Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
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Epidemiology of rapes in Costa Rica: Characterization of victims, perpetrators and circumstances surrounding forced intercourse Loreley Cerdas a, *, Cynthia Arroyo b , Aarón Gómez c , Ileana Holst b , Yamileth Angulo c , Marianela Vargas b , Marta Espinoza a , Guillermo León c a b c
Sección de Bioquímica, Departamento de Ciencias Forenses, Organismo de Investigación Judicial,San José, Costa Rica Departamento de Análisis Clínicos, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Article history: Received 9 January 2014 Received in revised form 4 May 2014 Accepted 5 June 2014 Available online 13 June 2014
Since the year 2000, the number of rapes in Costa Rica has increased at a rate of 42 cases per year. In 2011, 1786 rape cases were reported to the prosecution offices throughout the country, but only 1081 reports continued through the investigation process by the Judicial Investigation Agency. A randomly collected sample of 272 reports received by Judicial Investigation Agency, between July 2012 and June 2013, were prospectively studied. The analysis was limited to cases reported within 30 days following the rape. Results indicate that most of the provinces in the country show an incidence of about 38 cases/100,000 inhabitants. Ninety-six percent of the victims were women, 50% of which were between 10 and 19 years old. More than 99.5% of violators were men. The rape was perpetrated by a single aggressor in 85% of the cases. It was found that 48% of the victims were within the first 11 days of their menstrual cycle at the time of the attack. Twenty-nine percent of rapes occurred in “high rape-risk” circumstances—e.g., victims attacked by strangers in public outdoors or indoors. Twenty-five percent of rapes occur in “moderate rape-risk” circumstances—e.g., victims attacked indoors at public locations or at the home other than the victim's by relatives, sentimental partners or acquaintances. Fifteen percent of rapes occurred in “low rape-risk” circumstances—e.g., victims attacked in their homes by relatives or sentimental partners. In 67% of the cases the perpetrator was an acquaintance of the victim. Eleven percent of the cases corresponded to rapes in which the perpetrator was a partner or ex-partner of the victim. Fourteen percent and 25% of rapes could be classified as “proactive drug-facilitated rapes” or “opportunistic drugfacilitated rapes”, respectively. Semen in the vaginal fluid of victims and the genetic profile of the alleged perpetrator were detected in 55% and 33% of the cases, respectively. ã 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Rape Sexual assault Epidemiology Menstrual cycle
1. Introduction Rape is a crime which threatens the dignity, and the emotional, physical and psychological integrity of its victims [1]. In Costa Rica, rape is defined as the intercourse by vaginal, anal or oral penetration, with a person of either sex in the following cases: (a) when a victim is less than twelve years of age, (b) when the victim is incapable of resisting, and (c) when violence or intimidation is employed to subdue the victim [2]. Moreover, rape can be qualified or aggravated. Qualified rapes occur when the victim dies, or when the aggressor is ancestor, descendant or brother of the victim. On the other hand, aggravated rapes occur
* Corresponding author. Tel.:+506 22671053; fax: +506 22671044. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (L. Cerdas). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.06.006 0379-0738/ ã 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
when physical injuries are produced, or the aggressor is a trusted person such as a priest, teacher, medical doctor or police [2]. In 2011, 1786 accusations received by the prosecution offices of Costa Rica, distributed around the country, were classified as rape. However, only 1081 reports went through the process to be investigated by the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ for its acronym in Spanish), which is the institution responsible for handling these cases. During the investigation, valuable epidemiological and forensic information is collected, but records are confined to internal institutional documents. Studies that address the epidemiology of rape around the world constitutes important inputs to: (a) understanding what elements constitute the root of the problem, (b) designing strategies to assure the victims' accessibility to legal resources and health care, (c) educating at-risk populations in prevention and behavioral response to rape, and (d) improving the justice administration system [3–5].
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
Table 1 Geographic distribution of rape in Costa Rica between July 2012 and June 2013.
In this work, a random sample of 272 reports received by the Biochemistry Section of the Forensic Science Department of the Judicial Investigation Agency, between July 2012 and June 2013, was prospectively collected and studied in order to characterize victims, perpetrators and circumstances surrounding the cases of rape that occurred in Costa Rica. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Study group and analysis design The numbers of rape cases from 2000 to 2011 were obtained from databases of the Judiciary's Planning Office and used to calculate the increase of rape incidence in the last decade. On the other hand, epidemiologic data of rapes were calculated using a sample which was randomly and prospectively collected from reports received by the Forensic Science Department's Biochemistry Section of the Judicial Investigation Agency, between July 2012 and June 2013. The reports summarize information obtained during a standard interview, in which victims are guided by trained personal to provide the data required for the investigation. The personal in charge of applying the interview has training in forensic biochemistry and is qualified to perform this task. Both interview and interviewer were approved by Forensic Science Department's Quality Assurance Unit. Some records do not contain the entire information requested because (a) in order to reduce revictimization by forensic inquiries, victims were not forced to answer the full questionnaire during interview, (b) some victims were drugged or intoxicated at the time of the attack, and therefore they did not remember some, if not all, circumstances surrounding the rape, and (c) some questions do not apply to all victims (e.g., date of the late menstrual period do not apply to male, menopausal or child victims). Therefore, complete and incomplete reports were used to extract the available information. It was indicated for each variable how many records were included in the analysis. There were no concerns about gender, age, religion, or national, geographic, racial or ethnic origin of the victim, nor concern for the veracity of the accusation. The study was limited to cases reported within the 30 days following the rape, excluding rapes chronically perpetrated. Cases corresponding to other sexual crimes different than rape were excluded from the study. Signed releases and due consent were provided by all the victims or their relatives to allow their testimonies to be used in the forensic investigation. The Scientific Ethical Committee of the Universidad de Costa Rica approved this study.
205
Province
Costa Rican population in 2012–2013a Men
Women
Total
San José Alajuela Cartago Heredia Guanacaste Puntarenas Limón
848.409 456.328 263.167 236.978 142.404 189.788 241.067
847.633 442.730 259.004 229.637 137.377 178.191 220.208
1.696.042 899.057 522.171 466.615 279.781 367.978 461.275
Rape incidenceb
38.3 43.1 25.1 45.0 46.9 33.9 32.7
a
Data obtained from Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica. Incidence rate was projected form our results and is expressed as number of cases per 100,000 population per year. b
HSD). Additionally, this relation was assessed by a risk analysis (ODD-ratio). The effect of the time elapsed between rape and collection of vaginal fluid samples, on the probability to recover semen and determine their genetic profile was assessed by a binomial non-parametric test. Values of P < 0.05 were considered as significant. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Geographic and demographic issues Costa Rica is a Central American country whose population in 2012 was approximately 4.7 million people. Its territory (51,100 km2) is divided in 81 municipalities, which are grouped in seven provinces (Table 1; Fig. 1). Thirty-nine prosecution offices are distributed throughout the country to receive crime reports
[(Fig._1)TD$IG]
2.2. Statistical analysis Statistical analyses were performed using the statistical software IBM1 SPSS v 21.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The rate of increase in the number of accusations received by the prosecution offices during the period between 2000 and 2011 was determined using linear regression analysis. The significance of the differences in the distribution of rapes by age and the time elapsed between alleged rapes and forensic examination of victims was assessed by the Student's t-test. The analysis of the phase of the menstrual cycle in which the victims were at the rape moment was assessed by a Chi-square non-parametric test. The geographic distribution of rapes was assessed by Kolmogorov–Smirnov nonparametric test. The relationship between victims who bathe (or not) before the sample collection and semen recovery, and the relation between type perpetrator and use of physical violence were evaluated by one-way ANOVA, followed by a post-hoc analysis (Tukey HSD). The relation between type perpetrator and the local where rape occurred was evaluated by one-way ANOVA and a bivariate correlation, followed by a post-hoc analysis (Tukey
Fig. 1. Geographic scope of prosecution offices receiving crime reports in Costa Rica. Offices are located in: 1er Circuito Judicial de San José (1), 2d Circuito Judicial de San José (2), Desamparados (3), Hatillo (4), Pavas (5), Puriscal (6), Alajuela (7), Atenas (8), Grecia (9), San Ramón (10), Guatuso (11), Los Chiles (12), San Carlos (13), Upala (14), Cartago (15), La Unión (16), Tarrazú (17), Turrialba (18), Heredia (19), San Joaquín de Flores (20), Sarapiquí (21), Cañas (22), Liberia (23), Nicoya (24), Santa Cruz (25), Aguirre y Parrita (26), Cóbano (27), Garabito (28), Puntarenas (29), Coto Brus (30), Buenos Aires (31), Corredores (32), Golfito (33), Osa (34), Pérez Zeledón (35), Bribrí (36), Limón (37), Poccocí (38) and Siquirres (39). In the box at the bottom left is showed the division of Costa Rica in provinces: San José (SJ), Alajuela (AL), Heredia (HE), Cartago (CA), Guanacaste (GU), Puntarenas (PU) and Limón (LI). The Forensic Sciences Center is located in San Joaquín de Flores (20), which is marked in black in the box top right.
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L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
[(Fig._2)TD$IG]
[(Fig._3)TD$IG]
Fig. 2. Accusations received by the prosecution offices in Costa Rica, during the period between 2000 and 2011, which were classified as rape. Incidence is expressed as number of cases per year. The curve correspond to the equation y = 42.563 83852 (r2 = 0.5083). Primary records were obtained from databases of the Planning Office of the Judicial Research Agency.
24 h a day during the entire year. Territorial coverage of prosecution offices is shown in Fig. 1. After a rape has occurred, the victim(s) must seek for police’s help. If needed, the victim is headed to a hospital to receive medical care. Afterwards, the victim is taken to the prosecution office that has jurisdiction over the locality where the rape took place in order to report the aggression. Then, the victim is transferred to the Forensic Sciences Center for medical-legal evaluation, and for evidence collection. Alternatively, six Medical-Legal Units are distributed in the country to attend victims and collect evidence which is sent afterwards to the Forensic Sciences Center for analysis. According to the databases of the Judiciary's Planning Office, since the year 2000 the number of cases of rape has increased at a rate of 42 cases per year (Fig. 2), which corresponds to an increment of 0.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants each year. In 2011, 1786 rape cases were reported to prosecution offices throughout the country. Despite efforts to make the justice system accessible, only 1081 reports continued the process of being investigated by the Judicial Investigation Agency. The missing reports corresponded to cases in which the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, or because of the victim's refusal to continue the legal process. The sample used in this work was randomly extracted (without replacement) from the reports received by the Biochemistry Section of Science Forensic Department of the Judicial Investigation Agency. Our results show that the majority of the rapes occurred in the city of San José (the country's capital), but when adjusted by population, most of the provinces show incidences of around of 38 cases/100,000 inhabitants (Table 1). This includes provinces in the Central Valley with large urban centers (San José, Alajuela, Heredia
Fig. 3. Distribution of rapes by age. Data were collected from 259 records containing the requested information. *Most of the victims were between 10 and 19 years old (t = 30,223; df = 258; P 0.001).
and Cartago) and the coastal provinces (Puntarenas and Limón). The highest incidence was observed in Guanacaste, a province in the northwest of the country, which in addition has the lowest population. However, differences in the rape incidence between provinces were not significant (K S = 0.178; P = 0.200). Since it is difficult to access the Forensic Sciences Center for forensic evaluation and evidence recollection, an important underreporting masks the true magnitude of rape in all provinces of the country. We could not find the information necessary to dimensioning this underreport. However, based on the Simpson's estimation that between 10 and 25% of rapes are denounced [6], is likely that the number of rapes in Costa Rica reach between 6000 and 18,000 cases per year, in the last years. Underreport is particularly important in the case of Puntarenas and Guanacaste, which may have shown higher incidences if many victims initiating the complaint process at the corresponding prosecution office did not refuse to move to the Forensic Sciences Center to continue the process. Forty-seven cases (3 from San José, 5 from Cartago, 14 from Guanacaste, 17 from Puntarenas and 8 from Limón) were excluded from our sample for this reason. 3.2. Epidemiological issues In order to reduce re-victimization by forensic inquiries, victims were not forced to answer the full questionnaire during interview. Therefore, although our sample consisted on 272 records, not all of them provided information to calculate each variable studied in this work. Thereby, 96% of the victims were women (n = 272). Based on 259 reports, it was determined that most of the victims were between 10 and 19 years old (t = 30.223; df = 258; P 0.001; Fig. 3), with a mean age of 22 years old. On the other hand, more than
Table 2 Evaluation of rape risk as function of relationship with the perpetrator and the locale in which rape occurreda . Relationship of perpetrator with the victim
Close relative No close relative Acquaintance Stranger Sentimental partner TOTAL a
n = 267.
Local in which rape occurred Home of the victim
Public indoors or houses other than the victim's house
Public outdoors
13 9 29 11 18 80
5 9 43 13 9 79
0 3 38 64 3 108
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
[(Fig._4)TD$IG]
207
Two hundred sixty-seven records provided information on both the relationship of the perpetrator with the victim and the location where the rape occurred. Statistical analysis of these data indicates that there is a bivariate correlation (P = 0.179; P = 0.003). Additionally, there is a relationship between perpetrator type and local where rape is perpetrated (F = 8.861; df = 3; 263; P 0.001). Our results (Table 2) show that rapes perpetrated by strangers tend to occur in outdoor public areas (e.g., vacant lots, parks, street, etc) (P = 0.822) while rapes perpetrated by close relatives of the victim tend to occur inside the victim's home (P = 0.108). These conclusions are also supported by an ODD-ratio analysis (OR = 5.069; CI 95% = 2.388– 10.761). Both, the local where rape is perpetrated and the relationship between victim and aggressor, have incidences comparable to those found in other countries (Table 3). Although rape occurs in all socioeconomic strata, it is likely that the high class is underrepresented in our sample. Moreover, underreporting is likely to be higher in male than in female victims [16]. In addition, it is known that many rapes perpetrated by close relatives are not denounced. These and other causes of underreporting might affect the results obtained in this study.
Fig. 4. Time elapsed between alleged rapes and forensic examination of victims. Data were collected from 262 records containing the requested information. *Most of the victims presented their accusation in the 48 h following the rape (t = 2.946; df = 261; P = 0.004).
99.5% of violators were men (n = 272). In 85% of the cases, rape was perpetrated by a single aggressor (n = 266). In 33% of the cases, rape was perpetrated by strangers (n = 267; Table 2). Moreover, based on 262 reports it was determined that 88% of rapes were denounced within the first 48 h following the aggression (t = 2.946; df = 261; P = 0.004; Fig. 4). These results are similar to those found in countries like Australia, Canada, France, England, Denmark, Brazil, United States and Norway (Table 3).
3.3. Role of the menstrual cycle phase In 1998, experiments performed by Chavanne and Gallup suggested that, during ovulation, women decreased their exposition to high-rape risk activities [17]. Although this suggestion was supported by other researches [18], some evidence indicates that rape is not less frequent during the ovulation [19,20]. In any case, there is a consensus that the behaviors to avoid the risk of rape change over the menstrual cycle [21]. In our study, 188 records were used to study the relationship between the phase of the menstrual cycle and the incidence of
Table 3 Epidemiologic data of rapes as reported in several countries. Victim mean age (years)
Reporting time
Cases perpetrated by single aggressor (%)
Relationship of victim with the aggressor
Location where the raped was perpetrated
Drug or alcoholmediated rape (%)
Reference
100% before 72ha 100% before 72ha 100% before 72ha 42% before 72 h –
80
Strangers 39%
–
–
[7]
86
Acquaintances 62%, Strangers 15% Partner 3% –
–
17
[8]
–
21
[9]
85
Acquaintances 49% Strangers 51%
–
14
[10]
60
Acquaintances 29% Strangers 32% Casual 20% Partner 15% Acquaintances 30% Strangers 31% Casual 21% Partner 15% Acquaintances 31% Strangers 69%
–
30
[11]
Private 58% Public 42%
20
[12]
Private 21% Public 60%
–
[13]
Private 62% Public 38% Private 71% Public 29% Private 64% Public 35%
–
[3]
42
[14]
–
[15]
Country
Number of Percentage of participants female victims (%)
Denver (USA)
1076
96
25
Australia
434
95
26
Canada
882
96
26
France
418
86
22
England
676
94
26
Denmark
423
97
25
85% before 48 h
–
Brazil
687
100a
24
88
Colorado (USA) Michigan (USA) Norway
155
100a
24
88% before 72 h –
849
100a
22
–
88
185
100a
18–25
72% before 168 h
89
a
Data used as criteria for inclusion to the respective study.
–
82
Acquaintances 57% Strangers 43% Acquaintances 72% Strangers 28% Acquaintances 46% Strangers 22% Casual 17% Partner 12%
208
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
rape. From the 84 records that were not included, 43 records corresponded to adult women that did not contain the requested information or to women whose menstrual cycle length was longer than 35 days. The remaining records were not used because they corresponded to male, children, and amenorrheic or menopausal female victims. Our results show that 48% of the victims were within the first 11 days of their menstrual cycle at the time of the attack, and that most of rapes (68%) occurred during the first half of the menstrual cycle (e.g., the follicular phase and ovulation), many of them during menstruation (x2 = 26.851; df = 5; P 0.001). In the subsequent weeks, rapes decrease and maintain the lower incidence in the last half of the menstrual cycle (Fig. 5). These results do not agree with those obtained by Chavanne and Gallup [17]. In contrast, our results indicate that rape is not less frequent during the ovulation, as indicated by Fessler [19] and Beirne et al. [20]. Chavanne and Gallup also suggested that the decrease of the exposition to high-rape risk activities is a natural reaction adopted by women, in order to prevent sexual assault [17]. However, our results show that only 29% of rapes occurred in circumstances that could be considered as highly risky, such as rapes perpetrated by strangers in public outdoor or indoor locations. On the other hand, 15% of rapes occurred in low-risk circumstances, such as rapes in the victim's home perpetrated by relatives or sentimental partners of the victims. Twenty-five percent of the rapes occurred in moderate-risk circumstances, such as in public indoor locations or at the home other than the victim's, by relatives, sentimental partners or acquaintances (n = 267; Table 2). The rest of the records corresponded to cases which occurred under other circumstances (e.g., rapes in the victim's home perpetrated by strangers, or rapes in public outdoor locations perpetrated by close relatives). Epidemiological differences observed between this study and other previous investigations should be analyzed with caution. Variables such as the self-reported data of the menstrual cycle by the victims, the characteristics of the studied groups and the methodologies applied [22] could explain the differences observed in this work as compared to others. For example, the studies published by Chavanne and Gallup and by Bröder and Hohmann were made by linking the activities performed by the participants along their menstrual cycle and a subjective classification of these activities according to their
[(Fig._5)TD$IG]
associated “rape risk”. However, none of the participants was raped while perform such activities [17,18]. In contrast, the study groups in our investigation and in the study published by Beirne et al. were constituted by women who actually were claiming to have suffered a rape [20]. On the other hand, the fact that 7 years were required by Beirne et al. to gather a number of cases which in Costa Rica could be recruited in little over a month, may reflect differences in the behavior of victims and aggressors between both study groups. However, for lack of a more complete description of circumstances of rapes occurring in Northern Ireland, it is hard to explain why our results indicate that rapes are more frequent during the first half of the menstrual cycle (Fig. 5), while in Northern Ireland it was found a non-statistically significant tendency of rapes to be more frequent during ovulation [20]. Since the number of participants in our analysis (188 women) is not very different to that in the studies of Chavanne and Gallup (300 women), Bröder and Hohmann (51 women) and Beirne et al. (105 women), it is unlikely that differences in conclusions reached by the different studies can be attributed to differences in the sample size [17–20]. In any case, more robust results could be obtained from larger groups of study. 3.4. Rapes perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner of the victim Several hypotheses have been formulated in order to explain what motivates rapists to commit rape [23]. A special case is when the perpetrator is the partner or ex-partner of the victim [24]. Based on 267 records containing information about the relationship between victims and perpetrators, it was calculated that 11% of the cases corresponded to this type of rape, most of which were perpetrated at the home of the victim (Table 2). Incidence of rapes perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner of the victim is similar to that found in countries such as England, Denmark and Norway (Table 3). Moreover, the use of physical aggression (in addition to the sexual aggression) was more frequent in rapes perpetrated by the partner or ex-partner of the victim, than rapes perpetrated by other aggressor types (F = 10.189; df = 4; 243; P 0.001). In our sample, 71% of the cases of rapes perpetrated by a partner or expartner of the victim were characterized by a high use of physical aggression (P = 1.0). This contrasts with the incidence of physical aggression in rapes perpetrated by other types of aggressors (P = 0.165), such as strangers (40%), acquaintances (18%) and relatives (19%). It is unlikely that rapes perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner of the victims were originated by sexual reasons, but it may correspond to a manifestation of a cycle of violence in the relationship [24]. 3.5. Drug or alcohol-mediated rape
Fig. 5. Phase of the menstrual cycle in which the victims were at the rape moment. Data were collected from 188 records containing the requested information. *Most of the victims were attacked during the first half of their menstrual cycle (x2 = 26.851; df = 5; P 0.001).
The occurrence of rapes facilitated by drugs or alcohol is an issue that has been previously studied [9,25,26]. In our sample, 259 records contained information required to study the incidence of drug or alcohol related rapes. Based on these records, it was calculated that 14% of rapes could be classified as “proactive drugfacilitated rapes”—i.e., rapes in which perpetrator administered to the victim an incapacitating or disinhibiting substance (e.g., drug and/or alcohol) in order to commit rape. On the other hand, 25% of rapes could be classified as “opportunistic drug-facilitated rapes”— i.e., rapes in which the victims are intoxicated by their own actions and to the point of being unable to defend for themselves. Sixty eight percent of records corresponded to cases in which rape was perpetrated without the use of drugs or alcohol. Incidence of drug or alcohol-mediated rapes is similar to that found in other countries (Table 3).
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209 Table 4 Effect of the time elapsed between rape and collection of vaginal fluid samples, on the probability to recover semen and determine their genetic profilea . Time (h)
n
Semen (%)
Genetic profile (%)
0–24 25–48 49–72 >72
91 123 17 31
62 54 41 13
38 32 24 10
a
n = 262.
3.6. Detection of semen in the Forensic Laboratory As part of the forensic examination process, samples of anal smears or vaginal fluids were submitted to semen analysis by microscopic observation of spermatozoa and immunochromatographic detection of the p30 protein of the seminal plasma. Semen and genetic profile of spermatozoa were found in 55% and 33% of the samples, respectively. Factors decreasing the probability to detect semen are: (a) the use of a condom by the aggressor, which in our sample corresponds to 12% of the cases (n = 190), (b) the inability of the aggressor to ejaculate, or (c) ejaculation out of the victim's body. Moreover, the probability of finding semen is lower for victims who bathe before a sample collection is taken (35%), than for victims who do not bathe (66%) (F = 11.278; df = 2; 250; P 0.001). According to our results, the time elapsed between rape and collection of vaginal fluid samples reduces the probability to obtain genetic profiles from spermatozoa in the vaginal fluid samples (P 0.001). However, the tendency to reduce the probability to recover semen was not significant (P = 0.102; Table 4).
4. Conclusions Rape is a crime committed by several types of perpetrators who attack different types of victims under many different circumstances. Therefore, it is likely that this problem has a multifactorial origin. This must be considered in order to design adequate strategies needed to educate at-risk populations and improve the administration of the legal system of justice to the different conditions in which rape occurs. Projections based on previous years indicate that only 50% of the cases in our sample complete the judicial process. It is likely that in an environment in which the victim might feel helpless, bureaucratic complexities and the sluggishness of the process (approximately three years) are factors that discourage them to reach the end of the judicial process. While many of the victims are not presented in court, many others who attend the trial make use of the abstention right, which is especially important in cases where victim and perpetrator are sentimental partners or close relatives. In both cases, the process is closed with the absolutory of the suspected sex offender. On the other hand, in most of the cases that reach the end, the accused person will be convicted.
209
Acknowledgements The authors thank J. Vásquez, J.M. Gutiérrez and our colleagues at the Department of Forensic Sciences for their collaboration. References [1] R. Jina, L.S. Thomas, Health consequences of sexual violence against women, Best Pract. Res. Clin. Obstet. Gynaecol. 27 (2013) 15–26. [2] Código Penal Costarricense, Ley No. 4573 del 4 de mayo de 1970. La Gaceta N 257, San José, Costa Rica. [3] D. Magid, D. Houry, T.D. Koepsell, A. Ziller, M.R. Solues, C. Jenny, The epidemiology of female rape victims who seek immediate medical care: temporal trends in the incidence of sexual assault and acquaintance rape, J. Interpers. Violence 19 (2004) 3–12. [4] A.H. El-Elemi, S.M. Moustafa, A.M. Hagras, Reported cases of female sexual assault over 5 years period in Suez Canal area, Egypt: demographic study, Egypt. J. Forensic Sci. 1 (2011) 118–123. [5] E.P. Gharoro, E.J. Enabudoso, D.K.J. Sodje, Non-consensual sex in Benin, Niger. J. Clin. Pract. 14 (2012) 190–194. [6] J.A. Cobo, Manual de Asistencia Integral a Las Mujeres Víctimas de Agresión Sexual, first ed., Masson, Barcelona, 1998. [7] N. Riggs, D. Houry, G. Long, V. Markovchick, K.M. Feldhaus, Analysis of 1076 cases of sexual assault, Ann. Emerg. Med. 35 (2000) 358–362. [8] M.H. Hurley, D.L. Parker, The epidemiology of drug facilitated sexual assault, J. Clin. Forensic Med. 13 (2006) 181–185. [9] J. Du-Mont, Sh. Macdinald, N. Rotbard, D. Bainbridge, E. Asllani, N. Smith, M.M. Cohen, Drug-facilitated sexual assault in Ontario, Canada: toxicological and DNA findings, J. Forensic Leg. Med. 17 (2010) 333–338. [10] C. Grossin, I. Sibille, G. Lorin de la Grandmaison, A. Banasr, F. Brion, M. Durigon, Analysis of 418 cases of sexual assault, Forensic Sci. Int. 131 (2003) 125–130. [11] E. Kerr, Ch. Cottee, R. Chowdhury, R. Jawad, J. Welch, The haven: a pilot referral centre in London for cases of serious sexual assault, BJOG 110 (2003) 267–271. [12] O. Ingemann-Hansen, S. Sabroe, M.K. Brink, A.V. Charles, Characteristics of victims and assaults of sexual violence-Improving inquiries and prevention, J. Forensic Leg. Med. 16 (2009) 182–188. [13] C. de Oliveira, A.M. dos Santos, K.D. Oliveira, R.C. dos Santos, Sexual violence: a descriptive study of rape victims and care in a university referral center in São Paulo State Brazil, Cad. Saúde Pública 29 (2013) 889–898. [14] J.S. Jones, B.N. Wynn, B.K. Kroeze, Ch. Dunnuck, L. Rossman, Comparison of sexual assaults by strangers versus known assailants in a community-based population, Am. J. Emerg. Med. 22 (2004) 454–459. [15] L.E. Stene, K. Ormstad, B. Schei, Implementation of medical examination and forensic analyses in the investigation of sexual assaults against adult women: a restrospective study of police files and medical journals, Forensic Sci. Int. 1999 (2010) 79–84. [16] I.A. McLean, The male victim of sexual assault, Best Pract. Res. Clin. Obstet. Gynaecol. 27 (2013) 39–46. [17] T.J. Chavanne, G.G. Gallup, Variation in risk taking behavior among female college students as a function of the menstrual cycle, Evol. Hum. Behav.19 (1998) 27–32. [18] A. Bröder, N. Hohmann, Variations in risk taking behavior over the menstrual cycle: an impoved replication, Evol. Hum. Behav. 24 (2003) 391–398. [19] D.M.T. Fessler, Rape is not less frequent during the ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle, Sex. Evol. Gend. 5 (2003) 127–147. [20] P. Beirne, J. Hall, C. Grills, T. Moore, Female hormone influences on sexual assaults in northern Ireland from 2002 to 2009, J. Forensic Leg. Med. 18 (2011) 313–316. [21] W.F. McKibbin, T.K. Shackelford, Women's avoidance of rape, Aggress. Violent Behav. 16 (2011) 437–443. [22] E.D. Kolivas, A.M. Gross, Assessing sexual aggression: addressing the gap between rape victimization and perpetration prevalence rates, Aggress. Violent Behav. 12 (2007) 315–328. [23] T.A. Gannon, R.M. Collie, T. Ward, J. Thakker, Rape: psychopathology, theory and treatment, Clin. Psychol. Rev. 28 (2008) 982–1008. [24] E.K. Martin, C.T. Taft, P.A. Resik, A review of marital rape, Aggress. Violent Behav. 12 (2007) 329–347. [25] J.A. Hall, C.B.T. Moore, Drug facilitated sexual assault–a review, J. Forensic Leg. Med. 15 (2008) 291–297. [26] D. McBrierty, A. Wilkilson, W. Tormey, A review of drug-facilitated sexual assault evidence: an Irish perspective, J. Forensic Leg. Med. 20 (2013) 189–197.
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Epidemiology of rapes in Costa Rica: Characterization of victims, perpetrators and circumstances surrounding forced intercourse Loreley Cerdas a, *, Cynthia Arroyo b , Aarón Gómez c , Ileana Holst b , Yamileth Angulo c , Marianela Vargas b , Marta Espinoza a , Guillermo León c a b c
Sección de Bioquímica, Departamento de Ciencias Forenses, Organismo de Investigación Judicial,San José, Costa Rica Departamento de Análisis Clínicos, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Article history: Received 9 January 2014 Received in revised form 4 May 2014 Accepted 5 June 2014 Available online 13 June 2014
Since the year 2000, the number of rapes in Costa Rica has increased at a rate of 42 cases per year. In 2011, 1786 rape cases were reported to the prosecution offices throughout the country, but only 1081 reports continued through the investigation process by the Judicial Investigation Agency. A randomly collected sample of 272 reports received by Judicial Investigation Agency, between July 2012 and June 2013, were prospectively studied. The analysis was limited to cases reported within 30 days following the rape. Results indicate that most of the provinces in the country show an incidence of about 38 cases/100,000 inhabitants. Ninety-six percent of the victims were women, 50% of which were between 10 and 19 years old. More than 99.5% of violators were men. The rape was perpetrated by a single aggressor in 85% of the cases. It was found that 48% of the victims were within the first 11 days of their menstrual cycle at the time of the attack. Twenty-nine percent of rapes occurred in “high rape-risk” circumstances—e.g., victims attacked by strangers in public outdoors or indoors. Twenty-five percent of rapes occur in “moderate rape-risk” circumstances—e.g., victims attacked indoors at public locations or at the home other than the victim's by relatives, sentimental partners or acquaintances. Fifteen percent of rapes occurred in “low rape-risk” circumstances—e.g., victims attacked in their homes by relatives or sentimental partners. In 67% of the cases the perpetrator was an acquaintance of the victim. Eleven percent of the cases corresponded to rapes in which the perpetrator was a partner or ex-partner of the victim. Fourteen percent and 25% of rapes could be classified as “proactive drug-facilitated rapes” or “opportunistic drugfacilitated rapes”, respectively. Semen in the vaginal fluid of victims and the genetic profile of the alleged perpetrator were detected in 55% and 33% of the cases, respectively. ã 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Rape Sexual assault Epidemiology Menstrual cycle
1. Introduction Rape is a crime which threatens the dignity, and the emotional, physical and psychological integrity of its victims [1]. In Costa Rica, rape is defined as the intercourse by vaginal, anal or oral penetration, with a person of either sex in the following cases: (a) when a victim is less than twelve years of age, (b) when the victim is incapable of resisting, and (c) when violence or intimidation is employed to subdue the victim [2]. Moreover, rape can be qualified or aggravated. Qualified rapes occur when the victim dies, or when the aggressor is ancestor, descendant or brother of the victim. On the other hand, aggravated rapes occur
* Corresponding author. Tel.:+506 22671053; fax: +506 22671044. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (L. Cerdas). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.06.006 0379-0738/ ã 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
when physical injuries are produced, or the aggressor is a trusted person such as a priest, teacher, medical doctor or police [2]. In 2011, 1786 accusations received by the prosecution offices of Costa Rica, distributed around the country, were classified as rape. However, only 1081 reports went through the process to be investigated by the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ for its acronym in Spanish), which is the institution responsible for handling these cases. During the investigation, valuable epidemiological and forensic information is collected, but records are confined to internal institutional documents. Studies that address the epidemiology of rape around the world constitutes important inputs to: (a) understanding what elements constitute the root of the problem, (b) designing strategies to assure the victims' accessibility to legal resources and health care, (c) educating at-risk populations in prevention and behavioral response to rape, and (d) improving the justice administration system [3–5].
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
Table 1 Geographic distribution of rape in Costa Rica between July 2012 and June 2013.
In this work, a random sample of 272 reports received by the Biochemistry Section of the Forensic Science Department of the Judicial Investigation Agency, between July 2012 and June 2013, was prospectively collected and studied in order to characterize victims, perpetrators and circumstances surrounding the cases of rape that occurred in Costa Rica. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Study group and analysis design The numbers of rape cases from 2000 to 2011 were obtained from databases of the Judiciary's Planning Office and used to calculate the increase of rape incidence in the last decade. On the other hand, epidemiologic data of rapes were calculated using a sample which was randomly and prospectively collected from reports received by the Forensic Science Department's Biochemistry Section of the Judicial Investigation Agency, between July 2012 and June 2013. The reports summarize information obtained during a standard interview, in which victims are guided by trained personal to provide the data required for the investigation. The personal in charge of applying the interview has training in forensic biochemistry and is qualified to perform this task. Both interview and interviewer were approved by Forensic Science Department's Quality Assurance Unit. Some records do not contain the entire information requested because (a) in order to reduce revictimization by forensic inquiries, victims were not forced to answer the full questionnaire during interview, (b) some victims were drugged or intoxicated at the time of the attack, and therefore they did not remember some, if not all, circumstances surrounding the rape, and (c) some questions do not apply to all victims (e.g., date of the late menstrual period do not apply to male, menopausal or child victims). Therefore, complete and incomplete reports were used to extract the available information. It was indicated for each variable how many records were included in the analysis. There were no concerns about gender, age, religion, or national, geographic, racial or ethnic origin of the victim, nor concern for the veracity of the accusation. The study was limited to cases reported within the 30 days following the rape, excluding rapes chronically perpetrated. Cases corresponding to other sexual crimes different than rape were excluded from the study. Signed releases and due consent were provided by all the victims or their relatives to allow their testimonies to be used in the forensic investigation. The Scientific Ethical Committee of the Universidad de Costa Rica approved this study.
205
Province
Costa Rican population in 2012–2013a Men
Women
Total
San José Alajuela Cartago Heredia Guanacaste Puntarenas Limón
848.409 456.328 263.167 236.978 142.404 189.788 241.067
847.633 442.730 259.004 229.637 137.377 178.191 220.208
1.696.042 899.057 522.171 466.615 279.781 367.978 461.275
Rape incidenceb
38.3 43.1 25.1 45.0 46.9 33.9 32.7
a
Data obtained from Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica. Incidence rate was projected form our results and is expressed as number of cases per 100,000 population per year. b
HSD). Additionally, this relation was assessed by a risk analysis (ODD-ratio). The effect of the time elapsed between rape and collection of vaginal fluid samples, on the probability to recover semen and determine their genetic profile was assessed by a binomial non-parametric test. Values of P < 0.05 were considered as significant. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Geographic and demographic issues Costa Rica is a Central American country whose population in 2012 was approximately 4.7 million people. Its territory (51,100 km2) is divided in 81 municipalities, which are grouped in seven provinces (Table 1; Fig. 1). Thirty-nine prosecution offices are distributed throughout the country to receive crime reports
[(Fig._1)TD$IG]
2.2. Statistical analysis Statistical analyses were performed using the statistical software IBM1 SPSS v 21.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The rate of increase in the number of accusations received by the prosecution offices during the period between 2000 and 2011 was determined using linear regression analysis. The significance of the differences in the distribution of rapes by age and the time elapsed between alleged rapes and forensic examination of victims was assessed by the Student's t-test. The analysis of the phase of the menstrual cycle in which the victims were at the rape moment was assessed by a Chi-square non-parametric test. The geographic distribution of rapes was assessed by Kolmogorov–Smirnov nonparametric test. The relationship between victims who bathe (or not) before the sample collection and semen recovery, and the relation between type perpetrator and use of physical violence were evaluated by one-way ANOVA, followed by a post-hoc analysis (Tukey HSD). The relation between type perpetrator and the local where rape occurred was evaluated by one-way ANOVA and a bivariate correlation, followed by a post-hoc analysis (Tukey
Fig. 1. Geographic scope of prosecution offices receiving crime reports in Costa Rica. Offices are located in: 1er Circuito Judicial de San José (1), 2d Circuito Judicial de San José (2), Desamparados (3), Hatillo (4), Pavas (5), Puriscal (6), Alajuela (7), Atenas (8), Grecia (9), San Ramón (10), Guatuso (11), Los Chiles (12), San Carlos (13), Upala (14), Cartago (15), La Unión (16), Tarrazú (17), Turrialba (18), Heredia (19), San Joaquín de Flores (20), Sarapiquí (21), Cañas (22), Liberia (23), Nicoya (24), Santa Cruz (25), Aguirre y Parrita (26), Cóbano (27), Garabito (28), Puntarenas (29), Coto Brus (30), Buenos Aires (31), Corredores (32), Golfito (33), Osa (34), Pérez Zeledón (35), Bribrí (36), Limón (37), Poccocí (38) and Siquirres (39). In the box at the bottom left is showed the division of Costa Rica in provinces: San José (SJ), Alajuela (AL), Heredia (HE), Cartago (CA), Guanacaste (GU), Puntarenas (PU) and Limón (LI). The Forensic Sciences Center is located in San Joaquín de Flores (20), which is marked in black in the box top right.
206
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
[(Fig._2)TD$IG]
[(Fig._3)TD$IG]
Fig. 2. Accusations received by the prosecution offices in Costa Rica, during the period between 2000 and 2011, which were classified as rape. Incidence is expressed as number of cases per year. The curve correspond to the equation y = 42.563 83852 (r2 = 0.5083). Primary records were obtained from databases of the Planning Office of the Judicial Research Agency.
24 h a day during the entire year. Territorial coverage of prosecution offices is shown in Fig. 1. After a rape has occurred, the victim(s) must seek for police’s help. If needed, the victim is headed to a hospital to receive medical care. Afterwards, the victim is taken to the prosecution office that has jurisdiction over the locality where the rape took place in order to report the aggression. Then, the victim is transferred to the Forensic Sciences Center for medical-legal evaluation, and for evidence collection. Alternatively, six Medical-Legal Units are distributed in the country to attend victims and collect evidence which is sent afterwards to the Forensic Sciences Center for analysis. According to the databases of the Judiciary's Planning Office, since the year 2000 the number of cases of rape has increased at a rate of 42 cases per year (Fig. 2), which corresponds to an increment of 0.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants each year. In 2011, 1786 rape cases were reported to prosecution offices throughout the country. Despite efforts to make the justice system accessible, only 1081 reports continued the process of being investigated by the Judicial Investigation Agency. The missing reports corresponded to cases in which the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, or because of the victim's refusal to continue the legal process. The sample used in this work was randomly extracted (without replacement) from the reports received by the Biochemistry Section of Science Forensic Department of the Judicial Investigation Agency. Our results show that the majority of the rapes occurred in the city of San José (the country's capital), but when adjusted by population, most of the provinces show incidences of around of 38 cases/100,000 inhabitants (Table 1). This includes provinces in the Central Valley with large urban centers (San José, Alajuela, Heredia
Fig. 3. Distribution of rapes by age. Data were collected from 259 records containing the requested information. *Most of the victims were between 10 and 19 years old (t = 30,223; df = 258; P 0.001).
and Cartago) and the coastal provinces (Puntarenas and Limón). The highest incidence was observed in Guanacaste, a province in the northwest of the country, which in addition has the lowest population. However, differences in the rape incidence between provinces were not significant (K S = 0.178; P = 0.200). Since it is difficult to access the Forensic Sciences Center for forensic evaluation and evidence recollection, an important underreporting masks the true magnitude of rape in all provinces of the country. We could not find the information necessary to dimensioning this underreport. However, based on the Simpson's estimation that between 10 and 25% of rapes are denounced [6], is likely that the number of rapes in Costa Rica reach between 6000 and 18,000 cases per year, in the last years. Underreport is particularly important in the case of Puntarenas and Guanacaste, which may have shown higher incidences if many victims initiating the complaint process at the corresponding prosecution office did not refuse to move to the Forensic Sciences Center to continue the process. Forty-seven cases (3 from San José, 5 from Cartago, 14 from Guanacaste, 17 from Puntarenas and 8 from Limón) were excluded from our sample for this reason. 3.2. Epidemiological issues In order to reduce re-victimization by forensic inquiries, victims were not forced to answer the full questionnaire during interview. Therefore, although our sample consisted on 272 records, not all of them provided information to calculate each variable studied in this work. Thereby, 96% of the victims were women (n = 272). Based on 259 reports, it was determined that most of the victims were between 10 and 19 years old (t = 30.223; df = 258; P 0.001; Fig. 3), with a mean age of 22 years old. On the other hand, more than
Table 2 Evaluation of rape risk as function of relationship with the perpetrator and the locale in which rape occurreda . Relationship of perpetrator with the victim
Close relative No close relative Acquaintance Stranger Sentimental partner TOTAL a
n = 267.
Local in which rape occurred Home of the victim
Public indoors or houses other than the victim's house
Public outdoors
13 9 29 11 18 80
5 9 43 13 9 79
0 3 38 64 3 108
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
[(Fig._4)TD$IG]
207
Two hundred sixty-seven records provided information on both the relationship of the perpetrator with the victim and the location where the rape occurred. Statistical analysis of these data indicates that there is a bivariate correlation (P = 0.179; P = 0.003). Additionally, there is a relationship between perpetrator type and local where rape is perpetrated (F = 8.861; df = 3; 263; P 0.001). Our results (Table 2) show that rapes perpetrated by strangers tend to occur in outdoor public areas (e.g., vacant lots, parks, street, etc) (P = 0.822) while rapes perpetrated by close relatives of the victim tend to occur inside the victim's home (P = 0.108). These conclusions are also supported by an ODD-ratio analysis (OR = 5.069; CI 95% = 2.388– 10.761). Both, the local where rape is perpetrated and the relationship between victim and aggressor, have incidences comparable to those found in other countries (Table 3). Although rape occurs in all socioeconomic strata, it is likely that the high class is underrepresented in our sample. Moreover, underreporting is likely to be higher in male than in female victims [16]. In addition, it is known that many rapes perpetrated by close relatives are not denounced. These and other causes of underreporting might affect the results obtained in this study.
Fig. 4. Time elapsed between alleged rapes and forensic examination of victims. Data were collected from 262 records containing the requested information. *Most of the victims presented their accusation in the 48 h following the rape (t = 2.946; df = 261; P = 0.004).
99.5% of violators were men (n = 272). In 85% of the cases, rape was perpetrated by a single aggressor (n = 266). In 33% of the cases, rape was perpetrated by strangers (n = 267; Table 2). Moreover, based on 262 reports it was determined that 88% of rapes were denounced within the first 48 h following the aggression (t = 2.946; df = 261; P = 0.004; Fig. 4). These results are similar to those found in countries like Australia, Canada, France, England, Denmark, Brazil, United States and Norway (Table 3).
3.3. Role of the menstrual cycle phase In 1998, experiments performed by Chavanne and Gallup suggested that, during ovulation, women decreased their exposition to high-rape risk activities [17]. Although this suggestion was supported by other researches [18], some evidence indicates that rape is not less frequent during the ovulation [19,20]. In any case, there is a consensus that the behaviors to avoid the risk of rape change over the menstrual cycle [21]. In our study, 188 records were used to study the relationship between the phase of the menstrual cycle and the incidence of
Table 3 Epidemiologic data of rapes as reported in several countries. Victim mean age (years)
Reporting time
Cases perpetrated by single aggressor (%)
Relationship of victim with the aggressor
Location where the raped was perpetrated
Drug or alcoholmediated rape (%)
Reference
100% before 72ha 100% before 72ha 100% before 72ha 42% before 72 h –
80
Strangers 39%
–
–
[7]
86
Acquaintances 62%, Strangers 15% Partner 3% –
–
17
[8]
–
21
[9]
85
Acquaintances 49% Strangers 51%
–
14
[10]
60
Acquaintances 29% Strangers 32% Casual 20% Partner 15% Acquaintances 30% Strangers 31% Casual 21% Partner 15% Acquaintances 31% Strangers 69%
–
30
[11]
Private 58% Public 42%
20
[12]
Private 21% Public 60%
–
[13]
Private 62% Public 38% Private 71% Public 29% Private 64% Public 35%
–
[3]
42
[14]
–
[15]
Country
Number of Percentage of participants female victims (%)
Denver (USA)
1076
96
25
Australia
434
95
26
Canada
882
96
26
France
418
86
22
England
676
94
26
Denmark
423
97
25
85% before 48 h
–
Brazil
687
100a
24
88
Colorado (USA) Michigan (USA) Norway
155
100a
24
88% before 72 h –
849
100a
22
–
88
185
100a
18–25
72% before 168 h
89
a
Data used as criteria for inclusion to the respective study.
–
82
Acquaintances 57% Strangers 43% Acquaintances 72% Strangers 28% Acquaintances 46% Strangers 22% Casual 17% Partner 12%
208
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209
rape. From the 84 records that were not included, 43 records corresponded to adult women that did not contain the requested information or to women whose menstrual cycle length was longer than 35 days. The remaining records were not used because they corresponded to male, children, and amenorrheic or menopausal female victims. Our results show that 48% of the victims were within the first 11 days of their menstrual cycle at the time of the attack, and that most of rapes (68%) occurred during the first half of the menstrual cycle (e.g., the follicular phase and ovulation), many of them during menstruation (x2 = 26.851; df = 5; P 0.001). In the subsequent weeks, rapes decrease and maintain the lower incidence in the last half of the menstrual cycle (Fig. 5). These results do not agree with those obtained by Chavanne and Gallup [17]. In contrast, our results indicate that rape is not less frequent during the ovulation, as indicated by Fessler [19] and Beirne et al. [20]. Chavanne and Gallup also suggested that the decrease of the exposition to high-rape risk activities is a natural reaction adopted by women, in order to prevent sexual assault [17]. However, our results show that only 29% of rapes occurred in circumstances that could be considered as highly risky, such as rapes perpetrated by strangers in public outdoor or indoor locations. On the other hand, 15% of rapes occurred in low-risk circumstances, such as rapes in the victim's home perpetrated by relatives or sentimental partners of the victims. Twenty-five percent of the rapes occurred in moderate-risk circumstances, such as in public indoor locations or at the home other than the victim's, by relatives, sentimental partners or acquaintances (n = 267; Table 2). The rest of the records corresponded to cases which occurred under other circumstances (e.g., rapes in the victim's home perpetrated by strangers, or rapes in public outdoor locations perpetrated by close relatives). Epidemiological differences observed between this study and other previous investigations should be analyzed with caution. Variables such as the self-reported data of the menstrual cycle by the victims, the characteristics of the studied groups and the methodologies applied [22] could explain the differences observed in this work as compared to others. For example, the studies published by Chavanne and Gallup and by Bröder and Hohmann were made by linking the activities performed by the participants along their menstrual cycle and a subjective classification of these activities according to their
[(Fig._5)TD$IG]
associated “rape risk”. However, none of the participants was raped while perform such activities [17,18]. In contrast, the study groups in our investigation and in the study published by Beirne et al. were constituted by women who actually were claiming to have suffered a rape [20]. On the other hand, the fact that 7 years were required by Beirne et al. to gather a number of cases which in Costa Rica could be recruited in little over a month, may reflect differences in the behavior of victims and aggressors between both study groups. However, for lack of a more complete description of circumstances of rapes occurring in Northern Ireland, it is hard to explain why our results indicate that rapes are more frequent during the first half of the menstrual cycle (Fig. 5), while in Northern Ireland it was found a non-statistically significant tendency of rapes to be more frequent during ovulation [20]. Since the number of participants in our analysis (188 women) is not very different to that in the studies of Chavanne and Gallup (300 women), Bröder and Hohmann (51 women) and Beirne et al. (105 women), it is unlikely that differences in conclusions reached by the different studies can be attributed to differences in the sample size [17–20]. In any case, more robust results could be obtained from larger groups of study. 3.4. Rapes perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner of the victim Several hypotheses have been formulated in order to explain what motivates rapists to commit rape [23]. A special case is when the perpetrator is the partner or ex-partner of the victim [24]. Based on 267 records containing information about the relationship between victims and perpetrators, it was calculated that 11% of the cases corresponded to this type of rape, most of which were perpetrated at the home of the victim (Table 2). Incidence of rapes perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner of the victim is similar to that found in countries such as England, Denmark and Norway (Table 3). Moreover, the use of physical aggression (in addition to the sexual aggression) was more frequent in rapes perpetrated by the partner or ex-partner of the victim, than rapes perpetrated by other aggressor types (F = 10.189; df = 4; 243; P 0.001). In our sample, 71% of the cases of rapes perpetrated by a partner or expartner of the victim were characterized by a high use of physical aggression (P = 1.0). This contrasts with the incidence of physical aggression in rapes perpetrated by other types of aggressors (P = 0.165), such as strangers (40%), acquaintances (18%) and relatives (19%). It is unlikely that rapes perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner of the victims were originated by sexual reasons, but it may correspond to a manifestation of a cycle of violence in the relationship [24]. 3.5. Drug or alcohol-mediated rape
Fig. 5. Phase of the menstrual cycle in which the victims were at the rape moment. Data were collected from 188 records containing the requested information. *Most of the victims were attacked during the first half of their menstrual cycle (x2 = 26.851; df = 5; P 0.001).
The occurrence of rapes facilitated by drugs or alcohol is an issue that has been previously studied [9,25,26]. In our sample, 259 records contained information required to study the incidence of drug or alcohol related rapes. Based on these records, it was calculated that 14% of rapes could be classified as “proactive drugfacilitated rapes”—i.e., rapes in which perpetrator administered to the victim an incapacitating or disinhibiting substance (e.g., drug and/or alcohol) in order to commit rape. On the other hand, 25% of rapes could be classified as “opportunistic drug-facilitated rapes”— i.e., rapes in which the victims are intoxicated by their own actions and to the point of being unable to defend for themselves. Sixty eight percent of records corresponded to cases in which rape was perpetrated without the use of drugs or alcohol. Incidence of drug or alcohol-mediated rapes is similar to that found in other countries (Table 3).
L. Cerdas et al. / Forensic Science International 242 (2014) 204–209 Table 4 Effect of the time elapsed between rape and collection of vaginal fluid samples, on the probability to recover semen and determine their genetic profilea . Time (h)
n
Semen (%)
Genetic profile (%)
0–24 25–48 49–72 >72
91 123 17 31
62 54 41 13
38 32 24 10
a
n = 262.
3.6. Detection of semen in the Forensic Laboratory As part of the forensic examination process, samples of anal smears or vaginal fluids were submitted to semen analysis by microscopic observation of spermatozoa and immunochromatographic detection of the p30 protein of the seminal plasma. Semen and genetic profile of spermatozoa were found in 55% and 33% of the samples, respectively. Factors decreasing the probability to detect semen are: (a) the use of a condom by the aggressor, which in our sample corresponds to 12% of the cases (n = 190), (b) the inability of the aggressor to ejaculate, or (c) ejaculation out of the victim's body. Moreover, the probability of finding semen is lower for victims who bathe before a sample collection is taken (35%), than for victims who do not bathe (66%) (F = 11.278; df = 2; 250; P 0.001). According to our results, the time elapsed between rape and collection of vaginal fluid samples reduces the probability to obtain genetic profiles from spermatozoa in the vaginal fluid samples (P 0.001). However, the tendency to reduce the probability to recover semen was not significant (P = 0.102; Table 4).
4. Conclusions Rape is a crime committed by several types of perpetrators who attack different types of victims under many different circumstances. Therefore, it is likely that this problem has a multifactorial origin. This must be considered in order to design adequate strategies needed to educate at-risk populations and improve the administration of the legal system of justice to the different conditions in which rape occurs. Projections based on previous years indicate that only 50% of the cases in our sample complete the judicial process. It is likely that in an environment in which the victim might feel helpless, bureaucratic complexities and the sluggishness of the process (approximately three years) are factors that discourage them to reach the end of the judicial process. While many of the victims are not presented in court, many others who attend the trial make use of the abstention right, which is especially important in cases where victim and perpetrator are sentimental partners or close relatives. In both cases, the process is closed with the absolutory of the suspected sex offender. On the other hand, in most of the cases that reach the end, the accused person will be convicted.
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