X-marks: Too Simple to Be Useful?

This paper presents a case illustrating the value that can be elicited from simple handwritten entries such as X-marks. An experimental study was carried out for the case needs, where X-marks were collected from a population of 52 writers and classified ac­cording to the stroke direction. To fulfil the recommendations of the ENFSI guideline on evaluative reporting in forensic science, the results of this study were used to quantita­tively assess handedness of the writer of the questioned X-mark.