Influence of Gender on Ability to Simulate Handwritten Signatures: A Study of Arabic Writers

• NCJ Number: 235794
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2011 Pages: 950-953
• Author(s): Abdulaziz Al-Musa Alkahtani, Ph.D.; Andrew W.G. Platt, Ph.D.
• Date Published: July 2011
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined handwriting forgery.

Abstract

This study investigates whether a writer's gender can be determined from an inspection of simulated signatures written in the Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad. It is generally believed that the penmanship of female writers is superior to male writers. There is also reason to expect that superiority in writing skill might contribute to success in simulating the signatures of other writers. Simulated signatures produced by a large population of male (414) and female (312) Arabic writers were graded, and the results were statistically analyzed. Women were found to have a marginal advantage simulating all elements of the signatures, but there was no statistically significant difference between the genders on any of the elements examined. (Published Abstract)