Measurement Science and Standards in Forensic Handwriting Analysis Conference Webcast

• NCJ Number: 242672
• Date Published: June 2013
• Length: 3 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Standard; Presentation (Multimedia); Conference Material

Annotation

This video and transcript cover presentations at the Measurement Science and Standards in Forensic Handwriting Analysis Conference held in June 2013 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Abstract

The conference's purpose was to improve the current state of forensic handwriting analysis through the use of advancements in measurement science and the latest research in quantitative analysis capabilities. Three presentations addressed the current state of handwriting analysis and the progression that preceded it. Presentations on the foundational science underlying handwriting focused on the neuroscience behind the motor control and motor equivalence of the handwriting function; handwriting stroke kinematics, and cognitive theoretical perspectives in studies of forensic document examination. Presentations on reproducibility and reliability studies considered the performance of forensic document examiners, homogeneous writing research, and the reliability of examinations that involve multiple suspected writers. Presentations pertinent to advances in measurement science in handwriting analysis address quantitative systems for forensic handwriting comparisons, a measurement tool for forensic document examiners ("WANDA"), and the forensic language-independent analysis system for handwriting identification. Other instruments in handwriting analysis discussed were CEDAR FOX and iFOX, D-Scribe, and scale invariant feature transform (SIFT). Other presentations cover advances in statistics for handwriting analysis, legal implications of quantitative testimony, and other analysis tools to support metrics. The facilitated discussion focused on the following issues: the future state of handwriting analysis, barriers to implementing this future state, and a "roadmap" to achieve the future state of handwriting analysis. Conference presenters and attendees included forensic document examiners, researchers, measurement science experts, statisticians, and industry representatives.