Module 5
Medical Forensic Sexual Assault Examinations: What Are They, and What Can They Tell the Courts?

The Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination Cannot “Prove” That a Sexual Assault was Committed

A medical forensic sexual assault examination cannot determine whether a sexual assault was perpetrated. It cannot “prove” source or causation of injury. It can provide objective documentation of examination findings that, when considered in the context of all the evidence, will assist the judge and jury in reconstructing the events in question and determining whether or not there was a sexual assault.

The limitation on how much a medical forensic sexual assault examination can tell the court is due to the fact that “rape” and “sexual assault” are legal conclusions, not medical diagnoses. Often, some or all of the examination findings can be interpreted by the prosecution and defense as having different theories of causation, as the following examples demonstrate.

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