Did you know that it was forensic handwriting analysis that was key evidence in bringing down the Chicago gangster Al Capone?  Federal Treasury Agents worked to gather evidence that Capone failed to pay his income taxes.  Bureau of Revenue investigator Frank Wilson discovered that Capone did not maintain a bank account and never signed any checks or receipts.  Although Capone lived a lavish lifestyle there was no evidence that he had any income.  A key witness against him was a handwriting expert who compared handwriting on a ledger with that on deposit slips tying Capone to monthly income from a gambling hall. With this evidence they were able to convict Al Capone of income tax evasion and finally send him to prison.

How a person writes their signature tells a lot about how the person presents themselves to  the world..  The analysis of a signature reveals how the person appears to be in public.  The body of a page of writing reveals the real person.  The signature reveals how they want to be perceived.  This may be basically the same or it may be quite different from the body of the page of writing.  For example many famous people write their signature large and with extra large capital letters with flourishes because they want to appear important and with showmanship.

When submitting questioned handwriting documents the handwriting expert will ask  for the original document.  Original documents are always best because they provide the clearest visibility of the strokes ,pen lifts, pressure, eraser marks and other factors in the writing.

National Handwriting Day is Friday January 23rd so I decided to write again about the importance of cursive handwriting.  It is not only important to learn as a skill but more importantly it is a principle to the learning process itself,

My background: I am a certified Graphoanalyst with over 25 years of experience working as a handwriting expert. I have a masters degree in Human Service Administration. I have six years of experience working in both the public and private sectors of education and have worked with teens with developmentally delayed and high risk concerns.