WHAT IS A QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINER?
As recently as 1993, in Ordway Hilton’s book, Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents, the simple definition of QDE required an explanation regarding the distinction between QDE experts and handwriting examination experts: “Document Examiner. One who studies scientifically the details and elements of documents in order to identify their source or to discover other facts concerning them. Document examiners are often referred to as handwriting identification experts, but today the work has outgrown this latter title and involves other problems than merely the examination of handwriting.”1 It was not until 1972, when a group of QDE experts in government and private practice joined with the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) to adopt a published job description for QDE experts. The ASTM designation E444-98,2 revised in 1998, defines the general duties performed by QDE experts: • The identification of handwriting, typewriting. • The identification or elimination of the
