Module 5 - Polygraph Testing & Forensic Document Analysis

Document Criminal Profiling

Forensic experts use handwriting samples not only to identify a suspect, but recently they have begun using handwriting samples to create criminal profiles.  A criminal profile created from a suspect handwriting sample outlines the linguistic and behavioral characteristics of the culprit. Speculation about such characteristics can assist police investigators in the search for and identification of a suspect.  To understand what a criminal profile is, read about a famous crime case from history in which a criminal profile was created from handwriting samples.

Unsolved Mystery: The Infamous 9/11 Letters

Anthrax-laced letter mailed to Tom Brokaw and the Editor of the New York Post.
Image courtesy of the FBI (www.fbi.com)

Anthrax-laced letter mailed to U.S. Senator Leahy and U.S. Senator Daschle.
Image courtesy of the FBI (www.fbi.com)a

September 11, 2001, was the day of the horrific terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. On this same day, a number of anonymous threatening letters were sent to various news agencies and politicians.  The envelopes contained the disturbing handwritten messages and anthrax spores.  Five people died, and thirteen people became ill because of this exposure to anthrax.

Anthrax is an infectious microscopic bacteria called bacillus anthracis. Anthrax normally infects animals such as sheep, cattle, goats, and camels in warmer climates such as South America, Africa, and the Middle East, but it can infect humans.  The anthrax bacterium must live within a host to survive, but it has the unique ability to develop into spores, a dormant form of the bacterium. When these spores are introduced to a living organism, they become active and rapidly reproduce.

Anthrax  infections are of three types:

1. Cutaneous (skin) - About 95% of anthrax cases are cutaneous, the mildest form of anthrax. The anthrax spores in the Anthrax Letter Scare were of this variety.  The cutaneous form causes a rash and swelling; it has a 20% chance of causing death if left untreated.  When treated, the survival rate is 99%. 
2. Intestinal (eating) - The intestinal form of anthrax causes stomach pains and vomiting, causing death 25- to 60% of the time.
3. Inhalation (breathing) - The inhalation form of anthrax causes cold-like symptoms and causes death 90% of the time.

Two identical anthrax-laced letters were mailed on September 11, 2001 to  Tom Brokaw (former NBC News Anchor) and the Editor of the New York Post. Two similarly anthrax-laced letters were mailed to U.S. Senator Leahy and U.S. Senator Daschle.  In the hopes of apprehending the suspect who wrote the anthrax letters, the FBI released to the public photos of the actual letters (see above) and a detailed criminal profile of the culprit.

Continue to read the analysis of the 9/11 letters...