End User Commentary on Emerging Approaches in the Analysis of Inks on Questioned Documents

Abstract

Forensic analysis of inks in a police laboratory aims to clarify for judicial or civil purposes: (a) whether a document has been tampered; (b) the correlation between documents; (c) the correlation between a document and a writing instrument and (d) the correlation between a document and a printing device. To this end, the study, analysis and investigation of the documents’ inks are used in order to address the questions formulated by the criminal investigation or by the court, thus contributing to the resolution of crimes associated with the falsification and counterfeiting of documents such as mockery, forgery of documents, fraud or threats. The forensic analysis of documents in this context encompasses not only the analysis of inks but also the characterization, identification and differentiation of various materials such as paper, glues, coatings, laminates, waxes, amongst others, for which it is necessary to use the traditional imaging techniques and advanced analytical methodologies.