Rape

RAPE (stuprum violentum), sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. The commission of sexual intercourse accompanied by the loss of physical potency is designated by the term defilement. Defilement becomes the subject of a forensic medical investigation only when it occurs under conditions of rape or is committed against a person who has not reached sexual maturity. In cases of rape and defilement, the forensic medical expert must first establish whether sexual intercourse or attempts at it have occurred; second, examine the circumstances under which the sexual intercourse was committed; third, determine the consequences of the forced sexual intercourse. Recognition of prior sexual intercourse is based on anatomical changes in the female genital organs, on proof of the presence of semen inside them, externally, or on underwear, and in some cases on the detection of venereal infection. In early childhood, the genital organs are so underdeveloped that insertion of the penis is impossible. The perpetrator of rape usually only presses the penis against the vaginal entrance or rubs the penis against the genital organs until ejaculation occurs. In such cases, no injuries to the hymen are found, but significant redness of the external genital organs may be detected; sometimes the child complains of pain during urination and walking. In older girls, approximately from 10 years of age, an attempt at insertion may succeed, and then tears are found at the edges of the hymen in one or more places. In an adult woman, an erect penis can be inserted into the vagina with the use of relatively little force. If a woman who has previously lost her virginity is raped, sexual intercourse may leave no changes in her genital organs. Then an attempt is made to determine whether there are signs of violence on the body. If sexual intercourse is committed with a virgin, the most important change in the genital organs is damage to the hymen. This consists more often of superficial, sometimes deep, tears extending to the base of the hymen, accompanied by bleeding and subsequent reactive inflammation. The degree of damage to the hymen depends on the size of the male and female genital parts, the resistance and shape of the hymen. The location and number of tears are determined by the shape of the hymen: thus, a hymen with labia is torn mostly at the lower bridge; a semilunar hymen at two symmetrical places on the concave edge; an annular hymen in several places. A torn hymen never heals completely to its original appearance; tears heal by second intention with the formation of delicate, sometimes barely noticeable scar tissue. The time of healing varies greatly, averaging about a week; everything depends on the size of the tear surface, i.e., the thickness of the hymen and the depth of the tears themselves, as well as subsequent reactive phenomena; healing of superficial, especially lateral, tears of a thin hymen may occur within 2-4 days; with more extensive damage to integrity and acute catarrh, the process may be delayed even for 10 days or more. (For possible injuries and scars of the hymen aside from sexual intercourse—see Hymen.) In addition to damage to the hymen during the first, especially forcible sexual intercourse, tears of the frenulum, labia, perineum, and ruptures of the vagina may occur, sometimes with fatal bleeding, especially in children. The determination of the presence of semen has great diagnostic value. It can be detected on the external genital parts and inside the genital organs, for which it is necessary to examine vaginal, sometimes uterine, mucus, as well as stains on underwear. The detection of venereal disease infection can sometimes serve to recognize prior sexual intercourse. Under English law, for the fact of rape to be recognized, insertion of the penis is sufficient regardless of whether ejaculation occurred. The Austrian criminal law even considers attempts at sexual intercourse as rape. The German law generally does not recognize rape of girls under 14 years of age, but speaks only of immoral acts with persons under 14 years of age. Under the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, sexual intercourse becomes an illegal act under the following circumstances (Articles 151 and 153 of the Criminal Code): 1) if a person is compelled to sexual intercourse by threats and intimidation; 2) by the use of physical violence, cunning and deception; 3) if sexual intercourse is committed by taking advantage of a helpless state; 4) with persons who have not reached sexual maturity; 5) by compelling a woman, who is materially or dependent in service, to sexual intercourse. In addition, if rape resulted in the suicide of the victim or was committed by several persons, the Criminal Code qualifies it as a more serious crime. By threats of violence or threats of harm to the person and their relatives, a woman can be brought into a state of mental shock and allows a sexual act to be performed with her. Discussion of these psychological factors falls within the competence of the court, but sometimes a physician may be asked to participate in assessing the extent of the threatened danger and to determine the psychological state of the woman. During sexual intercourse with the use of physical violence, violent acts may manifest in various forms: beatings, attempts at strangulation, wounds, etc. During the examination of the victim, traces of struggle in the form of bruises, abrasions, etc. may be found on the body. Sometimes the location of these is extremely characteristic, for example, injuries around the genital parts, on the inner surface of the thighs, abdomen. The accused must also be examined, as on his body, with serious resistance from the woman, various injuries (traces of bites, bruises, etc.) may be found. The question of whether a woman can be raped by one man cannot be resolved either affirmatively or negatively; it all depends on the physical strength of both and the circumstances under which the rape is committed. Finally, it should be noted that sometimes signs of simulated resistance and violence are artificially produced. Means of rendering unconscious include mechanical violence (for example, stunning by blows to the head) and narcotic substances: ether, chloroform, chloral hydrate, opium, morphine, ethyl bromide, alcohol, etc.; much less frequently—hypnosis. As for alcoholic beverages, in relation to adult women, they cannot be considered as means for rendering unconscious with the aim of rape, since one must assume that every adult woman is familiar with their taste, smell, and consequences of intoxication. In relation to children, alcohol can be placed alongside other narcotic substances. Much more common are cases where women in a helpless or unconscious state, into which they were brought without knowledge or without deliberate intent by the guilty party, are subjected to rape. This includes sexual intercourse with subjects who, although fully conscious, however, due to external factors, for example, accidental position or fixation of their body, paralysis, illness, weakness, could not offer proper resistance. This also includes cases of rape of women in a state of fainting, intoxication or anesthesia produced for other purposes, as well as sexual intercourse with the mentally ill. An attempt at rape may be made on a virgin sleeping soundly, but it cannot be assumed that the entire act could be accomplished unnoticed by her and without her awakening. Something similar may happen with married women, since the insertion of the penis does not cause pain, and a woman not fully awake may think that her husband is performing the sexual act. The defilement of girls who have not reached sexual maturity is punished more severely than ordinary rape. Sometimes the accused indicates that, based on the physical development of the victim, he was mistaken about her age. This question can be resolved on the basis of examining the girl according to known signs of physical development. The defilement of children represents a common form of illegal sexual intercourse, and victims of defilement are even infants. The consequences of rape may be caused both by the act of sexual intercourse itself and by the means used to commit it. These consequences may be: pregnancy, damage to the genital organs, inflammatory conditions of them caused by mechanical irritation, infection with venereal diseases, poisoning by narcotic substances, as well as nervous and mental disorders, for example, hysteria, especially if the raped person already had a predisposition to this disease. Rape may be accompanied by the death of the victim due to the methods used by the perpetrator with the aim of rape, from paralysis of the heart under the influence of affect and the resistance offered, specifically in subjects suffering from diseases of the lungs and heart, from shock, profuse bleeding, etc. Intentional murder of the raped person with the aim of concealing the crime or increasing sensual sensations (erotic murders) is also possible.