The absence of sexually related injuries cannot be used in court to infer that rape victims are “making it up,” a new study reveals.
Experts analyzed the last 30 years of published medical research to compare anogenital injury (AGI) in women who had been raped with those who had engaged in consensual sex.
Examining data from more than 3,000 women, they found that more than half of rape survivors had no detectable injuries, even when examined by experts using forensic dyes and magnification techniques, while detectable anogenital injury could be found in 30% of consenting women.
Publishing their findings in eClinicalMedicine, researchers from the University of Birmingham and UK National Health Service specialists in Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol conclude that absence of AGI is neither proof of consent nor disproof of penetration.
Co-author Dr. David Naumann, from the University of Birmingham, commented, ”Women may not disclose rape in the false belief that they won’t be able to prove assault if there are no injuries to their genital area. The presence or absence of anogenital injury may also influence law enforcement officers and jurors in the way they perceive the alleged assault.”
2023-10-07 15:48:03
Link from phys.org rnrn