Sample Solution

Forensic handwriting identification is the process of using handwriting comparison techniques to determine whether two or more documents have been written by the same person. It has been used in court cases for centuries and continues to be an important tool in helping establish identity in criminal investigations.

Research into forensic handwriting identification has identified various methods for comparing writing samples such as examining letter formation, spatial relationships between letters, line slope and size of writing (Vigliotti et al., 2020). Additionally, many studies have explored how advances in technology can improve accuracy when performing comparisons such as automated approaches like machine learning algorithms (Hussain et al., 2016). However, these technologies need further refinement before they can be used reliably and confidently and more research needs to be conducted in this area.

Further research is also needed on how human characteristics affect handwriting style such as age, gender, nationality etc. The current evidence base suggests that there are differences between individual’s writing styles however it is unclear if these are statistically significant or if they would hold up to scientific scrutiny under court proceedings (Hyland et al., 2018). Additionally, further work should focus on developing better methods for assessing reliability of conclusions drawn from comparisons that take into account potential bias from investigators.

Overall, it is clear that although much progress has been made through research conducted so far within the field of forensic handwriting identification there remain several areas where further investigation is needed before reliable assessments of authorship can be established with confidence.