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Handwriting identification and document examination are processes directed to investigating the authenticity of papers.

This issue - especially in Italy - is all but negligible: according to a recent Eurispes research,statistics show that - for checks alone and merely within the national borders - the staggering number of 500,000 forgeries per year is easily exceeded (with 5 billion dollars of estimated illicit returns each year).

In the same Eurispes report one can read: "Check forgery is no more the doing of the chance 'artisan', but it has become a proper industry: six thousands 'professionals' are full time working on it with excellent results, taking advantage of modern computer technologies through the use of which they manage to reproduce checks almost identical to the originals; this is also facilitated by the fact that in Italy checks still represent the most widespread means of payment after cash."

Faced by these figures - that summarize only part of the whole world of forgery (there are also - among others - frequent imitations of wills, bills counterfeiting, signatures falsifications on simple letters or documents, alterations on medical records and prescriptions etc.) - it seems appropriate to stop for a second and ask oneself the following question: if there is any doubt at all about the authenticity of a document, is it worthwhile to risk and blindly give green light to a business or to an economic transaction, or - on the contrary - is it preferable to have the matter quickly looked into by a specialist?

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The techniques of document examination on a written paper have undergone an enormousrevolution over the last years; the access to increasingly more accurate technologies makes possible not only a correct assessment of the truth, but also the identification of the method of forgery used in that particular instance. Moreover, in some cases one can trace the path back to pinpoint the hand that was physically responsible for the imitated writing found on the suspect document.

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Many are the instruments used in document examination:from classical and digital snapshots to microscope photography,from the use of new generation scanners to physical tests carried out under different wavelengths (ultraviolet or infrared frequencies, specific bands in the visible spectrum), from software-assisted digital retrieval of parts of a damaged script to graphic comparisons between the questioned samples and the subject's known handwriting exemplars.

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Besides the indispensable use of updated technical instruments, what is absolutely essential is the expert's professional competence and his wide experience in the field; the document examiner has to be able to recognize even the tiniestdetail and must be capable of reasoning with a quick, clear head while sifting all the information gathered. Only through a sound logical path, supported by the unbiased findings and the scientific evidences collected during the preliminary examination of the suspect document, will it be possible to reach the target of finally attaining the truth.

Handwriting analysis

Content analysis