Frequently Asked Questions:
- Q: What is handwriting analysis?
RR: Handwriting analysis is the study of the pressure, slant, and minute characteristics of a person's handwriting or hand printing. This study reveals information about such attributes as the capacity for jealousy, affection, secrecy, hostility, aggression and more than 100 other traits. It provides a unique way of obtaining insight into the character, personality, motivation and behavior of others.
- Q: Is handwriting analysis reliable? It doesn't seem possible that you can really tell if people are insecure or aggressive just by looking at their handwriting.
RR: Yes, it is uncanny how accurate handwriting evaluation can be, but there is no mystery to it. Handwriting is based on brain function, and so the handwriting reflects your state of mind at the time of writing, not the muscles in your hands.
One of my clients said to me: "I learned more about my marriage in five minutes with you than in five years with a marriage counselor". I've been involved in certain court cases where I presented as supporting testimony a personality profile of a defendant and it perfectly matched the profile produced by forensic psychologists and/or the FBI Behavioral Unit.
Current graphoanalytic theory was studied and written down in the early part of the 20th century. Ancient Greeks and Romans saw the individuality and relevance of studying handwriting strokes. In 2002 the U.S. Department of Justice published the results of their extensive study of handwriting, examination, identification. The data showed without question the truth of the basic idea of handwriting analysis, examination, and identification: everyone's handwriting is unique. In fact, it showed that handwriting samples could provide the identity of individuals writers with the same degree of accuracy (98% ) as fingerprinting.
- Q: Can anybody do handwriting analysis, examination, identification?
RR: People may consciously or subconsciously look at the handwriting of other people and intuitively sense, for example, the intensity of the person with heavy handwriting or the openness to ideas of the person whose handwriting has large, expansive upper loops. But only a trained handwriting specialist like myself can weigh and balance the traits to provide an accurate picture of personality and behavior. Creating a forensic profile can take hours or days of work. It involves meticulous measurement and assessment of very small details in individual handwriting, as well as evaluation of the overview of the traits revealed in writing.
- Q: What is the basis of handwriting analysis?
RR: My work is based on extensive European and American graphoanalytic training, forensic fieldwork, and an academic curriculum approved and/or licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, G.I. Bill of Rights. As the director of Checkmate Forensic Handwriting Services from 1996 to the present, I personally trained certain handwriting specialists in practice today, and, through years of study and field work, I have created a teaching curriculum that is still in use.
- Q: What are handwriting analysis, examination, identification, and profiling used for?
RR: Handwriting is a fascinating tool. It can be used for many, many different purposes, from proving that someone tampered with a will to proving that an individual was capable, at a particular time, of committing a robbery or murder.
Lawyers often use handwriting analysis, examination, identification and profiling formally or informally in jury selection, in order to get a better understanding of the tendencies of the prospective jury pool. It is invaluable for proving fraud and forgery. I am frequently retained to prove and testify if a person is telling the truth when they've said they did or did not sign a piece of paper.
In the Brooke Shields stalker case, a man had been stalking her and writing letters to her. There was no question about his identify, but there was a question as to his potential to be a danger to the actress. I was retained by Miss Shields' representative to evaluate the stalker's potential. And in fact, his handwriting showed a considerable potential for violence.
As a result, women too often pay a huge price for not being able to see, or maybe accept, the facts of their relationships. But handwriting, unlike people, does not lie. The work I do has helped many women make the right choice.
- Q: Why is Women Confidential World for only women?
RR: Women often have a large network of relationships through family, marriage, children, neighbors, co-workers, personal friends and acquaintances, etc. But how many women do you know who are "handicapped," so to speak, by feeling in those relationships they always have to accommodate others, heed the desires of others, give in to or take care of other people?
