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A study on the effect of storage duration and fabric type on DNA quantity extracted from dried seminal stains.
Sexual assault is a complex problem with medical, social, and legal implications. It is for this reason that the definition has changed so frequently and dramatically during the past years. Today, sexual assault can be defined as the “forcible perpetration of an act of sexual contact on the body of another person, male or female, without his or her consent.”1
Sexual violence occurs in every culture, in all levels of society, and in every country of the world. It can thus be regarded as a global problem, not only in a geographical sense but also in terms of age and sex.2 It involves a serious violation of human rights with its severe consequences for the mental and physical health of the victims.3
The rate of reporting, prosecution, and conviction for sexual assaults varies considerably in different jurisdictions.The American National Crime Victimization Survey showed that there were 198,850 rapes and sexual assaults measured in 2003.4
According to the report issued by the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, cases of defilement and rape amounted to 232 cases in 2007 compared to 203 cases in 2006 increasing by 15.4%, noting that these are the reported cases which represent only a small proportion of the actual cases due to reluctance to report by those who have been subjected to such incidents.5
Victims may be reluctant to report the assault to law enforcement and to seek medical attention for a variety of reasons. They may blame themselves for the sexual assault and feel embarrassed. They may fear their assailants or worry about whether they will be believed. A victim may also lack easy access to services. Rather than seek assistance, a sexual assault victim may simply want to go somewhere safe, clean up, and try to forget the assault ever happened.6 Family relationship with the perpetrator is usually associated with disclosure latencies longer than one month; while shorter delays are associated with stranger rapes.7
Sexual assault is usually a hidden crime where the only witnesses are the victim and the assailant, therefore, the physical and biological evidence collected from the victim, the crime scene, and the suspect plays a vital role in the objective and scientific reconstruction of the events in question.8
