From a medico-legal and public health perspective, incidents of sexual violence are becoming an increasing problem. The literature highlights how alcohol is frequently involved in cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault, including opportunistic cases linked to voluntary consumption by victims in social and recreational settings rather than covert administration. Alcohol plays a particularly significant role, as its consumption can impair alertness, ability to resist, memory of the event, and the quality of the account; in a forensic context, all this information is essential for gathering a detailed account and for the subsequent interpretation of the evidence for the purpose of the analysis. A total of 161 cases, from various laboratories across Italy, were analysed. The average age of the victims was around 27.5 years. On average, there was a delay of 33.8 hours between the incident of violence and the victim’s arrival at the hospital. The episodes occurred predominantly at night (57.4%) and most often in someone else’s house (27.5%). In the majority of cases, the assailant was acting alone (88.2%) and was more frequently identified as someone known to the victim (41.3%) rather than a stranger (38.7%). More specifically, the analysis of associations showed that alcohol consumption leads to a reduced ability to recall the incident. Among women who had been drinking, the percentage of those with a complete recollection was lower than among victims who reported not having consumed alcohol (46.5% vs. 81.6%). Consequently, there was a higher percentage of partial recall and complete lack of recall among victims who reported having drunk alcohol. Furthermore, according to statistics from the multicentre study, alcohol is associated with a higher frequency of assault at night, with 77.9% compared to 36,6% among non-drinking victims. Our study reinforces the view that alcohol influences not only the context of the assault but also the victims’ vulnerability and the subsequent quality of their testimony.

Authors

• Beatrice Marcante (Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Italy)
• Matteo Fabbri (Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, Italy)
• Emiliano Giardina (Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Tor Vergata University, Italy)
• Sarah Gino (Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy)
• Martina Onofri (Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Italy)
• Carlo Previderè (Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy)
• Carlo Robino (Department of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics, University of Turin, Italy)
• Andrea Verzeletti (Institute of Legal Medicine of Brescia, University of Brescia, Italy)
• Luciana Caenazzo (Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Italy)