average ability to concentrate. We have to force ourselves to concentrate on minor details, especially for long periods of time.

Handwriting analysis or study does neither foretell the future, nor does it reveal the past. It can only help you to gain an understanding and insight into the personality of other people, especially those close to you by providing a map to somebody's inner self, level of satisfaction with the present situation, and future level of achievement.