Universitat Autònoma
de Barcelona
Universidad Autónoma de
Barcelona
Escola de Postgrau
Escuela de Postgrado
POSTGRADUATE DEGREE IN FORENSIC HANDWRITING ANALYSIS, GRAPHISTICS,
DOCUMENT EXAMINATION AND FORENSIC SOCIOLINGUISTICS
An expert in handwriting analysis reports on the genuineness, or lack
thereof, of writings and graphisms, mainly handwritten documents, signatures
and paraphs (contracts, delivery notes, cheques, bills of exchange,
testimonies, postal votes, missives, anonymous letters, graffiti, etc.), but
also typewritten documents and more (forms of an official, private or
commercial nature, etc.).
Forming part of the third cycle of studies at the university, this
degree is intended to train people to be professionals in forensic handwriting
analysis, offering their services to the courts of justice or to others who may
legitimately request such skills, via application of the most advanced
techniques in the identification and evaluation of handwritten texts.
There is a strong emphasis on practical examples, chosen due to their
exemplary nature, allowing the students to learn effectively and quickly and
giving them first-hand experience in the specialisation right from the
beginning, leading to the ability to deliver judicial opinions concerning
responsibility for written texts and to confidently carry out duties appointed
by judicial authorities.
The vice-chancellor’s office is of the opinion that training in the
ethics of law and in psychology must be part of this postgraduate programme at
the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, since legal experts take on a
great deal of social responsibility.
Basic
Programme Contents
History and scientific
framework Background. Principles of handwriting. Laws of graphistics.
Students are taught about the cultural framework of handwriting analysis; about
what has been proven scientifically and can back up a forensic opinion; about
handwriting analysis terminology; about serious mistakes that led to certain
methods being abandoned; about the current situation for professionals.
Methods and techniques in
Handwriting Analysis The graphomorphologic
method. The graphometric method. The graphonomic method. Geometric-structural
technique. Graphoscopic techniques: tools and accessories. Special attention is
placed on graphonomic methodology so that students acquire an overall
understanding which can be used later to focus on details, without losing sight
of the dynamic aspect, or ‘mobility’, of the writing being examined, learning
to capture what is inherent and personal to each graphism in order to be able
to identify and distinguish it from others.
Graphonomy The anatomy of handwriting and parameters. Position in space. Dimension.
Pressure. Shape. Speed. Orientation in direction, inclination. Cohesion.
Abreaction. Continuity. Type-gestures. Students learn to classify writing
according to graphic aspects and sub-aspects, or genera and species, developed
by the most respected schools of graphology.
Basic motor functions behind
writing behaviour Expressive behaviour vs.
adaptive behaviour. The psychomotor principles of expressive behaviour.
Psychomotor psychodiagnoses. Temperament and character. Neurophysiologic
aspects of writing. Students are provided with knowledge concerning
neurophysiology, especially as related to the way the act of writing originates
in the brain, thus supporting the graphological principle that a counterfeiter
or forger could never attain the same gestuality and stroke as the person being
imitated.
Forensic graphology Specialisations in graphology in terms of its relation to criminology
and legal applications, in areas that do not properly belong to handwriting
analysis. Criminal investigation through
graphological techniques. Explanation is given as well of the graphological lie
detector (created by Dr. Viñals when working as professor and consultant to the
general staff), supplemented by practical real-life examples.
Document examination Paper. Ink. Classic printing systems. Typewriting. Modern printing
systems. Official documents. Commercial and private documents. The student is
taught about the medium or the document, which may not have any writing, or may
include machine- or computer-printed writing, etc., where a methodology must be
employed which is both physical and graphoscopic, or one with a zoom-lighting
which differs from that used in graphistics or graphology.
Applied Law: Regulations with which a legal expert must be familiar. Legal aspects related
to handwriting experts. Laws concerning civil and criminal proceedings
involving expert evidence. Legal concepts related to expertise. Presenting
expert testimony before law courts and juries. In order for prospective experts
to feel confident about legal procedures, they are familiarised with documents
and paperwork used in court proceedings (official communiqués, court records,
writs, etc.); emphasis is also placed on the professional ethics that should
characterise any legal expert.
Sociolinguistic expertise in
anonymous writings Identification through
analysis of the composition, organisation and/or distribution of words and
sentences, and especially of value statements of an anthropological,
psychiatric and psychoanalytical nature. By means of practical examples and
problems to be solved in group, the students are given experience in
investigating and detecting qualitative expressive elements that allow
identification, normally carried out on anonymous typewritten or
computer-written documents.
Psychology Applied to
Forensic Analysis Perception. Factors
involved in identifying shapes and objects. Communication. Factors involved in
believable communication. Legal Psychology must be kept in mind as well, since
it helps us understand different viewpoints concerning the same event, the
apparently contradictory versions offered by witnesses, the perception that
might be held by each member of the jury, the judge’s conviction according to
the approach taken by the expert analysts, etc.
Practice in Graphistics Practice on writings that have been altered without intent to forge,
traced forgery, freehand forgery, simulated forgery, invented signatures,
doodles, anonymous letters and graffiti. From the very beginning, the course
makes use of real-life examples, where the validity of the conclusions has been
established either through confession or because of undeniable evidence, etc.,
so that students can experience this specialisation as if they were truly in
charge of the report, debating the matter with classmates, discussing different
possibilities and questions with the lecturers, until finally producing
complete reports based on numerous graphic samples and on having trained in
detecting all kinds of forgeries.
Practice in Document
Examination Practice in analysing possible document
alteration. Verification of authenticity or forgery of euros and dollars.
Plastic money. Students are introduced to verification of documents through
analysing many examples of forgeries in order to learn what elements can be
altered or how forgeries are produced.
Practice in Scientific
Police Work Practical methodology employed by the National
Police in their interdisciplinary work in criminalistics.
Practice in Forensic Expert
Analysis Practical examples of expert forensic
assessment and criminalistics. The practical aspects of a forensic expert
analyst's job from the time they are charged with compiling a report until
finally delivering and confirming it. Interdisciplinary lectures with other
professions and specialisations.
This includes practical sessions and lectures given by visiting
lecturers, visits to various scientific police laboratories around Catalonia,
and support offered in the form of virtual supervision throughout the entire
course.
Directors
Professor Francisco Viñals Carrera is
member of the World Jurist Association and has been decorated by the Ministry
of Defence. In 1993, he set up the
specialisation in Forensic Handwriting Analysis at the Instituto de Criminología y Cátedra de Derecho Penal at the
Universidad Complutense, local section at Cordoba. This programme of studies
was brought to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1996, to the Escuela de Práctica Jurídica (School of
Legal Practice) within the Escuela de
Doctorado y Formación Continuada (School of Doctorate Studies and
Continuing Education), now called the Graduate School. He is member of the
International Police Association and professor at the Escola de Policia de Catalunya (Catalan Police School) and at the EPSI-UAB. He has
collaborated on various alternative draft bills and works as a consultant for
high international authorities in the capacity of institutional commissioner
for training in criminalistics and graphological sciences. In 2003, he was
chosen for “Personatges
de Catalunya” (Important Catalans), and included in volume
XIII of the Història
Contemporània de Catalunya due to the contributions
his work has made to society.
Professor María Luz Puente
Balsells is an anthropologist, criminalist and scientific investigator. She
specialised in forensic research at the Escuela
de Medicina Legal (School of Forensic Medicine) of the Universidad Complutense, in psychological analysis of handwriting
at the Universidad Pontificia de
Salamanca, and in intelligence services at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). She is coordinating professor of the
studies programmes in Forensic Handwriting Analysis and in Criminalistics,
Information Analysis and Advanced Forensic-Science Techniques at the Graduate
School of the Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona (UAB). She is professor of scientific techniques applied to
criminal investigation at the Escola de Prevenció i de Seguretat Integral
(School of Accident Prevention and Integrated Safety) at the UAB. She is also a
member of the managing board of the Instituto
de Ciencias del Grafismo, director of the Seminario de Inteligencia Civil y Militar (Seminar on Civil and
Military Intelligence – ADPCI) and vice-president of the Spanish Association of
Consultant Graphologists. Previously she worked as a writer for various media,
taught information studies, and also worked as a professor attached to the Col·legi Oficial de Doctores y
Llicenciats en Filosofia, Lletres i Ciències de Catalunya (Catalan Association of Doctors and Undergraduates in
Philosophy, Arts and Sciences).
Together they have co-authored:
-Diccionario Jurídico-Pericial del Documento Escrito (Legal Dictionary - Expertise in Written Documents), Barcelona, Ed. Herder, 2006
-Análisis de Escritos y Documentos en los Servicios Secretos (The Analysis of
Writings and Documents in the Secret Services), Barcelona, Ed. Herder, 2003
-Pericia Caligráfica Judicial. Práctica, casos y modelos (Forensic Handwriting Analysis: Practice, Examples and Models),
Barcelona, Ed. Herder, 2001
-Psicodiagnóstico por la
Escritura. Grafoanálisis Transaccional (Psychodiagnostic Assessment via
Handwriting: Transactional Graphoanalysis), Barcelona, Ed. Herder, 1999
Professor Josep Llobet Aguado
is a jurist, judge pro tempore at the
Audiencia Provincial (provincial criminal court) of Barcelona, and professor of
Civil Law working at the Department of Private Law at the Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona. He directs doctorate courses at the university and
has represented the UAB in training judges in other countries
Co-author
of:
-El deber de información de los contratos, Madrid, Editorial Marcial
Pons, 1996
-Comentarios a la ley sobre condiciones generales de contratación,
Madrid, Editorial Tecnos, 1999
Secretariat tel. 93 321.57.48
(answering machine)
Lecturers: The team of professors for this programme, apart from Prof. Francisco
Viñals and Prof. María Luz Puente who will teach and supervise most of the
practical classes, also includes Prof. Jesús R. Toledano, Ferran Salvador and Prof.
José Luís Torres, among others, who are distinguished scientific-police experts
and directors. The team will be assisted by representatives of different
public-security authorities. The
renowned judges Prof. Josep Llobet (co-director) and Prof. José Naval will be
responsible for applied practical law, and Prof. Santiago Estaún and Prof.
Josep Maria Tous will supplement the more psychological and neurophysiologic
subjects. Visiting lecturers are
expected as well, representatives from the most prestigious graphology
institutions and from the areas of expert handwriting analysis and document
analysis, such as Prof. Manuel J. Moreno, Prof. Dolores Mora and Prof. Pedro
Campoy; important professionals from abroad are expected to participate as
well.
Target
students: jurists,
lawyers, notaries, solicitors, civil servants working in the court system or in
public registrars, brokers, criminologists, detectives, professors, chemists,
qualified judicial experts, specialists and leaders working in public and
private safety. An undergraduate degree (licenciatura
or diplomatura) is a prerequisite;
persons with the appropriate professional background or with a foreign degree
may however be allowed to participate at the programme directors’ discretion;
in those cases, upon successful completion of the programme they will be given
a certificate stating that they followed the postgraduate-degree programme,
noting the classes, class hours and credits.
Programme objectives: To attain sufficient knowledge of the principles and laws behind
handwriting analysis, of the methodology employed, and of the most advanced
systems currently used in this specialisation that incorporates both
graphistics and document examination. To learn to use graphonomy (based on
scientific graphology) in order to identify graphisms. To use real-life
examples so that students obtain practical experience in solving problems from
the beginning of their studies.
Total hours: 750 h. (including practice time and tutorials),
equivalent to 30 ECTS
Schedule: Fridays, 5pm to 9pm (January 2009
and ends October 2009, with breaks at Easter and summer). Students must attend
all classes, but a special group requiring only part-time attendance might be
set up for students living outside of Catalonia with experience in the
profession, if UAB has tutors available.
Place: In the historical
building “Casa Convalescència”
within the Hospital de Sant Pau, c/ Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 171 (at the corner of c/ Sant Quintí), 08041 Barcelona. Ergonomic classrooms
fitted with projectors.
(Public transportation: Bus: 15, 19, 20, 45, 47, 50 and 51; Metro line
5, “Hospital de Sant Pau”, or line 4, “Guinardó”)
Pre-registration: Send an
e-mail to the director, María Luz Puente Balsells: info@grafologiauniversitaria.com
or send your information by ordinary mail to: Dirección de Estudios de
Perito Calígrafo Judicial, Prof. Mª Luz Puente, E. Postgrado, UAB, Campus
Barcelona Apt. 89015 – 08080 Barcelona, or by fax: (+34) 93 323 24 71. Pre-registration
must be confirmed personally, as must all enrolment procedures (since space is
limited, enrolment will follow the order in which students pre-register).
Enrolment: November-December
2008 (you will be informed on what days the enrolment procedure will be carried
out)
Price: 1,200 euros.
Rights: status of a student in the
third cycle of studies at the UAB with student card and access to libraries.
Teaching materials: students will
be given material throughout the course including notes, study samples,
milimetric templates, CDs, articles, news items, database information and
specialist reading lists.
Tutorials: includes
face-to-face as well as virtual supporting tutorials.
Assessment: Ongoing (students will each have to prepare as many exercises and
reports as they are given individually or in work groups, until reaching a
level high enough to merit a passing grade).
Quality guarantee: The Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona is a public university (officially recognised by the
Spanish government) and enjoys a high reputation among Europa’s universities.
This effective, practical training has been running for 10 years and the courts
have mentioned on many occasions the excellent reports and opinions submitted
by those experts who received their training at the UAB. Moreover, the
scientific police of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Ertzaintza and the Policía
Foral de Navarra have trusted the UAB in training their specialists in
forensic handwriting analysis, psychological analysis of handwriting and
criminalistics.
DEGREE/DIPLOMA IN FORENSIC HANDWRITING ANALYSIS
Once the student has passed the course, they will be given the following
credentials: an official academic document
from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona stating that the student has passed
the programme in FORENSIC
HANDWRITING ANALYSIS, Graphistics, Document Examination and Forensic
Sociolinguistics from the Graduate
School, with the classes, hours and credits detailed. The student may request a diploma for the
postgraduate degree from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; in the case of
those students who were accepted into the programme by the directors thanks to
their professional career or due to having a foreign degree that has not been
officially recognised by the Spanish government, a certification will be given
of having followed the postgraduate degree studies.
Students who successfully complete this course
may work as freelance document examiners, or they may also work as
court-appointed forensic document examiners.
These studies are sufficient for entering the Associació Professional de
Perits Cal·lígrafs de Catalunya (Catalan
Association of Professional Handwriting Analysts); members are given
certification and professional proof of accreditation (the association is part
of the Spanish Association of Consultant Graphologists, all of whose members
have a university degree in Forensic Handwriting Analysis).
UAB building
-Casa Convalescència-
Telf: (34) 93. 321.57.48 - (34) 93.433.50.00
http://www.grafologiauniversitaria.com - mariluzpuente@hotmail.com