An estimate of the proportion of drug-facilitation of sexual assault in four U.S. localities

In recent years, drugs including flunitrazepam, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, ketamine, and ethanol, have become popularly associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault. Other drugs are also candidates as factors in "drug facilitated sexual assault" (DFSA). The true extent of DFSA is not known, and is difficult to estimate. We recruited sexual assault complainants at four clinics in different parts of the U.S. to anonymously provide urine and hair specimens, and to answer questions about suspected drugging, drug use, and the sexual assault incident. Urine and hair specimens were tested for 45 drugs, including ethanol, and those pharmacologically capable of inducing sedation, amnesia, or impairment of judgment. Analytical test results were used to estimate the proportion of subjects, and the proportion of all complainants to the clinic in the same time period, who were victims of DFSA. Overall, cases of 43% of 144 subjects, and 7% of 859 complainants, were characterized as DFSA. Subjects underreported their use of drugs. The role of toxicological results and history in characterizing DFSA cases is discussed.     

The problem of untested sexual assault kits: why are some kits never submitted to a crime laboratory?

Victims of sexual assault are often advised to seek postassault medical care to have a forensic exam, which includes evidence collection (termed a sexual assault kit [SAK]). After the exam, law enforcement personnel are supposed to submit the SAK to a crime laboratory for analysis. However, recent media reports suggest that in many communities throughout the United States, thousands of SAKs are left untested. Few studies have examined the rate at which law enforcement submits SAKs to crime labs or the factors that may predict them to do so. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study is twofold: (a) to examine the percentage of SAKs law enforcement submits to crime labs in cases in which a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) performed the exam with adult victims and (b) to explore whether assault and law enforcement characteristics predict whether SAKs are submitted to a crime lab. This study found that only 58.6% of the SAKs were submitted to the crime lab within a large Midwestern county. Using binary logistic regression, this study found that kits were significantly as likely to be submitted when there were documented physical (nonanogenital) injuries compared with kits that did not have documented physical injuries. In addition, kits that were handled by a law enforcement agency that had a high level of engagement with the SANE program were significantly as likely to be submitted as law enforcement agencies with a low or medium level of engagement. Kits were significantly less likely to be submitted when victims cleaned themselves after the sexual assault (e.g., bathing). No association was found between kit submission and the victim-offender relationship, suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault, anogenital injury, and when the victim consumed alcohol or drugs before the assault. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications for research and practice.     

Y-STR DNA amplification as biological evidence in sexually assaulted female victims with no cytological detection of spermatozoa

Identification of spermatozoa is the biological evidence most often sought in specimens from rape victims. Absence of spermatozoa usually terminates biological investigations, and the victim's testimony can be contested. We assessed the utility and reliability of PCR amplification using Y-chromosomal STR polymorphisms in specimens from female victims of sexual assault with negative cytology.One hundred and four swabs without spermatozoa detected by cytology were collected from 79 alleged sexually assaulted female victims and amplification of Y-STR and of amelogenin was performed.Overall, Y-chromosome was detected and evidenced sexual penetration in 28.8% of swabs. In the population of victims examined more than 48 h after the sexual assault, Y-STR were still evidenced in 30% of the cases. These results show that swabs should be taken from victims for Y-chromosome DNA typing even after long delays between sexual assault and medical examination.     

Legal aspects of sexual violence—Does forensic evidence make a difference?

A survey was done of 307 alleged victims of sexual violence reported to the police departments in Greater Aarhus, Denmark, in 1999–2004. The legal disposition was ascertained and related to victim and assault characteristics together with the forensic medical and laboratory findings. The police pressed charges in more than half of the cases and 11% turned out to be false allegations. Nineteen percent of all cases ended with sentencing of the defendant. Sperm was detected in 35% of the examined and analysed cases, and in 46% consumption of alcohol prior to the assault was reported. Information in the forensic report regarding injury documentation, intoxication, and detection of sperm and DNA match between victim and alleged assailant did not aid in the prosecution of the case. Severe coercion used by the assailant increased the likelihood of conviction. Intoxication estimation and sperm detection suffered from low sensitivity compared with laboratory analyses. Results suggest the need for new research and optimising the sexual assault examination protocol to strengthen the legal impact of forensic evidence.     

Drugs and chronic alcohol abuse in drivers

Blood specimens from 210 drivers (179 male and 31 female) apprehended in Luxembourg from autumn 2001 to spring 2002 and requested for the determination of their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) were tested for medicinal drugs, illicit drugs, and chronic alcohol abuse (by quantification of the carbohydrate-deficient transferrin: CDT). These additional analyses were performed anonymously and with permission of state prosecutor. The 22.8% had consumed medicinal drugs, with benzodiazepines and antidepressants (10.9 and 7.6%, respectively) as main psychoactive classes. Cannabis was the most detected illicit drug (9.5%) but only one in three had THC detectable in their blood. Association of two or more psychoactive substances (poly-drug use) was observed in 27.6% of drivers (90.6% of drug consumers). On the basis of CDT values, 29.5% of drivers investigated were assumed to be chronic alcohol abusers. Statistical analysis revealed that chronic alcohol abuse and medicinal psychoactive drugs were associated with significantly higher BAC. Medicinal psychoactive drugs were clearly associated with poly-drug use, and were furthermore detected at supra-therapeutic levels in 34.9%.     

Legal aspects of sexual violence--does forensic evidence make a difference?

A survey was done of 307 alleged victims of sexual violence reported to the police departments in Greater Aarhus, Denmark, in 1999-2004. The legal disposition was ascertained and related to victim and assault characteristics together with the forensic medical and laboratory findings. The police pressed charges in more than half of the cases and 11% turned out to be false allegations. Nineteen percent of all cases ended with sentencing of the defendant. Sperm was detected in 35% of the examined and analysed cases, and in 46% consumption of alcohol prior to the assault was reported. Information in the forensic report regarding injury documentation, intoxication, and detection of sperm and DNA match between victim and alleged assailant did not aid in the prosecution of the case. Severe coercion used by the assailant increased the likelihood of conviction. Intoxication estimation and sperm detection suffered from low sensitivity compared with laboratory analyses. Results suggest the need for new research and optimising the sexual assault examination protocol to strengthen the legal impact of forensic evidence.     

The role of the new "date rape drugs" in attributions about date rape

This study investigates the effect of voluntary and involuntary drug use on attributions about sexual assault. The sample was composed of 280 randomly selected male and female undergraduate students. The type of drug used (GHB, alcohol, or none) and the voluntariness of the administration were varied in an unambiguous date rape scenario. Participants viewed sexual assault facilitated by alcohol or drugs similarly to sexual assault without drug or alcohol involvement, assigning the highest levels of responsibility and blame to the perpetrator and the lowest levels of both to the victim in these situations. In contrast, women's voluntary consumption of drugs prior to a sexual assault reduced perpetrator responsibility and blame and increased blame to the victim compared to other situations (except in some cases, voluntary drunkenness). These findings extend the limited research on date rape drugs and previous work on the influence of alcohol on date rape attributions.     

Alcohol,illicit drugs and medicinal drugs in fatally injured drivers in Spain between 1991 and 2000

The aim of this study was to assess the presence of alcohol, illicit drugs and medicinal drugs among Spanish drivers involved in fatal road accidents between 1991 and 2000. Samples were obtained for 5745 drivers killed in road accidents from January 1991 to December 2000. Of the samples, 91.7% represented males and 8.3% females; 40.7% were under 30 years of age, 31.9% were under 31-50 years of age, 19.5% were over 51 years of age, and for 7.9% the age was unknown. Between 1991 and 2000, some type of psychoactive substance was detected among 50.1% of those drivers killed in road accidents, this being mainly alcohol (43.8%) and, less frequently, illicit drugs (8.8%) and medicinal drugs (4.7%). In all the cases, in which alcohol was detected, combined use with other substances accounted for only 12.5%, whilst in the case of illicit and medicinal drugs, figures representing combined use with other substances were 75.6% for the former and 65.8% for the latter. For one in every three cases (32.0%), a blood alcohol level over 0.8 g/l was recorded; cocaine (5.2%), opiates (3.2%) and cannabis (2.2%) were the three illicit drugs most frequently detected. Among medicinal drugs, were benzodiazepines (3.4%), anti-depressant drugs (0.6%) and analgesics (0.4%). The results show the frequent presence of psychoactive substances, particularly alcohol, among Spanish motor vehicle users involved in fatal road accidents. It should be pointed out that illicit and medicinal drugs in combination with other substances were a common feature.     

An evaluation of the Cozart RapiScan system as an on-site screening tool for drugs of abuse in a non-conventional biological matrix: vitreous humor

The aim of this project was to evaluate the Cozart RapiScan Oral fluid Drug Testing System as an on-site screening tool for vitreous humor samples collected during post-mortem examinations. Vitreous humor is easy to collect and as it is contained within the eye it is almost completely unaffected by post-mortem redistribution. The ability to carry out an initial drug screen on vitreous humor at the earliest stage of the death investigation process could contribute significantly to the assessment of the role drugs may have played prior to confirmation with toxicological analyses at the laboratory. Vitreous humor (n = 146) was collected from autopsy examinations (111 males and 35 females) with a specific focus on cases where death occurred following a road traffic accident or where an overdose was suspected. All samples were screened using the five-panel methadone Cozart RapiScan Cartridge with an overall positive rate of 29%. Of the positive results, 43% screened positive for benzodiazepines, 17% for cocaine, 7% for methadone and 33% for opiates. Positive samples, with the exception of benzodiazepines, and 20% of negative samples were analysed by GC/MS. This is the first reported use of this system as an on-site forensic tool in death investigation and for screening for drugs of abuse in vitreous humor. The conclusions from this study show that the Cozart RapiScan System could play an important role in obtaining information on the toxicological state of the person at the time of death.     

The Impact of Negative Forensic Evidence on Mock Jurors’ Perceptions of a Trial of Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault

Legal concerns with regard to the adverse impact of a negative toxicological screening for date-rape drugs in a case of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) were the focus of a recent Canadian case (R. v. Alouache, 2003). To assess the impact of a negative forensic report, as well as the impact of expert testimony explaining the many factors that may contribute to a negative outcome, participants (N=171) received a written trial stimulus in which the forensic evidence (negative report, negative report plus expert testimony, no negative report and no expert testimony control) and the complainant's beverage consumption (alcohol, cola) were systematically varied. Results indicate that a negative finding in the absence of expert testimony produced greater verdict leniency and more favourable evaluations of the defendant's case. In contrast, no differences were found between the case in which the expert testified and a case in which the negative report and expert testimony were omitted.

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Sexual Assault Training of Law Enforcement Officers

Abstract

The importance of proper response to victims of sexual abuse or assault has been well documented. However, despite their prominence as responders, little research has been conducted on training law enforcement officials to conduct this aspect of their jobs effectively. We describe results of a statewide survey of the adequacy of law enforcement officers' preparation to respond to victims of sexual assault. Results revealed a significant need for greater training on the topic, as well as a number of potential positive impacts of additional training and education, including feelings of better preparation, greater collaboration with external resources, more likelihood of victim participation in investigation, and more cases being brought to prosecution. Based on the results, we present a model of proposed benefits of additional training for police officers in sexual assault.     

Novel recovery methods for biological materials in cases of alleged sexual assault: A word of caution

Many believe that an increase in the public confidence in the investigation of sexual crimes, and in conviction rates, will lead to an increase in the reporting of these crimes. Consequently, Forensic Science Providers are continually striving to make improvements in evidence recovery and examination and the subsequent interpretation of evidence. One development is in methods that enable an individual to self-sample. However, in cases where a complainant has self-sampled, questions of when the samples were taken, how they were stored and so on, can be legitimately raised. Additionally the continuity and integrity of evidential samples may be questioned resulting in them not being acceptable to the courts and potential evidence could therefore be lost. There is a large emotional and psychological impact of sexual assault and rape and no complainant who reports a sexual assault and recovers material should have that evidence inadmissible to a court. Specialised units for victims of alleged sexual violence are available and offer far more than the recovery of evidential samples. This commentary on behalf of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine (FFLM) and the Association of Forensic Science Providers Body Fluid Forum (AFSP BFF) highlights the need for after care for the victims of sexual assault and why all evidence recovered in cases of alleged sexual assault and sexual violence should be obtained in line with best practice protocols.     

Criminal poisoning of commuters in Bangladesh: prospective and retrospective study

Travel-related poisoning is an emerging social and public health emergency in Bangladesh but its cause and significance have not been determined. To investigate this syndrome we performed a prospective clinical study and retrospective analysis of hospital records in a general medicine unit of a public tertiary care teaching hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, using toxicological analysis by fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) and liquid chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF MS). The participants of the prospective study were 130 consecutive patients aged 16-80 years who were admitted with central nervous system depression (Glasgow Coma Score 3-14) after using public transportation, in the absence of other abnormalities, from January through June 2004, and a convenience sample of 15 such patients admitted during 3 days in May 2006. In 2004-2006, travel-related poisoning increased from 6.1 to 9.5% of all admissions (210-309 of 3266-3843 per year), representing 46.6-55.7% of all admitted poisoning cases. Incidents were associated with bus (76%), taxi, train, and air travel, or local markets; 98% of patients remembered buying or accepting food or drinks before losing consciousness. Direct financial damage (missing property) was diverse and frequently existential. Among 94 urine samples analyzed by FPIA, 74% tested positive for benzodiazepines. Among 15 urine samples analyzed by LC-TOF MS, lorazepam was detected in all; five also contained diazepam or metabolites; nitrazepam was present in three. FPIA results obtained for these 15 samples were below the recommended cut-off in eight (53%; lorazepam only). Our findings show that the massive medicosocial emergency of travel-related poisoning in Bangladesh is the result of drug-facilitated organized crime and that benzodiazepine drugs are used to commit these crimes, suggesting modifications to the local emergency management of the victims of this type of poisoning. They also highlight the need for more research in the neglected field of acute poisoning in Bangladesh, and for criminal investigations of the use of benzodiazepine drugs in this country.     

The Effect of Gender in the Perception of Elder Physical Abuse in Court

Two experiments investigated mock jurors' perceptions of elder abuse (EA) in a physical assault case. In Experiment 1, participants read a fictional criminal trial summary of a physical assault case in which the alleged victim was 66, 76, or 86 years old. In Experiment 2, the age of the alleged victim was 76 years old, but the gender of the alleged victim and the gender of the defendant were crossed. The results of the experiments showed that women believed the alleged victim more and rendered a guilty verdict more often than men. Overall, the alleged victim was believed more than the defendant regardless of the age of the alleged victim, and most verdicts were guilty. These results are discussed in terms of the factors that affect perceptions of alleged victims of EA in court.     

Driving and the combined use of drugs and alcohol in The Netherlands

The extent and nature of the use of medicinal drugs by drivers who had undergone a blood test on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol was ascertained by analysing some 40,000 case records in which the suspect had been questioned about the use of drugs. No chemical analyses were performed. 9.7% of the road users indicated that they used drugs in combination with alcohol, and more than 50% of the drugs used must be considered to have a negative impact on driving performance. The influence of the combined use of benzodiazepines and alcohol on behaviour was also investigated. The finding here was that drivers using these drugs should be warned against the consumption of alcohol.