Universität zu Köln

Janssen, Katharina, Greif, Dominik, Rothschild, Markus A. and Banaschak, Sibylle ORCID: 0000-0002-1413-1250 (2017). Relevance of medical reports in criminal investigations of cases of suspected child abuse. Int. J. Legal Med., 131 (4). S. 1055 - 1060. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1437-1596

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Abstract

If a case of physical child abuse is suspected in Germany, the general feeling is often that it does not matter whether you make a report or not because, generally, no conviction is made anyway. This study investigates the juridical analysis of complaint cases of physical child abuse [criminal complaint parag. 225 StGB (German penal code) with filial victim]. It focuses on the doctor's role and the impact of their practice in relation to a later conviction. It is based on the analysis of 302 files of the enquiry from 2004-2009 from the department of public prosecution in Cologne, Germany. Besides general epidemiological data on the reporting person, the affected child and the presumed offender, the documents were reassessed for the relevance of medical reports for successful convictions. Only 7% (n = 21) of 302 complaints led to a conviction. In 38.1% (n = 8) of those cases, a medical report was mentioned as a piece of evidence, and just in two cases a (legal) medical report was quoted and mentioned as relevant for the conviction. 50% of the complaint cases with legal medical expertise led to a trial. In contrast, only 30.2% with a common medical report and 7.3% without a report led to a trial. The results show how a medical report existed in only a few cases. In those cases, the rate of performed trials was higher than for those without a medical report, but the report played a minor part when reasoning a verdict.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Janssen, Katharina UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Greif, Dominik UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Rothschild, Markus A. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Banaschak, Sibylle UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-1413-1250 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-225996
DOI:	10.1007/s00414-017-1533-6
Journal or Publication Title:	Int. J. Legal Med.
Volume:	131
Number:	4
Page Range:	S. 1055 - 1060
Date:	2017
Publisher:	SPRINGER
Place of Publication:	NEW YORK
ISSN:	1437-1596
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language RISK-FACTORS; CONSEQUENCES Multiple languages Medicine, Legal Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/22599