JERALYN H SACRODavao Oriental State College of Science and Technology (DOSCST) Mati City Davao Oriental

FORENSIC SCIENCE AND QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS

Modern use as LEGALDebate and arguments in the court.

Systematic body of knowledge Includes natural sciences , Biology, chemistry to answer issue on court.

In court proceedings may in form of the following;FORENSIC SCIENCE

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORENSIC SCIENCE AND CRIMINALISTICS?1. QUESTION TO PONDER

Is there a difference? Or are they the same thing?

Forensic Science has to do with the more scientific endeavors such as forensic anthropology, botany, geology, etc.

Criminalistics- deals primarily with crime scene evidence collection and processing.

Criminalistics is a part of FORENSIC SCIENCE .Forensic Science is the application of the broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions in the interest of legal problems.

FORENSIC QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS

Any material containing marks, symbols, or signs either visible, partially visible that may present or ultimately convey a meaning to someone, maybe in the form of pencil, ink writing, typewriting, or printing on paper.

A material which some issue has been raised or which is under scrutiny.

QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS One in which the facts appearing therein may not be true, and are contested either in whole or part with respect to its authenticity, identity, or origin. Disputed Document and Questioned Document are used interchangeably to signify a document that is under special scrutiny or controversy.

What pen wrote this?

What type of paper is it written on? Has it been altered

DOCUMENTS ANALYSIS Reveal a document was written with a specific writing instrumentThe same ink can be used in many pens. (even different brands)UV and Infrared lightPages may have been added to a documentQuestion of where/when the document originatedPaper size and thicknessOpacity, Color, Brightness

Who wrote this?Typewriters/printers can leave individual markingsCan be class characteristics or individual characteristics Erasures, alterations or obligations, etcCounterfeiting

Handwriting, how to Proved?

Handwriting Characteristics Line QualityWord and Letter SpacingLetter ComparisonPen LiftsConnecting strokesBeginning and ending strokesUnusual Letter FormationShading or pen pressureSlantBaseline HabitsFlourishes or embellishments

TYPES OF DOCUMENTSQUESTIONEDSTANDARD OREXEMPLARRequestedNon-requested

KINDS OF DOCUMENTSDocuments notarized by a notary public Agents or its officers having the authority to do so for official purposeDocuments deed made by private person Code of commercial law

Is it possible that private documents may become public of official documents?

QUIZ?

powers of attorney, declarations, contracts, invitations.Census recordsCriminal recordsConsumer protection informationGovernment spending reportsLegislation minutesProfessional and business licensesReal estate appraisal recordsSex offender registration filesVoter registration

Give example of commercial and official

Scientific methods in Questioned Documents 132AnalysisComparisonEvaluation

Terms HOLOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTAny document completely written and signed by one person.WRITINGIs the result of a very complicated series of acts, being as a whole a combination of certain forms, which are the very visible result of mental and muscular habits, acquired by long, continued, painstaking effort.HANDWRITING Is a visible effect of bodily movements, which is an almost unconscious expression of certain ideas associated with script form.

KINDS OF WRITING Cursive Connected writing in which one letter is joined to the next.123Script- Separated WritingBlock All capital letters

SIGNATUREIs ones name written by himself on a document as a sign of acknowledgment.(Formal and Informal) FORGERYThe act of falsely making or materially altering, with intent to defraud, any writing which if genuine, might be of legal efficacy or the foundation of a legal liability.The act of erasing, substituting and altering by any means the figures, letters, words or signs contained therein.FALSIFICATIONThe act/process of making the content/s of a document not the intended document.

KINDS OF FORGERY

Simple Forgery (Spurious Signature)The forger signs in the absence of the facsimile of the genuine signature.Genuine SignatureSimple Forgery

KINDS OF FORGERY

SimulatedThe forger simulate the genuine signature or handwriting.

Traced Is the result of an attempt to transfer to a fraudulent document an exact facsimile of a genuine signature or writing by some tracing process. (Carbon Process, Indentation Process, and transmitted light process)

Question to ponder

Can you describe an individual's personality from examining handwriting?

answerNo, forensic document examination does not develop information about personality. There is a separate field of study called "Graphology" which deals with personality and handwriting.

Can right or left handedness be detected by examining handwriting?

answerContrary to popular belief, there are three things that can not be reliably ascertained by examining handwriting. One of those is the "handedness" of the writer. The other two things are the author's gender and age.

Can you compare printed writing to cursive writing?

answerRarely. Some writers style of writing is a mix of cursive and printed forms, thereby allowing the examiner to carry out some level of examination on either cursive or printed writing. There are also many factors other than letter formation that enter into the examination and and analysis process. However, it is generally accepted that the materials to be compared need to be written in the same style: cursive to cursive, hand printing to hand printing, upper case to upper case, lower case to lower case, and one of the first steps in methodology is to determine that the materials provided are indeed comparable according to this principle.

Can you examine documents in a foreign language?

Yes, it is possible, but the examiner must first learn about the characteristics of the written language and how that writing is taught. For example, in some languages, placement of diacriticals (distinguishing strokes) is important, and in other languages, shading of handwritten strokes is significant. The actual methods of examination are the same, but factors are weighed differently when the structure of the writing varies among languages.

Can a document examiner work with photocopies of questioned documents?

answerThis question must be answered on a case by case basis. If the copy is of good quality, and if there is enough information in the writing to allow an opinion, a copy can be sufficient. But there are some situations where the opinion rests on a subtle aspect of the writing that might only be visible on an original viewed under the microscope. In such situations, examination of the original is critical. Often the examiner's opinion must be qualified due to limitations on the examination process due to submission of non-original documents.

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