RESUMO
Examination of a person who has been a victim of a physical or sexual assault may be very important for upcoming legal proceedings. In the context of a clinical forensic examination, physical findings are recorded and biological trace material is gathered and secured. Ideally, all forensic findings are documented in a detailed report combined with photographic documentation, which employs a forensic scale to depict the size of the injuries. However, the integrity of such forensic findings depends particularly on two factors. First, the examination needs to be conducted professionally to ensure that the findings are properly admissible as court evidence. Second, the examination should take place as soon as possible because the opportunity to successfully secure biological samples declines rapidly with time. Access to low-threshold clinical forensic examinations is not evenly provided in all member states of the European Union (EU); in some states, they are not available at all. As part of the JUSTeU! (Juridical standards for clinical forensic examinations of victims of violence in Europe) project, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical Forensic Imaging in Graz, Austria created (in cooperation with its international partner consortium) a questionnaire: the purpose was to collect information about support for victims of physical and/or sexual assault in obtaining a low-threshold clinical forensic examination in various countries of the EU. Our paper provides a summary of the responses and an overview of the current situation concerning provided clinical forensic services.
RESUMO
Clinical forensic imaging encompasses the diverse application of imaging procedures that serve the same purpose: to enable the analysis and investigation of criminal activities and consequences of a crime. All kinds of imaging techniques and their corresponding images can be subsumed under "forensigraphy", a more comprehensive term for forensic imaging created by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical Forensic Imaging in Graz, Austria. As the word forensigraphy suggests, criminal imaging material should be of use in forensic investigations. Ideally, this can lead to new findings that would not have been revealed without the application of imaging techniques and are moreover admissible as evidence in criminal proceedings. However, the admissibility of evidence can only be facilitated through the implementation of clinical forensic imaging techniques into the forensic routine case work, which requires a precise pre-analysis of the corresponding legal framework. Because taking and displaying internal images of a person's body touches upon various aspects of one's physical and psychological integrity, imaging methods in general and clinical forensic imaging methods especially have a strong impact on and interfere regularly with the fundamental rights of the concerned person. Particularly with regard to a possible medical context, certain legal regulations have to be taken into account. Therefore, this paper examines forensic imaging in the field of radiological forensigraphy, specifically its in vivo (i.e. clinical) application. It is designed to enlighten readers as to the great significance of legal barriers that emerge from fundamental rights, as laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), when dealing with clinical forensic imaging. As a result, the legal framework of clinical forensic imaging procedures are comprehensively described, the relevant fundamental rights, especially the right to respect for private and family life, the right to data protection and certain procedural guarantees, are concisely presented to further raise awareness regarding the importance of fundamental rights.
