Sexual assault and rape

In vitro validation of vaginal sampling in rape victims: the problem of Locard's principle

PURPOSE

Intra-vaginal traces can serve as supporting physical evidence of vaginal penetration in sex-crime cases. Vaginal trace sampling guidelines prescribe using a speculum and swabs or swabs only. The use of Locard's exchange theory requires samples of trace materials to always be contamination-free and of accurately known origin. If traces from the outer genital area are accidentally introduced into the vagina during sampling, these traces may be recorded as originating in a location where they were not present at the time of evidence collection. The goal of this study was to assess the risks of false positive findings in vitro of traces found inside the vagina due to trace dislocation caused by current vaginal trace sampling methods (swab-only or with speculum), and for a new method that uses a sleeve accessory to prevent trace dislocation.

METHODS

Starch solution was applied to the labia of three clean female genitalia mock-ups with vaginas of various diameters and structures. The speculum, swab-only, and sleeve methods were each used 30 times on each mock-up, giving a total of 90 repetitions of each method. Iodine was used to determine whether any starch traces had been introduced vaginally.

RESULTS

The speculum and swab-only methods gave 100 and 63-87 % false positive results respectively due to trace dislocation. The sleeve method reduced this to 2 % (0 % after correction).

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that there is a need to conduct clinical in vivo studies to determine whether these results translate into everyday practice and to ensure reliable trace sampling in sex-crime cases.

Development of a sexual assault evidence collection kit - the need for standardization in Turkey

Sexual offences are recognized to be one of the most critical of crimes throughout the world. In Turkey, forcible rapes show, in the sexual crime rates, an increase of approximately 3% every year. It becomes even more critical, when realizing that less than half of all rapes, which are believed to occur, are reported to law enforcement, and of those few assailants who are arrested even fewer are convicted of rape. Often, little or no knowledge of the correct methods of locating, recovering, packaging, and preserving evidence specimens are the causes for compromising the forensic examination in court. This problem occurs when medical personnel are not adequately trained or properly advised in the evidentiary aspects and medical features of treating a victim. The current survey is aimed to increase the awareness of the need of an initial and continuing education by health care policies to cope with increasing professional demands for forensic practice sexual assault cases, to take judicial and social precautions, and medico-legal evidence. To determine the likelihood of obtaining corroborating evidence this paper presents the results of a study referring to this problem. An updated questionnaire has been applied at random to medical personnel, a total of 543 participants, throughout Turkey. Taking certain criteria into consideration the findings revealed a significant deficiency of knowledge regarding medical-legal examination. In comparison, a one-semester course of basic forensic sciences proved to be sufficient to recognize the amount of knowledge required to work as a forensic professional. Based on the results, recommendations are presented in the form of a sexual assault evidence collection kit (SAECK). A kit, which takes into consideration the needs of crime laboratories, law enforcement agencies, medical personnel, and above all the victim. This is the first step in building a responsible and successful evidence collection program that will survive the rigors of courtroom challenge.

Examination for sexual assault: evaluating the literature for indicators of women-centered care

This study aimed to assess the extent to which recent peer-reviewed published literature on the acute management of sexual assault was women-centered. We developed indicators and a framework that operationalized women-centered care provision in the context of sexual assault. We then reviewed and evaluated the literature in relation to these indicators. A systematic search identified a total of 20 relevant articles for inclusion in the analysis. These were published in medical journals (65%, 13/20), nursing journals (20%, 4/20), and journals targeted toward other health care practitioners (15%, 3/20), and originated from the United States (65%, 13/20), the United Kingdom (15%, 3/20), Australia (10%, 2/20), Spain (5%, 1/20), and Canada (5%, 1/20) between January 2000 and August 2005. We found little acknowledgment of the inherent tensions faced by sexual assault examiners in providing women-centered care. Moreover, absent from most articles were discussions of the complexities of consent in sexual assault examinations, social justice issues, the need for gender-sensitive training for health care providers, and a critical appraisal of colposcopic and DNA technologies. Indicators of respect, safety and restoring control, and connections to community were present in the majority of articles.

Visualizing sexual assault: an exploration of the use of optical technologies in the medico-legal context

This article is an exploration of the visualization of sexual assault in the context of adult women. In investigating the production of visual evidence, we outline the evolution of the specialized knowledge of medico-legal experts and describe the optical technologies involved in medical forensic examinations. We theorize that the principles and practices characterizing medicine, science and the law are mirrored in the medico-legal response to sexual assault. More specifically, we suggest that the demand for visual proof underpins the positivist approach taken in the pursuit of legal truth and that the generation of such evidence is based on producing discrete and decontextualized empirical facts through what are perceived to be objective technologies. Drawing on interview and focus group data with 14 sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) in Ontario, Canada, we examine perceptions and experiences of the role of the visual in sexual assault. Certain of their comments appear to lend support to our theoretical assumptions, indicating a sense of the institutional overemphasis placed on physical damage to sexually assaulted women's bodies and the drive towards the increased technologization of visual evidence documentation. They also noted that physical injuries are frequently absent and that those observed through more refined tools of microvisualization such as colposcopes may be explained away as having resulted from either vigorous consensual sex or a "trivial" sexual assault. Concerns were expressed regarding the possibly problematic ways in which either the lack or particular nature of visual evidence may play out in the legal context. The process of documenting external and internal injuries created for some an uncomfortable sense of fragmenting and objectifying the bodies of those women they must simultaneously care for. We point to the need for further research to enhance our understanding of this issue.

The gynaecologist as an expert witness in cases of sexual abuse

The High Criminal Court of Kirklareli province of Turkey dealt with a sexual abuse case where the victim was a 14-year-old girl. She was abducted and abused by her boyfriend with her consent, which was legally invalid because of her age. Medical examination was required in order to bring an accusation against the perpetrator. The girl was sent for hymen examination three times because two gynaecologists and one forensic expert produced different witness reports, confusing the court. This caused psychological damaged to the victim. It is proposed that gynaecologists should be made aware of their potential input into sexual assault cases and be informed of the way in which these cases should be handled. In addition, photo-documentation should be established in the Turkish legal system to avoid re-examination of the victim.