Slant Analysis

The slant of a signature is another way to compare handwriting. Perform your own slant analysis to master the technique.

Materials

- pen or sharp pencil
- sheet of white paper
- sheet of tracing paper
- ruler

Procedure

1. Write your name two times on the sheet of white paper.
2. Place the tracing paper over your signature.
3. Use the ruler to make a slash through each letter in each signature so that each slash has the same slant as the letter.
4. Compare the two series of slanted lines. Are they similar?

More Fun Stuff to Do

Write your name on another sheet of paper. Have a helper forge your signature below your real signature. Make a slant analysis. How do the two signatures compare? Could this methode of handwriting analysis prove that your helper’s signature was forged?

Explanation

All four methode of handwriting analysis--top-of-letter, bottom-of-letter, spacing, and slant—help forensic scientists examine and compare handwritten documents. Often forensic scientists perform several forms of analysis on the same handwriting to confirm that it is a forgery. These methodes can be done more accurately by using computers. A sample signature can be scanned and placed in the computer’s memory for later comparison.

Detective Science in Action

One of the most famous kidnapping cases in the United States happened in 1932 when the baby son of Colonel and Mrs. Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped. Colonel Lindbergh was the first person to make a solo airplane flight across the Atlantic and was widely considered a hero. The conviction of Bruno Richard Hauptman, arrested for kidnapping the Lindbergh baby, was based in part on the testimony of handwriting experts. They compared the writing on the ransom note with handwriting samples that the police obtained from Hauptman after his arrest.