Handwriting Analysis Evidence: “Document Examination” 1969 FBI Training Film 12min

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“Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation TRAINING FILM: FBI laboratory document section examines and compares suspects handwriting and printing. Evidence from this section of laboratory may be shown in court by an expert witness for FBI.”

NEW VERSION with improved video & sound:

Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and equalization.

Questioned document examination (QDE) is the forensic science discipline pertaining to documents that are (or may be) in dispute in a court of law. The primary purpose of questioned/forensic document examination is to answer questions about a disputed document using a variety of scientific processes and methods.

Overview

Many QD examinations involve a comparison of the questioned document, or components of the document, to a set of known standards. The most common type of examination involves handwriting wherein the examiner tries to address concerns about potential authorship.

A document examiner is often asked to determine if a questioned item originated from the same source as the known item(s), then present their opinion on the matter in court as an expert witness. Other common tasks include determining what has happened to a document, determining when a document was produced, or deciphering information on the document that has been obscured, obliterated or erased.

The discipline is known by many names including forensic document examination, document examination, diplomatics, handwriting examination, or sometimes handwriting analysis, although the latter term is not often used as it may be confused with graphology. Likewise a forensic document examiner (FDE) is not to be confused with a graphologist, and vice versa.

Many FDEs receive extensive training in all of the different aspects of the discipline. As a result they are competent to address a wide variety of questions about document evidence. However, this “broad specialization” approach has not been universally adopted.

In some locales, a clear distinction is made between the terms forensic document examiner and a forensic handwriting expert/examiner. In such cases, the former term refers to examiners who focus on non-handwriting examination types while the latter refers to those trained exclusively to do handwriting examinations. Even in places where the more general meaning is common, such as North America or Australia, there are many individuals who have specialized training only in certain relatively limited areas. As the terminology varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, it is important to clarify the meaning of the title used by any given individual professing to be a “forensic document examiner”…

International (border-less) certifying bodies

Forensic Science Society (UK)

The Forensic Science Society (UK) provides their members with the opportunity to obtain a Professional Postgraduate Diploma in various forensic disciplines, including Questioned Document Examination. The program is accredited by the University of Strathclyde. Successful applicants are entitled to use the postnominal ‘FSSocDip’.

Since membership in the FSS(UK) is open to anyone regardless of where they live or work, this is effectively an international type of certification.

USA, Canada and Mexico

American Board of Forensic Document Examiners

The American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, Inc. (ABFDE) provides third-party certification for professional forensic document examiners from Canada, Mexico or the United States of America.

Board of Forensic Document Examiners

The Board of Forensic Document Examiners (BFDE) also provides certification of forensic document examiners…