THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON HANDWRITING MOVEMENTS AND THEIR FORENSIC EXAMINATION

Handwriting means an expression of thoughts by means of visible symbols, has evolved out of primitive attempts to represent external objects by conventional pictures of hieroglyphics. Handwriting is visual expressions in the form of signs or marks made by a person by a coordinated effort of brain, nerves and muscles, useful as a means of communication. During the comparison of handwriting samples, the examiner is effectively studying the product of motor memories executed by the writer/s in authoring a sample. For the comparison process to proceed, the same characters and forms of characters are required to be present. The main aim to study is to study the influence of alcohol on handwriting, to compare the handwriting of an individual in normal condition and after consumption of alcohol, to compare the handwriting of an individual in normal condition with his/her specimen standards and to compare the handwriting of an individual after consumption of alcohol with his/her specimen standards. In this research, 180 participants between the ages of 20 to 50, served as volunteer subjects for the experiment. The subjects usually visited bars, pubs, parties etc and were ready to volunteer for my research. All subjects consumed 180ml of ethyl alcohol. The drinking was done in a social setting. The written material used for standard text was selected based on familiarity and simplicity of content, reasonably balanced number of upper-lower extender, middle zone characters, and each letter of the alphabet was incorporated among the words. Handwriting samples were taken before and after the consumption of alcohol. Along with the samples collected, the specimen writings are also collected. The analysis is done based on class characteristics and individual characteristics.