Handwriting Identification:Challenges and Solutions

As a historic technology,handwriting identification,especially that of Chinese characters,plays an important role in judicial trials both in domestic and abroad.However,in recent decades,handwriting identification has feced a challenging situation;the scientificity of handwriting identification has been questioned.This article analyzes the reasons for questioning handwriting identification,focusing on the aspects of standards,methods,quantitative analysis of handwriting identification,and qualification,training,and assessment of document examiners.Besides,corresponding solutions for the above aspects and some other characteristics,such as systematic identification,cross-examination of expert opinions,and rule of corroboration,are proposed.

Research on Subjective Bias Cognition Effect in Handwriting Identification

This article starts from the point of view that handwriting examination is dependent on empiricism and by analyzing the core steps ofhandwriting identification explains that it might be influenced by subjective bias.In practice,examiners cannot avoid biases in decision-making;instead,we must accept the existence of subjective bias in handwriting identification and then discuss its impact;for instance,feature selection in the process of comprehensive evaluation,which involves a comparison of the number and quality of similarities and differences between a questioned sample and the references.While we conclude that comprehensive evaluation is the most important step in the identification process,industries in China do not stipulate explicit and transparent criteria for it,making it hard to numerically quantify the characteristics ofhandwriting identification.In this article,forensic examiners5 opinions on handwriting identification were obtained through a survey.One finding was that most handwriting examiners believe that handwriting identification is subject to subjective bias.In addition,they believe that the subjective cognition of handwriting identification can somehow help actively produce the correct opinion;before the examination,most handwriting examiners think that they should understand the context and so on.Finally,through the questionnaire,which contained variations such as the same case with different background information,different cases with the same background information,and the same case with or without context,it was concluded that handwriting identification does have certain subjectivity.However,which kind of factors influence this subjectivity is not presently clear.Furthermore,it is difficult to control uncertainties when fbnnmg an opinion on identification.An alternative way is to perform scrutiny after the formulation ofhandwritmg opinions;for example,internal and external reviews such as appearing in court.

Handwriting Expertise Reliability:A Review

Handwriting expertise,as a form of forensic evidence,was once considered by most courts under the Anglo-American law system to be infallible,but this position was significantly challenged by the Daubert case(1993)and further by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report published in 2016.In China,handwriting expertise has often been accepted as forensic evidence.However,this does not mean that there is no need to review the reliability of handwriting expertise.In this study,we analyze the current situation in China regarding the reliability of handwriting identification using cases from China’s judicial judgment database.We intend to identify the reasons for rejection of handwriting expertise,analyze the outcomes of applications for re-examination,and examine the court’s evaluation of different forensic opinions in relation to a given case.We also propose ways to strengthen the reliability of handwriting identification in China.