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Can Graphologists ID Serial Killers’ Handwriting?

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Kermit: Can Graphologists ID Serial Killers' Handwriting?Graphologists claim handwriting is strongly linked to various personality traits, and serial killers may reveal their murderous side within their written words.

Handwriting analysis is a tedious and methodical process that relies on extensive knowledge of the way people form letters, which characteristics of letter formation are unique, and the physiological processes behind writing—how someone’s fine-motor skills affect their handwriting and leave clues to the author’s identity.

The primary basis of handwriting analysis as a science is that every person in the world has a unique way of writing. When we were in grammar school, we learned to write based on a particular copybook. Which copybook our handwriting is based on depends on when and where we grew up.

At one time, we all probably wrote in a similar manner to other kids from our area. But as time passed, we grew, matured, and developed individual characteristics that became unique to us and distinguishable in our handwriting.

While two or more people may share an individual characteristic or two, the chance of sharing 20 or 30 individual characteristics is so unlikely, many handwriting analysts would say it’s impossible.

Individual Characteristics

The type of looping created by the lowercase “l” and “e” suggest a person’s nature.

  • Wide loops mean someone is relaxed, spontaneous, and open minded.
  • Narrow loops may indicate the writer is skeptical of others; they would rather be alone than risk venturing outside of their comfort zone.

A graphologist will also search for personality indicators like the way someone dots a lowercase “i” or “j” and crosses a “t”.

  • If the dot of the lowercase “i” or “j” sits high above its base, the writer may have a great imagination.
  • If the dot sits close to its base, it indicates the writer is organized and empathetic.
  • Procrastinators dot their “i”s and “j”s to the left of the base letter.
  • Child-like personality types draw their dots as circles.
  • Slashes used in place of dots mean the writer has no patience for inadequacies; overly self-critical and annoyed by people who don’t learn from their mistakes.
  • Long crosses on “t”s suggest someone who’s determined and enthusiastic, but also stubborn.
  • Short crosses indicate laziness.
  • Rounded letters indicate more creativity and artistic ability.

Other Personality Indicators

If the writer scrawls the lowercase “o” with a loop or hole at the top, it means they’re talkative and sociable. A closed “o” indicates they’re a private person.

A rounded lowercase “s” means the writer is a people pleaser, but if the rounded bottom is too wide, it suggests they may not be following their heart in their career or similar endeavors.

Pointed letters are a sign of aggression, or in some cases, intelligence.

Connected letters mean the writer is logical.

If someone writes quickly, they’re impatient and dislike delays or time wasters. Slower writers are more methodical and self-reliant.

Handwriting Pressure

Kermit: Can Graphologists ID Serial Killers' Handwriting?People who place heavy pressure on the pen when they write—causing darker, thicker handwriting—are good with commitment and take things seriously but don’t respond well to criticism. Light-handed writers are more empathetic and sensitive but lack vitality.

Dangerous Characteristics

Writing the capital letter “I” much larger than other capitals often mean the person is arrogant, has a high opinion of themselves, and omnipotent.

Writing that changes dramatically over the course of a text is symbolic of lying.

Now that we have the basic understanding of characteristics to look for, let’s answer the question raised in the title of this post.

Can Graphologists ID Serial Killers’ Handwriting?

Graphologist Anna Koren studies serial killers’ penmanshipTwo Kermits: Can Graphologists ID Serial Killers' Handwriting?, with a focus on schizoid murderers, comprising 80% of the cases she’s worked on. And Koren believes all those killers share similar handwriting traits.

Koren profiles the schizoid murderer as having the following traits:

  1. The Charming Type usually have personal charm through which they manage to gain a victim’s trust.
  2. The Ambitious Type have strong ambitions, or they wouldn’t risk their lives and freedom.
  3. The Security Man Type often follow their victim, plan the murder or assault on their own, and don’t share it with others.
  4. The Obsessive Type: All the serial killers she profiled obsessively repeated their crimes.
  5. The Criminal Type have a captivating charm and an ability to pretend and conceal their true intentions. They can lie without even a blink and completely lack conscience.
  6. The Destructive Type: Their destructive instinct causes them to murder. By killing, they destroy their victims and in most cases themselves, as well.

Some murderers, she says, share characteristics with all the types. “Their characteristics are at a high level and extremely twisted.”

If her analysis is accurate, there are several common factors to look for in serial killers’ handwriting.

  • unusual spacing between words
  • extremely wide spacing between words or identical to the spacing between letters
  • narrowness of letters
  • broken letters
  • fake or newly created letters
  • twisted letters
  • broken letters
  • strange ending of letters
  • emphasis on the beginning letter of a document
  • unusual punctuation
  • printed letters
  • inconsistent variances in letter sizing
  • vigilant and/or tense strokes
  • over-abundance of punctuation or none at all

Serial killers’ handwriting has been examined in different languages, as well.

Several groups of serial killers were identified as having ideological motivation as well as other handwriting characteristics, which differentiates them from other serial killers whose motivation to kill stemmed from spontaneous and random selection of the victim.

Handwriting analysis falls into the pseudoscience category because it’s subjective.

Forensically, its acceptance within the scientific community and in court has historically been shaky. Only recently, as the training of analysts has become more standardized and certification procedures have been put in place, has handwriting analysis started to gain more acceptance as a reproducible, peer-reviewed scientific process. The addition of computerized handwriting analysis systems to the process, including FISH (Forensic Information System for Handwriting) system, allow examiners to scan in handwritten documents and digitize the comparison process. This new system may help gain a greater general acceptance of handwriting analysis as a science in court.

Nonetheless, it’s a fascinating field.

Virtual 5-Week Serial Killer Course

Can Graphologists ID Serial Killers' Handwriting?The school renamed my course “Historic Murders in New England” rather than “Serial Killers 101” because they didn’t want to give the impression I was teaching how to serial kill. LOL True story!

Regardless of the change in title, the course will be much more than listening to me talk about serial killers.

Over the five weeks students will learn the FBI’s definition of serial killers, modus operandi vs. signature, seven key phases to the ritual of serial killing, serial killer categories, classifications, mobility, and motive (as a classification), male vs. female serial killers, types of male and female serial killers, sociopath vs. psychopath, nature vs. nurture, and be able to apply the same to real-world examples.

Although the school asked that I center the course around serialists of New England, the same principles apply to all serial killers.

Sounds fun, right? First class is Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 @ 6-7:30 PM (Eastern)

Register HERE. Cost: $75 for the full 5-week course.

 

 

Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog as “Best 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs on the Kill Zone (Writer's Digest "101 Best Websites for Writers"), Writers Helping Writers, and StoryEmpire. Sue lives with her husband in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3) and Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-9 and continuing). Sue's appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. When she's not writing, she loves spending time with her murder of crows, who live free but come when called by name. And nature feeds her soul.

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