Formerly under the jurisdiction of Committee E30 on Forensic Sciences, this guide was withdrawn in January 2016 in accordance with section 10.6.3 of the Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees, which requires that standards shall be updated by the end of the eighth year since the last approval date.

The procedures outlined here are grounded in the generally accepted body of knowledge and experience in the field of forensic document examination. By following these procedures, a forensic document examiner can reliably reach an opinion concerning whether two or more handwritten items were written by the same person(s).

Note 2—The phrase “written by the same person(s)” refers to physical generation of the writing, not to intellectual ownership of the content.

1.1 This guide provides procedures that should be used by forensic document examiners (E 444) for examinations and comparisons involving handwritten items and related procedures.

1.2 These procedures are applicable whether the examination and comparison is of questioned and known items or of exclusively questioned items.

1.3 These procedures include evaluation of the sufficiency of the material (questioned, or known, or both) available for examination.

1.4 The particular methods employed in a given case will depend upon the nature of the material available for examination.

1.5 This guide may not cover all aspects of unusual or uncommon examinations of handwritten items.

This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory requirements prior to use.