History of Handwriting Analysis

The study of handwriting, or graphology, can become a very useful tool during an investigation. It all started back in 1622 when the first record of handwriting was published by an Italian physician, and professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna, by the name of Camillo Baldi. In his book A Method to Recognize the Nature and Quality of a Writer from His Letters Camillo made the observation that like snowflakes all human writings have their own unique style. In the late 1800's Crepieux Jamin used his partner Abbe Michon books on the analysis of handwriting in order to classify the many features of handwriting into a comprehensive system. Today handwriting is difficult to use during an investigation for some criminals may try to disguise their original handwriting, however, some companies still hire graphology experts to help profile their job candidates. Also crime scene investigators have found that if a criminal is in a hurry they often forget to change their original handwriting and the criminal can be tracked using graphology. Over all graphology may not be the best way to find the criminal, however, in a big investigation every little bit of information can help to put it to an end.

For more information see: http://www.enotes.com/forensic-science/handwriting-analysis or http://www.graphicinsight.co.za/background.htm