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THE QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINER

المؤلف:  Max M. Houck، Jay A. Siegel

المصدر:  Fundamentals of Forensic Science

الجزء والصفحة:  522

2026-08-24

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THE QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINER

The first questioned document examiners were photographers. Interestingly enough, photography is an area that questioned document examiners must be very familiar with, but being an expert photographer is by no means sufficient to qualify one as a questioned document examiner. One of the most notorious cases where a photographer acted as an expert in questioned document was the Dreyfus treason case. Alphonse Bertillion was a photographer and developer of the “science” of anthropometry, which purported to provide a set of body measurements of a person that is unique to that individual. Bertillion also billed himself as an expert in document examination and testified in court that Alfred Dreyfus authored the pivotal document in the case. Later, it was determined that Dreyfus was innocent, thus discrediting both Bertillion and the budding science of questioned document examination. Until the twentieth century, questioned document analysis and testimony were not readily accepted in court. Under English Common law handwriting standards that were not already in evidence were not admissible if their sole purpose in the case was to be used for comparison with a questioned document. This prevented the comparison of questioned documents with known samples since they could not be introduced into court. Since much of early United States law was based on the Common law, this rule had the effect of delaying the use of forensic document examination in the United States until 1913, when through the efforts of the famous document examiner, Albert Osborne, the Congress passed a rule which allowed document standards into evidence in court. Prior to this time, the only way that a questioned docu ment could be authenticated was if someone witnessed the writer actually writing the document and could testify in court that he saw the author write it. After 1913, the science of questioned document examination progressed rapidly. A set of guidelines were developed that governed the ways that known samples of handwriting should be obtained for comparison purposes.