ABSTRACT
One of the ever-increasing challenges to forensic document examiners (FDEs) is the shift away from the teaching and strict adherence of handwriting from copybook systems, combined with the movement of people between countries and within diverse countries. This chapter describes approaches and limitations for the FDE involved in the examination of handwriting from other countries, as well as from those who use different alphabets or writing systems. The challenges vary when dealing with each category. Comparing handwriting in Latin-English to Latin-extended is often straightforward because the FDE is familiar with the basic letterforms of the alphabet and can determine which letters to compare. The need to consider foreign influence in handwriting is certainly not a new issue, particularly in countries that have historically welcomed large numbers of immigrants. The examination of stylized foreign-influenced signatures is less problematic than foreign-influenced cursive handwriting or hand-printing.
