ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 January 1980
Page Count: 5

How Does Crowding Affect Signatures?
Morton, SE
Document analyst, U.S. Postal Inspection Service Crime Laboratory, Calif.

(Received 28 February 1979; accepted 20 June 1979)

Abstract

Document examiners often encounter signatures presenting an unusual appearance. One factor that alters the appearance of signatures is crowding. In this paper crowded signatures are examined to determine exactly what changes take place when a writer is forced to write his name in a space much smaller than that he would normally use. Several persons were asked to write normally spaced signatures that were then measured. Each subject was then asked to write his or her signature in spaces reduced laterally by one third and one half and then in spaces similarly reduced laterally as well as by one half vertically.

Keywords:
questioned documents, handwriting, signatures

Paper ID: JFS10948J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS10948J
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