We interviewed Luis Jiménez , academic director of the rich people database Specialization in Graphology and Calligraphic Expertise , a new university program promoted by FUNIBER , so that he could explain the typical work of a calligraphic expert.
Luis Jiménez has worked as a forensic psychologist and forensic handwriting expert for more than 25 years, and is currently the General Director of the School of Criminology of Catalonia (Spain) ; he holds a higher diploma in Criminology and Private Investigation and a degree in Psychology.
Luis Jiménez Romero, Director of the Master's Degree in Criminalistics and the Master's Degree in Criminal Psychology.
Luis Jiménez Romero, Director of the Specialization in Graphology and Calligraphic Expertise
What are the career opportunities for a calligraphy expert?
Free practice of the profession as an expert before the courts of justice.
Working as an employee, usually in private investigation companies or law firms.
If you are a member of the Security Forces and Corps (FCS), as a specialist in the Criminalistics laboratory, document analysis or graphology department.
In the field of criminology, how important is it to have a handwriting specialist?
In many criminal proceedings, it is necessary to know the authenticity of a signature and/or manuscript. For example, in fraud or in cases of homicide. About twenty years ago, I had to make a report on the authenticity of a holographic will in a murder case, since it was suspected that the author of the will was the forger of the will.
What is needed to determine the authenticity of a handwritten document or signature?
First, we need to have the originals of the documents in question (those that are suspected of not being authentic). Secondly, as an essential requirement, we need to compare these documents with samples of writing or signatures that are indisputable. This means that there is no doubt about their authenticity. Generally, these are signatures made in front of a notary or other public official.
We have seen cases of forgery of holographic wills. How can the authenticity of a document attributed to a deceased person be determined?
We need to look for indisputable documents of the deceased, such as identity documents, public deeds, etc. It is not always easy, since sometimes the only thing that can be found is a signature on the identity card, which may not look very similar to the usual signature due to limited space. I recently had to prepare a report on a holographic will but, luckily, the deceased had left many signatures on public deeds in different notary offices throughout Spain.
