Analysis of 756 cases of sexual assault in Tours (France): medico-legal findings and judicial outcomes

Abstract

We describe the medico-legal findings in a population of sexual assault cases assessed in an urban French referral centre, analyse the subsequent legal dispositions in each case and determine whether the characteristics of the assault and the medico-legal findings were associated with conviction of the assailant. We performed a retrospective study of medicolegal reports in all the sexual assault cases reported in Tours (France) during a seven-year period. We defined two groups of victims: children under 15 years old and victims aged 15 years or more. Legal outcomes were obtained from courtroom proceedings. The relationship between the outcomes and the circumstances of the case was analyzed by logistic regression. We enrolled a total of 756 cases during the study period. The mean age of the study population was 16.5 years and 68.3% of the cases involved children under 15 years old. In 57% of these cases, the assailant was a family member. 31.7% of all the victims were aged 15 years or more. The assailant was an acquaintance of the victim in 62.2% of the cases. Drug-facilitated assault was suspected in 2.9% of the cases. In 46.2% of the cases, formal criminal charges were not filed due to insufficient evidence; 36.3% of the assailants were convicted. Examination at the request of the police authorities and previous acquaintance of the assailant by the victim were significantly associated with conviction. Allegations of penetration, the presence of general body trauma and the presence of genital trauma were not necessarily associated with conviction. Medical examiners need to be circumspect when they record non-medical variables. Physical evidence of trauma was neither predictive nor essential for conviction. Successful prosecution depends on the quality of the testimony provided by the victim.

Medico legal procedures related to sexual assault: a 10-year retrospective experience of a Daphne protocol application

“…In recent years the phenomenon of sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women and minors has involved the political, healthcare and social organizations. While in our culture, the family is generally considered a safe, secure place, the violence is more frequently carried out at home and the assailant is often a person known by the victim; unfortunately it is sometimes a life threatening setting, involving victims of every age and cultural level, in different forms and degrees of abuse, causing physical damage and severe consequences with regard to mental health (Saint-Martin et al 2007;Ingemann-Hansen et al 2009). As defined by World Health Organization gender violence is 'the greatest public health issue and violation of human rights in the world; it is a violation of a person's physical and mental integrity (WHO 2014).…”

Analysis of clinical forensic examination reports on sexual assault

“…According to the current literature [2][3][4], one in five women will experience sexual violence and one in ten women will be the victim of rape at least once in a lifetime. In the USA, 20% of women and 5-10% of men experience sexual violence [5].…”

Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault and Chemical Submission

“…Several studies (Juhascik et al, 2007;Saint-Martin, Bouyssy, O'Byrne, 2007;Elliott, 2008) suggest that it is virtually impossible to know the real number of DFSA cases that occur, due to the difficulties of victims to remember what happened and the problems to detect substances in their body because of the short stay on it.…”

“…As amnesia is often a side effect of some of the drugs used for raping in a date, most of the victims never report criminal actions to the police (EMCDDA, 2002(EMCDDA, , 2003Schwartz, Milteer and LeBeau, 2000) being difficult, as a result, evaluate the real impact of the DFSA (Saint- Martin et al, 2007;Elliott, 2008). Nevertheless, it is important to point that the reported cases are often related with the illicit administration of substances such as rophynol and other benzodiazepines, GHB and ketamine, mixed with drinks in the meeting places (Schwartz et al, 2000).…”