The Forensic Handwriting Examination and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach report, or just the HFHE Report, was produced by the Expert Working Group for Human Factors in Handwriting Examination.

I was fortunate to be invited to be a part of this expert working group. The membership spanned various scientific disciplines and included forensic document examiners, lawyers, cognitive scientists (including human factors specialists), among others.  A more lengthy discussion of this can be found here.

The EWG “…conducted a scientific assessment of the effects of human factors on forensic handwriting examination” and produced a report that “…provides a comprehensive discussion of human factors as they relate to all aspects of handwriting examination, from documenting discriminating features to reporting results and testifying in court.” Of course, the report also provides extensive recommendations aimed at improving the practice in the future.  Specifically, the work was produced “…to encourage and enhance efforts to apply human factors principles to forensic science applications, reduce the risk of error, and improve the practice of forensic handwriting examination.”

It should be noted that the EWG was supported by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences (OIFS), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Programs Office.

Formal citation: Taylor, M., Bishop, B., Burkes, T., Caligiuri, M., Found, B., Bird, C., Grose, W., Logan, L., Melson, K., Merlino, M., Miller, L., Mohammed, L., Morris, J., Osborn, J., Osborne, N., Ostrum, R. B., Saunders, C., Shappell, S., Sheets, H., Srihari, S., Stoel, R., Vastrick, T., Waltke, H. and Will, E. (2021), Forensic Handwriting Examination and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD.