10.02 Document Examiner's Lab

• Introduction
• Learn
• Try It
• Task

Introduction

Document Examiners have many tools and techniques that they use when analyzing different documents. In this lesson you will learn about magnifiers, microscopes, infrared and ultraviolet lights, and chromatography used by these specialists. You will also learn about a tool used to detect indented writing.

Look at the blue marks in the picture below. Can you tell if the same pen or marker or different ones made them? In this lesson, you will learn about how chromatography could tell you the answer.

Lesson Objectives

Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to... Describe techniques used to determine the validity of forensic documents. Examples: fiber and handwriting analysis, ink chromatography. Enduring Understandings Scientific inquiry utilizes the scientific method and inductive reasoning. Questioned documents from a crime can have significant forensic value. Questioned documents have individual characteristics that can identify the origin. The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Forensic and Criminal Investigations standards: 15