Problems of Forensic Sciences 2004 Vol. 57 (LVII) 24-43
NATURAL VARIATION IN SELECTED CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES OF FEMALE SIGNATURES
Szymon MATUSZEWSKI
Faculty of Criminalistics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Streszczenie
The aim of this study was to determine the extent of natural, intraindividual variation in selected constructional characteristics in women’s signatures. The instability of characteristics was used as an indicator of analysed variation. 45 signatures from each subject – of similar age, years of education and the same surname ending – were collected. Constructional characteristics of the analysed surname ending were examined, and the mean instability of each characteristic was estimated. It was found that characteristics at the basic level have a mean instability that is twice as high as characteristics at the macrostructural level. It was also found that within characteristics at the basic level, characteristics of connections have higher instability than characteristics of stroke construction. Implications of these results for forensic handwriting analysis are discussed.
Słowa kluczowe
Variation of signatures; Constructional features; Macrostructural level; Basic level.