Influenza della consulenza medico-legale sulla decisione del giudice in caso di abuso sessuale su minori

The medico-legal assessment of child sexual abuse is affected by main limits concerning the significance of lesions observed during the clinical analysis and their concordance with possible sexual abuse. With time new epidemiological data have progressively increased the aspecific signs and reduced the group of clear signs for abuse. This study shows results concerning the role of the medico-legal expertise on the judicial outcome of cases of child sexual abuse which were treated by the authors between 1996 and 2003. The medico-legal assessment proved to be often crucial for the judge in forming his or her conclusions; finding lesions even only aspecifically suspicious for child abuse leads to an increase in percentage of conviction sentences. This result highlights the importance of the medico-legal assessment and the need for continuous updating of methods of clinical analysis