[Extragenital injuries in rape].

The documentation of extragenital injuries to verify violent cohabitation has considerable forensic relevance. 1,875 police files in Hamburg were investigated. Injuries were analysed under the following aspects: kinds, localisations and patterns. According to the most frequent conduct of the doer (manual fixation of the victim and beats in 60% of all cases), consequences of contused violence (i.e. effusions of blood, contusions, dehiscences) were found in 50% of all cases. Injuries due to semi-sharp violence, wounds of genitals or signs of choke were relatively rare (15-3-3%). An isolated state of genital organs is of minor importance. The most frequent localisations of injuries were face and arms, less frequently legs and back. Injuries as result of manual fixation, defence or abutment formed the main patterns. "Banal" hurts were also found. In numerous cases, the outer appearance of the lesions enabled conclusions regarding the instrument used (i.e. double wales after beats with a stick). Self-inflicted injuries can mostly be discerned by their kind and localisation. Rape without any injuries is conceivable as the result of missing defence in the presence of severe threat. Psychic alterations were found in 20% of the cases, half of them continuing for a long time. The medical examination of the suspected man must include the search of signs of a fight (scratch marks, bites), localised at the hands, face and neck (besides ascertainment of traces, for example, smears of semen and smegma, i.e. from the glans penis). Extent and thoroughness of medical examinations as presently practised are discussed critically. The manner in which these examinations are conducted, is considered to be the main cause of a "secondary victimisation" of the raped woman.