A system and process is provided for assessing the quality of a signature within a binary image. The system comprises a mechanism for storing the binary image and a processor for performing various steps with respect to the image, including (1) detecting a background pattern within the binary image, (2) if a background pattern is detected, removing the background image from the binary image, thereby creating a cleaned binary image, (3) detecting discontinuities within a signature portion of the cleaned binary image, and (4) generating a measure of the signature quality for the binary image.