Nature of Questioned Document

Module No. 1
Total Study Hours: 6hrs
Module Writer: PROF. RIZALINO D. FLORES III
Registered Criminologist
Master of Arts in Criminology

Module and Learning Facilitator Contacts: FB Messanger: Rizalino Flores

rizalinoflores3@gmail.com

Module Learning Outcomes:

 Apply Locard’s Exchange Principle in the concept of forensic document examination

 Identify the role of forensic document examination in crime detection and administration of
justice
 Recognize the expertise of document examiner, handwriting expert and grapho – analyst
 Specify the significant contributions of forensic document examination proponents
 Trace the evolution of documents and the role it plays to man’s life

CONTENT

Introduction

 “Document” is an inseparable part of man’s life. Literally, from womb to tomb. It is define as
“any material, which contains, marks, symbol or sign either visible, partially visible that may
presently or ultimately convey meaning or message to someone” (Ordway Hilton). It may
come in many forms such as digital/electronic or the traditional one like those printed or written
on papers.
 Document serves as reliable and valid recordings of man’s professional and personal affairs. The
identity of a person is established and his possessions are secured through documents. This
heavy reliance and dependency have attracted criminal minded personalities to take advantage
and make profits from documents. Hence giving birth to crimes such as forgery, counterfeiting
and falsifications

The “Locard Exchange Principle”

 It was Locard’s belief that when a criminal came in contact with an object or person, a cross –
transfer of evidence occurred.
 By analogy, if a person performed a crime on a document, traces of the commission might have
been left for a “criminalist” to examine, discover and analyze. In the case of questioned
document examinations such criminalist is the “document examiner”.

Note: Criminalist is a man trained in the science of application of instruments and methods to the detection of crime

The Document Examiner

 Studies scientifically the details and elements of document in order to identify their source or
discover other facts concerning them (an expert witness who by virtue of his knowledge,
qualifications, trainings and skills were allowed by the court to provide opinion on matters
covering his specialization).

Questioned Document

1 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

  Any documents about which some issue has been raised or which is under scrutiny

Graphologist/Grapho – analyst

 Examines handwriting and interpret the character and personality of the writer by the traits left
behind in the written line.

History of Documents and Scientific Document Examination

 Development of Writing System

 The desire to produce documents can be traced back at the time man learned to
communicate. It was believed to begin or evolved from verbal communication. To preserve
culture and traditions, common rituals and stories are passed - on from one generation to
another. Verbal communications were later transformed to visual forms through crude
drawings called “Pictographs” which can be considered as pre – historic version of
documents. Consistency in the usage of signs and images had later evolved into “codified
system of standard symbols” or “ideographs” from which signs and symbols were given
“agreed” meanings or ideas (ex. Cuneiforms of Summerians and Heliographs of Egyptians).
Combining ideographs can be a systematic way of expressing thoughts through written
record. From these the “formal writing” has begun.

 Development of Writing surface

 The following are the materials used as writing surfaces throughout the history

o Petrograms – Written or printed on the surface of the rock

o Parchment – Skin of animals like sheep, calves and goats
o Papyrus – Obtained from the plant Cyperus Papyrus that are commonly found in
Egypt, Palestine and Syria. It is where the word “paper” was derived
o Paper – Obtained from wood pulp, the substance that is left after the liquid has
been squeezed from the wood chips, done by the action of calcium sulphite

 Development of Writing Instrument

 Pen is a handheld instrument used to apply ink in the writing surface. The first ink is Indian
Ink or Carbon Ink.
 The following are the various instruments used as pen

o Reeds – Used by Egyptians, made from hollow piece of bamboo

o Rat’s Hair – Used by the Chinese
o Metal Styli – Used by the Greeks
o Quill Pen – Made from feather of goose and swan
o Steel Nibs – Those equipped with metal pen points
o Fountain Pen – Those equipped with ink reservoir. Its creation is credited to Lewis
Waterman
o Ball Point Pen – Designed by John H. Loud while Lazlo Biro created a ball point pen
that wrote easily on paper.
o Pencil – Those that uses lead substance as its ink

 Development of Science of Handwriting Identification

 Earliest law that gives reference to application of science of questioned document

examination to court litigation is the Code of Justinian (539 AD), in the Roman law. It allows
the comparison of Handwriting both on public and private instrument. The Code likewise
requires experts to be sworn.
2 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents
  The development of forensic document examination both in the professional and legal field
is largely due to the efforts of an American named Albert S. Osborn and an Englishman
Wilson Harrison. Their books “Questioned Documents” and “Suspects Documents” is still
considered as definitive works on the subject.
 Ordway Hilton emphasizes the scientific nature of document examination in his book
“Scientific Examination of Document”. He further stresses that a document examiner must
be a “scientist” and trained in the discovery of facts.

Online Study Support

MUST Watch!

History of the Questioned Document Examination and Classification of Documents

BY: Vidya-mitra
https://youtu.be/AxubbuQJ9Lu

The History of Writing - Where the Story Begins – Extra History

BY: Extra Credits
https://youtu.be/HyjLt_RGEww

The History of Writing

BY: Museum of the Bible
https://youtu.be/z3TKNR0kUAk

History of Paper
BY: Roving Eyes
https://youtu.be/dT4FwLaYD6k

History of Pen
Sutasinee Fongsakorn
htpps://youtu.be/gnUbzg0PxsY

Note: If the given link is not properly working, please search according to title and author/source

3 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

 Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

Module No. 2
Total Study Hours: 6hrs
Module Writer: PROF. RIZALINO D. FLORES III
Registered Criminologist
Master of Arts in Criminology

Module and Learning Facilitator Contacts: FB Messanger: Rizalino Flores

rizalinoflores3@gmail.com

Module Learning Outcomes:

 Specify various issues in which forensic document examination can be applied

 Recognize holograph document
 Distinguish simple, simulated and traced forgery and articulate the process of execution for each
 Demonstrate proper handling and care of questioned document
 Specify various instruments and specific applications in the conduct of questioned document examination
 Established the legal efficacy of the document
 Explain how forgery is committed and clarify its legal elements
 Compare and contrast physical from documentary evidence

CONTENT

I. Legal Definitions of Document

a. It is any written statement by which a right is established or an obligation extinguished.

(People vs. Moreno, C.A., 38 O.G. 119)
b. Every deed or instrument executed by person by which some dispositions or agreement
is proved, evidenced or set forth (People vs Nillosquin CA, 338 OG 11
c. Not a legal document
i. Draft if not yet approved by proper authority (ie. municipal payroll)
ii. Blank forms of official documents, (unfilled)
iii. Pamphlets or books which do not evidence any disposition or agreement
(merchandise)

II. Documentary Evidence

a. Any media by which information can be preserved and introduced as evidence in a court
proceeding

4 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

III. Types of Document

a. Public Document - Refers to any instrument notarized by a notary public or competent

public official with solemnities required by law.
b. Private Document – every deed on instrument executed by a private person without the
intervention of a notary public or of any other person legally authorized, by which
document, some disposition on agreement is proved, evidenced or set forth
c. Official Document – any instrument issued by the government or its offices having the
authority to do so and the offices, which in accordance with their creation they are
authorized to issue. The offices must issue the document in the performance of their
duties
d. Commercial Document – any instrument executed in accordance with the Code of
Commerce or any Mercantile Law containing disposition of Commercial rights or
obligations

IV. Various Aspect of Questioned Documents Examination

a. Examination of Handwriting
b. Examination of typewriting and type prints
c. Detection of alterations
d. Decipherment of erased writings
e. Restoration of obliterated writings
f. Determination of the age of the documents
g. Identification of the stamps seal and other authentication devices (imprints)
h. Currency bills and coins and the like
i. Verification of signatures

V. Classes of Questioned Documents

a. Documents with questioned signatures (most commonly encountered class)

b. Documents containing alleged fraudulent alterations
c. Holograph documents – documents which is completely written and signed by one
person (derived from the latin words “holo” means “whole/entire/complete” and
“Graphia” meaning writings or drawings”)
d. Documents questioned as to their age or date
e. Documents questioned on the materials used on their production
f. Documents involving typewriting; and are investigated or examined for purposes of
determining:
i. their source
ii. their date
iii. whether or not it contains fraudulent alterations or substituted pages
g. Documents which may identify a person through handwriting
h. Genuine documents erroneously or fraudulently attacked or disputed.

VI. Classes of Disputed Signatures

Note: Forgery - It is committed by any person who, with intent to defraud, signs the name of another, or a fictitious person, knowing that
he has no authority to do so, or falsely makes, alters, forges or counterfeits any checks, draft, due bill for the payment of money or
property, or counterfeits or forges the seal or handwriting of another knowing the same to be fake, altered, forged or counterfeited,
with intent to prejudice, damage or defraud any person

5 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

 a. Forged signatures where no attempt has been made to make a copy or facsimile of the
genuine signature of a person to sign the document (Simple Forgery/Spurious
Signature)
b. Forged signatures of a fictitious person
c. Forged signatures which closely resembles the genuine signature since they have been
produced by a tracing process (traced forgery)

i. Different Process of Tracing

1. Carbon Process or “Carbon Outline Method” - A carbon paper is placed

between the genuine signatures (top sheet) and the fraudulent
document (below). Outline of model signature is traced with dry pen or
pointed instrument to make a carbon offset on the lower sheet. Outline
is finally re-written or retraced with suitable ink

Note: Model Signature - A genuine signature which has been used to prepare an imitated or traced forgery

2. Indentation Process - An indented or “canal-like” outline of genuine

signature is produced on the fraudulent document, with suitable
pressure or force the outline of the genuine signature with a pointed
instrument. The outline is then directly inked, in some instances the
outline is first retraced lightly with a pencil before it is finally retraced
with suitable ink.

3. Projection process or Transmitted Light Process - Spurious document is

placed immediately over the genuine signature, with strong light
directed through the two sheets of paper from below or behind;
outline, which is seen through upper sheets, is then traced.

6 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

 d. Forged signatures which resembles the genuine signature, written free-hand (simulated
or copied forgery)
e. Genuine signatures which the writer are honestly unwilling to accept it as genuine
f. Genuine signatures which written illegibly or in an unusual manner, to afford
signatories some plausible grounds for disclaiming them should they deem it expedient
(deliberate)

VII. Care, Handling and Preservation of Documents

a. Do’s and Don’ts in the Care, Handling and Preservation of Documents

i. Do’s
1. Keep documents unfolded in protective envelopes
2. Take disputed papers to document examiner’s laboratory at the first
opportunity
3. If storage is necessary, keep in dry place away from excessive heat and
strong light

ii. Don'ts

1. Do not handle disputed excessively or carry them in a pocket for a long

time
2. Do not mark the document either by conscious writing or printing at
them with any writing instrument
3. Do not mutilate or damage by repeated refolding, creasing, cutting,
tearing or punching for filling purposes
4. Do not allow anyone except qualified specialists to make chemical or
other test;
5. Do not treat or dust for latent fingerprints before consulting a
document examiner

VIII. Instruments and apparatus needed in Questioned Document Examination

a. 1.Magnifying lens-lenses 5X magnifying power with built – In lighting are found to be
more useful

7 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

b. Stereoscopic Binocular Microscope - A microscope where three (3) dimensional
enlargements is possible.

c. Measuring Test Plate/Transparent Glass Plate-used for signatures and typewriting.

d. Table lamps- With adjustable shades like the available “goose neck” lamp.

e. Ultra-Violet Lamp - Used for developing or restoring erased writings

8 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

f. Infra-Red Viewer- the used in determining physical difference of the types of papers and
ink.

g. Iodine Fuming Apparatus – For developing latent fingerprints and for the restoration of
invisible writing.

9 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

 h. Silver Nitrate Solution Atomizer - Used to spray silver nitrate on paper. Also for latent
fingerprints (Ninhydrin is another chemical that can be used for the same purposes)

i. Transmitted Light gadget- The lights comes from the beneath or behind the glass on
which the paper is placed

Note: The following are The Three (3) Light Examinations Performed On Documents
1. Direct light examination – The light is placed directly on top of the paper
2. Side Light Examination/Oblique Light Examination – The light is placed at one side of the document at 45 degree angle
3. Transmitted light examination – the light is placed behind the or below the paper

j. Paper Thickness Gauge-used for measuring the thickness of the paper

10 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

 k. Copy Camera-like camera with macro lens

Online Study Support

MUST Watch!

Questioned Document Examination evidence and submission

BY: Gregoria GBI-DOFS
https://youtu.be/7gFdzMUV1jA

Note: If the given link is not properly working, please search according to title and author/source

Assessment Methods

1. Recitation
2. 15 item mixed questions quiz
3. Create/design “infographics” on various aspects of questioned document examination. To
learn more about infographics watch the following:

a. What is infographic?
By: NEDARCemsc
https://youtu.be/zvmDi82xEMc

b. What is Infographic + Downloadable Templates

By: Easelly: Infographic Design
https://youtu.be/Yvo-mHq1ojU

4. Experiential Learning: Analysis of results of traced, simulated and simple forgeries

11 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

 HISTORY OF PEN

 Stylus 4000 BC
o The Babylonian scratched the surface of moist clay
 Reed pen 3000 BC
o The Egyptian wrote on papyrus scrolls by using thin reed brushes or reed pens.
 Stylus 1300 BC
o The roman scribed into thin sheets of wax wooden tablets (crow, goose, owl, hawk)
which primary feather is used and hardening a feather with 180 °F hot sand
 Stylus 1970
o An input device enable a user to hand draw or navigate.
 Quill 5 CE
o A molted flight feather of a large bird. Quill were used for writing with ink.
 Metal Nib 18 CE
o The point of pen was made by metal and mounted on a handle
 Fountain pen 1884
o A pen filled from an external source containing an ink reservior that automatically feeds
the writing point.
 Ball point pen 1888
o The writing point is a small steel ball that rotates in its socket and ink itself.
 Felt tip pen 1960
o A writing point was made of pressed fibers hold quick-drying ink convayed to a writing
surface.

The History of Writing – Museum of the Bible

 People have been writing for thousands of years, but have you ever wondered who wrote the first
things down? The people of Uruk, a city near the Euphrates River in southern Iraq, began to use the
world's first system of writing around 3200 BCE. This system is called cuneiform, and they wrote by
using a reed stylus to press symbols into wet clay tablets. This was many years before the time of
Abraham, who is said to be from nearby Ur of the Chaldeans.
 The Sumerians developed cuneiform into a full writing system by about 2600 BCE. This new
technology quickly spread across the Near East. All major Mesopotamian civilizations used it. If
Abraham and other biblical patriarchs wrote, they might have used this method, or hieratic, Egypt's
12 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents
 writing system. The first written characters were stylized pictures, called pictographs, which
represented concrete objects.
 People used these to keep records of economic transactions and inventories of barley, livestock,
laborers, and more. Eventually the system of pictographs couldn't keep up with what people wanted
to communicate. They wanted to record more complex or abstract ideas, so early scribes had to
think about ways to record speech itself, rather than objects. Scribes began to write individual
syllables that made up words, which meant they could write any word in any language.
 This expanding system helped them write religious songs, epic literature, educational texts, and
personal letters. Around 1500 years later, those syllables would be further shortened to just the first
letter, creating the alphabet. These Near Eastern clay tablets are extremely durable, so we have
nearly half a million tablets in fragments today that give us a glimpse of nearly every aspect of
ancient life in Mesopotamia.
 These documents span more than 3,000 years of human history and show how we are indebted to
these ancient people in many ways we might not realize.

The History of Writing - Where the Story Begins - Extra History

 On this show, we often talk about the history of people or places, societies. Rarely do we get to talk
about the history of an idea. So today we're gonna try an experiment. We're gonna talk about the
history of the concept of the written word.
 Writing is one of mankind's most enduring technologies. For 5600 years, this ability to transmit
thoughts over generations, to give instructions, to express ourselves, to communicate ideas over the
gulf of space and time, has allowed us to make vast strides in our understanding of the universe, our
understanding of each other, and our understanding of ourselves. But to understand how writing
began, we have to travel back to ancient Sumer, where the first widespread use of writing started.
Look around, what do you see?
 Yes, you see the potters and the merchants, you see streets and gardens, but what do you see
looming over all of it? The temples. These temples play a huge part in why writing began, for, you
see, Sumer was the land of the world's first real cities. Not hundreds of people, or thousands of
people, but tens of thousands grouped together. And these cities formed city-states, bound
together by the veneration of a specific set of gods. The people mastered irrigation, and the cities
grew.
 And as the cities grew, so too did the temples to the gods. But these massive, sprawling temple
complexes didn't serve only as houses of worship. No, no, look close. Do you see the men bringing in
the clay pitchers full of grain? These temples also served as enormous warehouses, repositories for
the vast wealth of the city. In good times, donations and gifts would come flooding in. And in lean
times, they would be distributed back out.
 This system created vast wealth for the priests, but it also ensured that cities of this size could
function. But we're not concerned with that, not directly. Look next to the men bringing in the grain.
Do you see that man watching them? Notice how every time they bring in a jar of grain, he makes a
little mark on that clay tablet he's holding. With an economy of this size, with tons of supplies
moving in and out of the temple each day, they needed to keep records somehow, and that is
exactly what he's doing.
 tablet will later be stored so that priests can know what exactly they have on hand in their giant
temple warehouse. But as much as tally marks have their place in the origin of writing, there's
something far more interesting for us on that wet piece of clay he's got in his hands. You see, he's
drawn a little picture of a grain stalk next to his tally marks, so it's clear that his tallies refer to grain.
Well, over the generations, that nice little drawing of grain would get simpler, more abstracted.
 Scribes looking for quicker and easier ways to note common goods wouldn't laboriously draw every
single item coming into the temple, but instead came to an agreed upon set of more symbolic
representations for the goods flowing into the holy places. And you can see how somebody might
quickly realize that those symbols could represent not only the concept of something, but the word
itself. And that's exactly what happened. The symbol for a cow came to be understood not only as a
representative of the animal, but also of the word cow itself.
 But still, there's not much you can do with just a set of a thousand or so nouns. And here's where a
happy accident of linguistics comes in. You see the people talking around the temple? Well, if you
13 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents
 could hear them, it would sound like everybody was just saying the same few words over and over
again. And that's because Sumerian is a language where most of the words are just single syllables,
and where concepts are built out of putting words together. Both of those points are important,
because when many of your words are monosyllables, it's easy to go from thinking of a symbol as a
word
 to thinking of it as a sound for that word. To go from thinking of the symbol for the yew, meaning
just the sheep, to thinking of it as meaning the sound yew. And thus giving you the word for the
tree, yew, or the person, yew. Once you do this, you're no longer drawing pictures for every word in
the language. Now you're starting to think of those pictures as sounds. And stringing sounds
together lets you build up all sorts of words. And once you couple that with the fact that in
Sumerian, many concepts were built up out of basic words,
 So for example, sickle plus grain might mean harvest, there's a huge amount you can do with the
concepts and sounds that a thousand or so images represent. But we're not done yet, because the
very medium the scribes were writing on changed how we write in the West today. You remember
how our buddy in the temple tallying the grain was making his marks on a clay tablet? Well, watch
him write. See how he's writing from top to bottom, just as you would if you were making a list.
Well, that would soon change, because the problem with clay is that it takes forever to dry.
 And so if you accidentally set your hands down while you're writing from top to bottom, you could
easily obliterate whole sections of the column you just wrote. But this risk is reduced if you start
writing from left to right. But a lot of the people in the temple didn't like that innovation. It was
easier on the scribes, but for the other literate folks who had to read it, they had learned to read
from top to bottom, and so they didn't like this sideways thing at all. So what did the scribes do?
 Well, they simply rotated all of the characters 90 degrees so that a person could turn the tablet and
read it from top to bottom just like they always had. Soon, people were just reading the sideways
characters left to right. But because they'd been flipped, now they were even more abstracted, even
further from the pictures and the things that they originally represented. This writing system was
then adopted by the neighboring Akkadians and Elamites, who abstracted it even further.
 Determinatives, or little markers to designate what part of speech something was, in case it was
ambiguous, also got added. And now you got a real writing system. The original pictures and even
the pictograms they became vanished entirely into wedge-shaped impressions and line strokes
made by the stylists favored at the time. Which means, instead of simply a handful of nouns to
record storage lists, we have a system for writing that can give us things as abstract and lyrical as the
Epic of Gilgamesh, or the Enuma Elish. So how do we know all this?
 Well, funny thing about clay, when a place is burned down and all of your writing is on clay, rather
than it being destroyed, the writing hardens and becomes preserved. But that won't happen here
for some time, so let's just celebrate what scribes like this one and the marvelous city of Sumer gave
us. A gift that has lasted us more than five and a half thousand years. Writing. Now, since we don't
get to do the lies episodes for these one-offs, I also want to point out that this is just the first place
in history where writing achieved widespread use.
 Later, it would be developed independently in Mesoamerica, and was almost certainly developed
independently in China. There's a great deal of contention about whether it developed
independently in the Indus Valley and Egypt, although from what we've read, which admittedly isn't
nearly enough to form anything more than a layman's opinion, I'm more in the camp that both of
these groups inherited the basic concept from Sumer. Anyway, let us know in the comments if you
liked this little experiment, and are as interested in the history of ideas as the history of societies
and peoples. If so, we'll try to do this from time to time.
 Who knows, maybe we'll even cover how we moved from the Sumerians writing syllables to that
incredible tool, the alphabet, that most Western cultures still use today. See you next week!

Symbolism

 Sumerian is a language where most of the words are just single syllables and where concepts are
built out of putting words together. Because when many of your words are mono-syllables, it's easy
to go from thinking of a symbol as a word to thinking of it as a sound for that word.
 To go from thinking of the symbol for "the ewe", meaning just the sheep, to thinking of it as
meaning the sound "ewe". And thus giving you the word for the tree "yew" or the person "you".
14 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents
 Once you do this, you're no longer drawing pictures for every word in the language. Now you're
starting to think of those pictures as sounds. And stringing sounds together lets you build up all sorts
of words.
 And once you couple that with the fact that, in Sumerian, many concepts were built up out of basic
words, so for example: "sickle" plus "grain" might mean "harvest", there's a huge amount you can
do with the concepts and sounds that a thousand or so images represent.

Writing on Clay

 In the city of Sumer where the scribes were writing on changed how we write in the West today hat
gave us the gift.
 Writing from top to bottom, just as you would if you were making a list. That change because the
problem with clay is that it takes forever to dry, and so if you accidentally set your hand down while
you're writing from top to bottom, you could easily obliterate whole sections of the column you just
wrote. But this risk is reduced if you start writing from left to right. But a lot of the people in the
temple didn't like that innovation. It was easier on the scribes, but for the other literate folks who
had to read it, they had learned to read from top to bottom and so they didn't like this "sideways"
thing at all.
 They simply rotated all of the characters 90 degrees so that a person could turn the tablet and read
it from top to bottom just like they always had. Soon, people were just reading the sideways
characters left to right.
 But because they'd been flipped, now they were even more abstracted. Even further from the
pictures and the things that they originally represented. This writing system was then adopted by
the neighbouring Akkadians and Elamites who abstracted it even further.
 Determinatives, or little markers to designate what part of speech something was in case it was
ambiguous,

How Paper was Invented?

 History of Paper Do you know where does paper come from? How is it made? Well, the term paper
comes from the word papyrus. Egyptians invented paper by pressing papyrus strips together. In
ancient China, the papermakers made thick coarse sheets of paper by mixing finely chopped
 Mashing it flat and then pressing out the water and letting it dry in the sun. Today wood chips are
boiled with caustic soda or another chemical to soften them and strip them of everything but
they're long stringy fibers in a paper making machine. This pulp is spread over a conveyor belt,
blasted with air, then squeezed between rollers
 To turn it into dry papers. Papers are used to make cartons, furnishings, to mop up liquids, etc.
Paper can also be recycled to make newspapers and toilet rolls.

History of the Questioned Document Examination and Classification of Documents

Questioned Document
 Questioned document is discipline, often referred as forensic document examination, which is
associated with the white collar crimes such as fraudulent cheques; while it can be used in any
cases involving forgeries through

Document
 Definition: Ordway Hilton

15 QD/module1/ Concepts and Principles of Questioned Documents

  "In a broadest sense a document is any material containing marks, symbols, or signs that convey
meaning or message to someone; may be in the form of pencil, ink writing, typewriting or
printing on paper".

Questioned Document
 Indicate the analysis of questioned documents to answer the court's query by using various
scientific tools and methods.
 The documents are ancient methods for communication or recording various activities, with
documents of importance, there will be a question on its originality to prove.

Learning Objectives
 This module will provide definition of the Questioned Documents and Forensic Document
Examination and what are the basic components of the forensic question document
examination.
 History and development of forensic document examination are described in chronological ways
around the world
 Module also gives basic principles of questioned document examination and work of forensic
document examiner for the civil and criminal cases.

Forensic Document Examination

History
 First time used in third century in Rome where it becomes common to make fraudulent official
documents.
 In the third century in the time of Titus and Anthony, protocols for the identification of the any
forgery and way of forgeries detected were established by jurists under Roman law.
 In the sixth century (539 AD), Justinian Code on handwriting comparison was conducted for the
guidelines for the handwriting examination in Roman courts.

Document Examination
Ancient Science
 Document examination is the ancient science, with scientific development documents
examinations, the field of handwriting comparison was given support.
 With the invention of photography in 1890s, documents examination was more accurate than
previous, as the photographs could be enlarged and could provide a better visualization to study
even a minute details in the documents consisted of extended
 With the invention of photography in 1890s, documents examination was more accurate than
previous, as the photographs could be enlarged and could provide a better visualization to study
even a minute details in the documents consisted of extended handwritings and signatures.

Albert Sherman Osborn

 During 1900s, a pioneer in the field of document examination, Albert Sherman Osborn published
several articles including the most cited one on type writing identification in 1901.
 In 1910, he published the first edition of one of the greatest book entitled "Questioned
Documents" and with some modification second edition of the book was published

Other Publications
 The Problem of Proof (1922),
 The Mind of the Juror (1937)
 Questioned Document Problems (1944).

ASQDE (1942)
Albert S Osborn
 American Society of Questioned Document Examiners focused on educational fulfillment and
annual gathering for the full participation in the program and the organization was considered
primarily as a professional institution giving support to research in the field of document
examination.

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American Academy of Forensic Sciences (1951-52)
Ordway Hilton
 Was founded in 1950, and in 1952, two examiners were included as a member and Ordway
Hilton was designated as chairman and he took forward to make an active section.

Questioned Documents
History in India
 The British Government of Bengal required identification of the secret handwritings on the
documents recovered with the Indian independence movement and, therefore, Mr. CR Hardless,
Superintendent in the A.G.'s office in Bengal, was appointed to this post of Government
Handwriting Expert of Bengal in 1904.

GEQD
CR Hardless
 Mr. CR Hardless was appointed to this post. He was replaced by Mr. F Brewester, a police officer
from the West Bengal CID, and was designated as the Government Examiner of Questioned
Documents (GEQD). In India,
 There are designated GEQD or document examiners across the different states like Hyderabad,
Kolkata and all are under the government's Ministry of Home Affairs.

GEQDs Merger
CFSLs
 In 2010, The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided this month to merge three GEQDs in the
country, at Hyderabad, Kolkata and Shimla - with the Central Forensic Science Laboratories
(CFSLs) at Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chandigarh respectively.

Questioned Document Examiners

 Analyzes questioned document of any source and is capable of more than just questions of
authorship limited only by their access to laboratory equipment.

Paper & Ink Specialists

Ancient Science
 These are public or private experts who date, type, source, and/or catalogue various types of
paper, watermarks, ink, printing/copy/fax machines, computer cartridges, etc., using chemical
methods.
 These are usually psychology experts who assess personality traits from handwriting samples,
also called graphologists or graphoanalysts

Forensic Stylistics
 Refers to the same purpose, but by looking at semantics, spelling, word choice, syntax, and
phraseology.

Types of Questioned Documents Evidences

Latent Document
 Are not visible to the naked eye and need external aid to detect or identified the things and
patent are those which have individual characteristics and visibly identified.
Patent Documents
 Majorly found in a forensic scenario such forgery found in bank cheques, forged signatures on
wills, deeds or official documents, fabricated documents using computer applications etc.

Questioned Documents: Principles and Guidelines

Principles of Identification
 Based on the idea that "people are all alike; people are all different. To be able to make a
positive identification of a person, a document examiner must be able to observe the
distinguishing individual features which separate one person from all others.
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 Class and Individual Characteristics
 Class characteristics:
o Are those common to a number of writers and may result from such influences as the
writing system studied, family associations, trade training, or foreign education as well
as carelessness and haste in execution.
 Individual characteristics:
o Are those which are highly personal or peculiar and unlikely to occur in combination in
other instances.

1. Service to Others
 Professionals are committed to a life of service to others.
 They protect life, property, and public welfare.
 To serve others, they shall be prepared for heroic sacrifice and genuine selflessness in carrying
out their professional duties even at the expense of personal gain.

2. Integrity and Objectivity

 To maintain and broaden public confidence, professionals shall perform their responsibilities
with the highest sense of integrity and imbued with nationalism and spiritual values.
 In the performance of any professional service, they shall at all times maintain objectivity, be
free of conflicts of interest, and refrain from engaging in any activity that would prejudice their
abilities to carry out their duties ethically.
 They shall avoid making any representation that would likely cause a reasonable person to
misunderstand or be deceived.

3. Professional Competence
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  In providing professional services, a certain level of competence is necessary, i.e., knowledge,
technical skills, attitudes, and experience.
 Professionals shall, therefore, undertake only those professional services that they can
reasonably deliver with professional competence.
 Corollary to this, it is their express obligation to keep up with new knowledge and techniques in
their field, continually improve their skills and upgrade their level of competence, and take part
in a lifelong continuing education program.

4. Solidarity and Teamwork

 Each profession shall nurture and support one organization for all its members.
 Through a deep spirit of solidarity, each member should put the broader interest of the
profession above one's personal ambition and preference.
 Through teamwork within a cohesive professional organization, each member shall effectively
observe ethical practices and pursue continuing professional development as well as deepen
one's social and civic responsibility.

5. Social and Civic Responsibility

 Professionals shall always carry out their professional duties with due consideration of the
broader interest of the publics.
 They shall, therefore, serve their clients/employers and the publics with professional concern
and in a manner consistent with their responsibilities to society.
 As responsible Filipino citizens, they shall actively contribute to the attainment of the country's
national objectives.

6. Global Competitiveness
 Every professional shall remain open to the challenges of a more dynamic and interconnected
world. He or she shall rise up to global standards and maintain levels of professional practices
fully aligned with global best practices.

7. Equality of All Professions

 All professionals shall treat their colleagues with respect and shall strive to be fair in their
dealings with one another.
 No one group of professionals is superior or above others.
 All professions perform an equally important, yet distinct, service to society.
 In the eyes of the PRC, all professions are equal and, therefore, every one shall treat other
professionals with respect and fairness.

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