A Blind Study on the Reliability of Hand Printing Identification by Forensic Document Examiners

Sample**	Words	Characters	Allographs	Word %	Character %	Allograph %	# Calls Correct	Mean Call Confidence
Q1(G)	17	90	74	20.0%	19.8%	20.0%	53	1.87
Q2(G)	13	72	60	15.3%	15.9%	16.2%	49	2.18
Q3(G)	18	95	72	21.2%	20.9%	19.5%	52	2.56
Q4(G)	20	107	88	23.5%	23.6%	23.8%	52	2.09
Q5(G)	18	86	69	21.2%	18.9%	18.6%	48	2.65
Q6(G)	18	96	79	21.2%	21.1%	21.4%	51	1.79
Q7(G)	17	96	80	20.0%	21.1%	21.6%	49	2.16
Q8(N)	21	112	92	24.7%	24.7%	24.9%	46	2.51
Q9(G)	11	49	39	12.9%	10.8%	10.5%	52	1.82
Q10(N)	20	91	72	23.5%	20.0%	19.5%	51	2.51
Q11(G)	16	79	64	18.8%	17.4%	17.3%	52	1.75
Q12(G)	4	21	18	4.7%	4.6%	4.9%	34	2.89
Q13(G)	23	102	80	27.1%	22.5%	21.6%	51	2.16
Q14(N)	21	111	91	24.7%	24.4%	24.6%	46	2.68
Q15(G)	18	85	68	21.2%	18.7%	18.4%	50	2.26
Q16(G)	20	85	66	23.5%	18.7%	17.8%	50	2.05
Q17(G)	22	123	102	25.9%	27.1%	27.6%	50	2.18
Q18(N)	16	82	67	18.8%	18.1%	18.1%	52	2.64
Q19(N)	18	117	100	21.2%	25.8%	27.0%	51	2.67
Q20(G)	13	77	65	15.3%	17.0%	17.6%	38	2.47
Q21(G)	16	82	67	18.8%	18.1%	18.1%	53	1.86
Q22(G)	13	69	57	15.3%	15.2%	15.4%	53	2.34
Q23(N)	14	98	85	16.5%	21.6%	23.0%	51	2.56
Q24(G)	23	105	83	27.1%	23.1%	22.4%	52	2.02
Q25(G)	15	79	65	17.6%	17.4%	17.6%	47	2.04

[i] *Correct calls are defined as a correct determination of whether or not the questioned signature is written by one of the writers of the three known specimens.

**G = genuine questioned specimen; N = questioned specimen not represented among known samples.

Table 2

Mean Examiner Call Confidence by Years of Examiner Experience and Hand Printing Specimen.

Years of Experience	N	Hand Printing Sample
		K1 A (Correct)		K1B		K1C
		M	SEM	M	SEM	M	SEM
< 10	16	2.94	0.23	2.63	0.25	2.75	0.193
10 to 20	14	3	0.23	3.36	0.24	3.3	0.19
> 20	23	2.75	0.21	3.29	0.22	3.43* (p =.040)	0.171
	N	K4 A		K4B (Correct)		K4C
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.19	0.286	2.31	0.262	2.5	0.21
10 to 20	14	2.93	0.305	3.14	0.28	3.43* (p =.012)	0.225
> 20	22	3.14* (p =.044)	0.244	3.14	0.223	3.18	0.179
	N	K6 A (Correct)		K6B		K6C
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.75	0.263	2.63	0.221	2.63	0.23
10 to 20	14	3.36	0.281	3.5* (p =.028)	0.236	3.36	0.246
> 20	23	3.35	0.22	3.43* (p =.021)	0.184	3.39* (p =.041)	0.192
	N	K7 A		K7B (Correct)		K7C
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.31	0.229	2.25	0.237	2.38	0.206
10 to 20	14	3	0.245	3	0.253	3.21* (p =.023)	0.221
> 20	22	3.09* (p =.039)	0.196	2.95	0.202	3.18* (p =.014)	0.176
	N	K9 A		K9B		K9C (Correct)
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.56	0.215	2.69	0.223	2.88	0.207
10 to 20	14	3.5* (p =.013)	0.23	3.43	0.238	3.5	0.221
> 20	23	3.39* (p =.014)	0.179	3.3	0.186	3.3	0.172
	N	K12 A (Correct)		K12B		K12C
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	1	0.278	1.25	0.299	1.13	0.3
10 to 20	14	1.21	0.298	1.5	0.319	1.5	0.321
> 20	23	1.57	0.232	2.3* (p =.028)	0.249	2.3* (p =.012)	0.25
	N	*K14 A (Correct)**		K14B		K14C
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	1.44	0.267	1.81	0.259	1.63	0.262
10 to 20	14	2.36	0.285	2.5	0.277	2.43	0.28
> 20	23	2.52* (p =.009)	0.222	2.48	0.216	2.48* (p =.047)	0.219
	N	K16 A		*K16B (Correct)**		K16C
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.5	0.255	2.63	0.271	2.44	0.238
10 to 20	14	3	0.272	2.64	0.29	3.07	0.254
> 20	23	3.22	0.212	3	0.226	3.26* (p =.032)	0.198
	N	K17 A		K17B		*K17C (Correct)**
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.19	0.265	2.19	0.271	2	0.297
10 to 20	14	2.86	0.283	2.86	0.289	2.57	0.318
> 20	23	3.22* (p =.013)	0.221	3.26* (p =.011)	0.226	2.65	0.248
	N	K24 A		K24B		*K24C (Correct)**
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.44	0.234	2.56	0.258	2.5	0.261
10 to 20	14	3.43* (p =.017)	0.251	3.29	0.276	3.14	0.279
> 20	23	3.13	0.196	3.26	0.215	2.96	0.218
	N	K25 A		K25B		*K25C (Correct)**
	N	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*	M	*SEM*
< 10	16	2.38	0.244	2.19	0.275	2.38	0.318
10 to 20	14	3.36* (p =.025)	0.261	3.07	0.294	3.14	0.34
> 20	23	3.13	0.203	3.04	0.229	2.57	0.266

[i] *Significantly different from examiners with fewer than 10 years of experience.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.69525/jasqde.229 | Journal eISSN: 1524-7287

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Language: English

Page range: 25 - 31

Published on: Jun 1, 2016

Published by: American Society of Questioned Document Examiners

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© 2016 Linda L. Mitchell, Mara Merlino, published by American Society of Questioned Document Examiners
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 19 (2016): Issue 1