Unit 9: Questioned Document
9.1 Introduction of Questioned Document
The questioned document — any document whose authenticity-or-authorship is disputed: the signatures, the handwriting, the typewriting, the printed texts, the alterations-and-erasures, the imprints-and-security documents. The examiner’s questions: who wrote it? was it altered? when was it made? is it genuine? The document’s law: the Evidence Act’s-and-the Criminal Code’s forgery provisions (the Civil Code’s-and-Criminal Code’s faces — the false documents’ offences); the exam’s civil-and-criminal reach (the succession’s wills, the contracts’ signatures, the currency’s counterfeits).
9.2 Examination Techniques of Written, Typed and Printed Documents
- The handwriting’s examination: the comparison’s base (the known exemplars — the standards’ adequacy: the contemporaneous, the sufficient-quantity, the similar-content); the characteristics (the slant, the pressure, the letter’s construction-and-connecting strokes, the spacing, the rhythm — the habit’s individuality); the process (the side-by-side; the enlargement-and-photography; the infrared-and-UV for the alterations); the conclusion’s discipline (the identification-exclusion-inconclusive; the simulation-and-disguise’s detection — the forgery’s signs: the tremor, the retouching, the pen-lifts).
- The typewriting: the machine’s individuality (the typeface’s class + the defects’ individual — the misalignment, the wear); the ribbon’s evidence (the typed-text-and-ribbon match); the correction’s faces.
- The printed-and-photocopied: the printer’s-and-copier’s artefacts (the drum’s marks, the toner’s chemistry — the machine’s identification); the digital documents’ faces (the metadata — the creation’s-and-modification’s trail; the electronic signature questions — the Cyber Law interface, LAW5705).
9.3 Types of Document Forgery
- The signature’s forgery — the simulated (the copied), the traced (the light-box), the freehand; the genuine-signature’s misuse (the blank’s filling — the authorisation’s fraud).
- The alteration — the erasure (the chemical-and-mechanical), the obliteration (the overwriting), the interpolation (the insertion), the substitution (the page’s replacement).
This is a preview. The complete Forensic Science notes — full unit, Exam Focus box and model questions — are in the PDF / full version. Get the complete notes →