Table 3.

Relationship between Victim’s Injury and Criminal Justice Outcomes

Citation	Sample, Sample Size, Country of Origin, and Date of Cases	Classification of Injury	Source of Injury Data	Case Outcome	Findings	Criminal Justice Stage
Campbell et al., 2009,	Adult sexual assault cases that were treated in the focal SANE program, N = 137; USA: 9/99 to 12/05	Bruising (physical and/or ano-genital) Abrasions (physical and/or ano-genital) Redness (physical and/or ano-genital) Tears (physical and/or ano-genital)	SANE records (complete forensic exam)	Four: 1) Not referred by police for prosecution 2) referred to the prosecutor but not warranted for prosecution 3) warranted by the prosecution but later dropped or acquitted 4) guilty plea or conviction	Ano-genital or physical redness associated with a greater odds of higher-level prosecutorial outcome. Abrasions, tears, and bruises not associated with case progression through criminal justice system due, at least partly, because of their low rates.	SENTENCING Convicted/plead
Frazier & Haney, 1996	All cases of criminal sexual conduct-rape, N = 861; USA: 1991	Victim sustained injuries (e.g., cuts, bruises); assumed to be: Yes = 1, No = 0	Police records	Five: 1) whether a suspect was identified 2) where a suspect was questioned by police 3) whether the case was referred to the prosecuting attorney 4) where a suspect was charged 5) where a suspect was convicted and sentenced	Identified suspects more likely to be questioned when the victim was injured; referred suspects more likely to be charged if the victim was injured	INVESTIGATION: QUESTIONING Police’s decision to question suspect CHARGING Prosecutor’s decision to file charges
Jewkes et al., 2009	Attempted and completed rape cases reported to 70 randomly selected police stations, N = 2068; South Africa, 1/03- 12/03 and which had been closed by the police at the time of data collection in 2006	Four-level injury variable: 1) No injury 2) Non-genital (or anal) injury only (incised wounds, lacerations, grazes, bruises, areas of tenderness that include whole body except ano- genital region) 3) Genital injury with a skin break only (incised wound, scratch, abrasion; was seen, or if there was scarring from indicator of greater severity of injury 4) non-genital and genital injuries with a skin break	Police dockets which included findings of the medical examination documented by medical examiner, and other reports from the Forensic Science Laboratory	Three: 1) being an arrest, 2) having a trial commence (among those arrested and asked to appear in court 3) being found guilty (among those going to trial)	Injuries in adults did not appear to have any influence over arrests; in adults, genital injuries were more prevalent in cases where there was a conviction; no statistically significant association between presence of injury and where the suspect was arrested in adult cases (models not shown). Finding injuries was not associated with case progression to trial. However, having non- genital or genital injury, and having both, were strongly associated with conviction.	CONVICTION
Kingsnorth et al., 1999	Adult sexual assault cases through court system in Sacramento County form prosecutorial intake through sentencing disposition, N = 467; USA, 1992-1994 cases, all cases achieved final disposition by July 1, 1996	Degree of injury to victim (for which a photographic record often exists) (0=no injury, 1 – non- severe bruises, 2 = severe bruises/lacerations)	Crime reports	Four: 1) decision to fully prosecute 2) trial versus plea 3) prison versus no prison 4) sentence in length of months	Degree of injury to victim increases the odds that the prosecutor will decide to proceed with full prosecution. Degree of injury to victim in non- stranger cases increases the odds that the prosecutor will decide to proceed with full prosecution (not significant in stranger cases). Degree of injury played a significant role in prosecutor’s decision to fully prosecute non-stranger cases but not stranger cases. Degree of injury to victim not significant in decision to go to trial (versus plea), decision to go to trial in stranger or non-stranger cases, prison sentence versus non-prison sentence, or length of prison term; note that power is substantially lower than other analyses in paper because of statistical method chosen	PROSECUTION Prosecutor’s decision to fully prosecute
McGregor et al., 2002	Chart review of police-reported adult sexual assault cases handled by the Women’s Sexual Assault Service for which a police report had been filed, N = 462; Canada, January 1993- December 1997	Clinical injury extent score 0 = no injury, 1= mild injury, 2 = moderate injury, 3=severe injury Combines internal (e.g., genitalia) and external (bruising to head or neck)	Charts and medicolegal reports	Charge filing (yes/no) and conviction (yes/no)	A gradient association was found for injury extent score and charges being filed. Injury extent score defined as severe was the only variable significantly associated with conviction	CHARGING/ LAYING OF CHARGES CONVICTION Prosecutor’s decision to file charges
McGregor et al., 1999	Charts and medicolegal reports of all case of sexual assault handled by the Women’s Sexual Assault Service for which a police report had been filed, N = 95; Canada, 1992	Genital injury none, injury, excluding tenderness, genital tenderness only, data missing Clinical injury score 0 = no injury, 1= mild injury, 2 = moderate injury, 3=severe injury; in models coded 0 = no/mild injury and 1 = moderate/severe injury Combines internal (e.g., genitalia) and external (e.g., bruising to head or neck)	Charts and medicolegal reports	Laying of charges	Presence of genital injury, excluding tenderness was not significantly associated with laying of charges and dropped from model. The presence of documented moderate/severe injury significantly increased probability of laying of charges by prosecutor.	LAYING OF CHARGES Prosecutor’s decision to file charges
Penttilä & Karhumen, 1990	Medicolegale reports of alleged sexual offenses (mostly rape) cases received by the criminal police, N = 249; Finland, 1981-1987	Injuries classified according to region of the body (head, neck, trunk, upper extremities, lower extremities, thighs/buttocks, and sexual organs) and degree of severity.. Major injuries comprised of several or numerous superficial bruises, scratches, abrasion, lacerations and/or tumescence of large areas in the mentioned regions of body. Other injuries were classified as minor.	Mediolegal reports	Sentence (imprisonment or fine)/length of imprisonment in four categories of number of years	The results show that in cases leading to imprisonment there were significantly more victims with severe injuries than in other categories (N = 12 severe injuries/imprisonment compared to N = 0 severe/fine)(N = 26 minor injuries/imprisonment compared to N = 0 minor/fine)(N = 2 no injuries/imprisonment compared to N= 1 no injuries/fine). Years in imprisonment > 2.5 N = 3 severe injuries, N = 3 minor injuries, N = 0 no injuries) The presence of severe injuries correlated more significantly with imprisonment and its length.	SENTENCING and LENGTH OF SENTENCE
Rambow et al., 1992	Female sexual assault victims, N =182; USA, 1983	Trauma defined as minor injury (e.g., abrasions, contusions, minor lacerations or vaginal or perineal injuries (e.g., small lacerations, contusions, and abrasions)	Medical records from examination	Prosecution (successful or unsuccessful)	Trauma is significantly associated with a successful prosecution. The injuries associated with conviction were multiple contusions and abrasions, human bites, lacerations of the perineum, lacerations/puncture wounds of the extremities, burns, and depressed skill fracture with severe head injury. The presence or absence of trauma appeared to be the major predictor of significance.	PROSECUTION Successful prosecution
Spears & Spohn, 1997	All complaints of sexual offenses received by police, N = 1046; USA, 1989	Injury other than rape to the victim (Yes = 1, No = 0)	Police records	Prosecutor’s decision to file charges or not	Victim injured was not statistically significant in predicting prosecutor’s decision to charge	CHARGING Prosecutor’s decision to file charges
Spohn et al., 2001	All sexual battery cases involving victims over the age of 12 that were cleared by arrest in 1997, N = 140; USA, 1997	Whether victim suffered collateral injuries such as bruises, cuts, burns, or internal injures (Yes = 1, No = 0)	Police records	Prosecutor’s decision to prosecute or not	Prosecutors more likely to prosecute if victim suffered some type of collateral injury	PROSECUTOR Prosecutor’s decision to prosecute
Spohn & Holleran, 2001	Sexual assaults that resulted in arrest, N = 526; USA, 1996-1998 in one location, 1997 in the other	Victim suffered collateral injuries, such as bruises, cuts, burns, or internal injuries (Yes = 1, No = 0)	Police case files	Prosecutor’s decision to file charges or not	Presence of injury increased probability prosecutor filed charges involving PARTNER (not significant for stranger or acquaintance).	CHARGING Prosecutor’s decision to file charges
Wiley et al., 2003	All female patients aged 15 or older with reported of sexual assault at an urban emergency department, N=888; USA, 1/98-9/99	Trauma on the body or ano-genital area was categorized as either bruise/abrasion, laceration, or radiologically defined as intracranial injury or bone fracture. Two dummy variables: Ano-genital trauma = 1/no = 0; General trauma = 1/no = 0	Emergency department records	A legal outcome indicated that the patient had a case that proceeded through the prosecutor’s office. Five verdicts: 1) plea, 2) guilty, 3) acquitted, 4) dismissed, 5) declined	Ano-genital trauma was significantly associated with legal outcome whereas body trauma was not. No mention of relationship between trauma and any of the five verdicts	CHARGING Prosecutor’s decision to file charges