Forensic Document Examination and Handwriting Expert Magazine Article in Pegasus
A Day With a Knight
DAWN ROBERTS, ‘79
UCF Pegasus Alumni Magazine
Sept/Oct 2006
By: Angie Lewis, ‘03
You’re familiar with shows like CSI, Crossing Jordan and Law & Order, where the characters rely on forensic evidence, like blood and hair, to catch the bad guys. But have you ever heard of a forensic document examiner? I knew there were people who looked at threatening letters, suicide notes, etc., but I never understood the extent to which these professionals can use their knowledge until I met Dawn Roberts. Dawn, a forensic document examiner and certified handwriting expert, owns GraphoWrite and is affiliated with Handwriting Services International, which provides document examiner services to clients all over the world.Because of the nature of her work, Dawn could not share open cases with me. Instead, we reviewed my handwriting analysis (I faxed her a sample before we met) and discussed some of her past forensic cases.
Dawn and I sat down in her home office on a Tuesday morning to go over my results. First was my business handwriting analysis, presented as a report with charts, which highlighted motivating forces, personal dynamics, ego strength, defenses and controls, intellectual style, communication style, interpersonal style, work style, sales style and management style.
Then it was on to my personal analysis, which Dawn recited as she looked at my sample. Her first comment was that I have lacked a father figure in my life. My jaw dropped. How could she tell that from my handwriting? Dawn also told me that I was re-establishing a connection with my father, which was, again, true. He came back into my life a few months ago. (See my sample, at right.)
Besides the lack of a father figure, Dawn can tell countless other things about a person in his/her handwriting, including a person’s sexual orientation, health issues (including cancer), whether someone likes their family or not, if a man has had a vasectomy or a woman has had a hysterectomy, if someone likes to sing in the shower or sing out loud so other can hear, if someone is honest or dishonest, if someone is an embezzler, if someone is a pervert or pedophile, if someone is obsessive-compulsive, if someone reads a lot, if someone likes to argue for the sake of arguing, if someone has signs of violence or emotional instability and even whether it’s a boy, a girl or twins.
And, as Dawn told me, even if you try to change your handwriting, those traits will still be there on the page.
Handwriting analysis is not the only thing Dawn’s work consists of. In fact, the majority of it focuses on forensic document examination. Lawyers, insurance companies, private investigators and private citizens are just some of people who utilize Dawn’s expertise.
The simplest example, which she sees a lot, is forgery. To find out whether a document has been forged, Dawn needs two things: the questionable document and a document with known writing to compare it to. She can then use a variety of her tools, including a ruler, protractor, magnifying glass, jeweler’s loupe, light table and/or microscope, to prove a document’s authenticity. She showed me samples from two of her closed cases, both of which involved wills, and both of which were cases of forgery. One of the cases was particularly difficult for Dawn. She said it took her several days working on it, putting it down, coming back to it, sleeping on it, then looking at it again the next morning. “Some cases require that, some don’t,” she said.
I could have talked with Dawn for days. When I headed back to the office later that afternoon, thoughts of everything we discussed were still processing in my brain. This profession is truly the most fascinating thing I have ever been privileged to learn about.
HANDWRITING CAN REVEAL:
Emotions
Mental Processes
Imagination
Forces to achieve (goals, willpower, determination)
Fears
Defenses
Integrity
Social traits
Aptitudes (business, cultural, mechanical, scientific)
HANDWRITING CANNOT REVEAL:
Age
Sex
Race
Handedness (right or left)
Religious preference
