The behavioral-biometrics methods of writer identifica- tion and verification are currently enjoying renewed inter- est, with very promising results. This paper presents a gen- eral background and basis for handwriting biometrics. A range of current methods and applications is given. Re- sults on a number of methods are summarized and a more in-depth example of two combined approaches is presented. By combining textural, allographic and placement features, modern systems are starting to display useful performance levels. However, user acceptance will be largely determined by explainability of system results and the integration of sys- tem decisions within a (Bayesian) framework of reasoning that is currently becoming forensic practice.