WITH THE CURRENT CLIMATE OF VIOLENT ATTACKS AGAINST WOMEN, children

and the elderly in their homes, the community looks to government to provide a better means of protection and detection. Increased police numbers are discussed on an annual basis and the lengths of sentences given to convicted persons draw significant space in the media. However, other agencies also have a role to play in the investigation of serious crime. Through the development of new techniques and information storage systems, the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Victoria is one such organisation assisting the criminal justice system. Although the incidence of reported sexual crime is approximately 1,000 per year (Victoria Police 1992) only about 350 cases per year are delivered to the SFSL for forensic examination. The large discrepancy in these figures is generally explained by a lack of evidence. The complainant may not report the incident for several days or longer for a variety of reasons. Bathing or washing, to rid the body or clothing of any connection to the assault, lessens the possibility of detecting biological material. In cases of incest, it may be many years between the offence and the report and often the scene of the attack is the offender's own bed. Additionally, the examination of exhibits in sexual crimes may not yield any semen despite rapid reporting to the authorities and a prompt medical examination. In such cases, the offender may have difficulty obtaining or maintaining an erection or be unable to ejaculate. Increased awareness of the potential probative value of semen may influence the offender to attempt to render it inaccessible to the scientist. Use of a condom, cleaning up the victim by washing, having the victim swallow the ejaculate following fellatio or simply not ejaculating are methods encountered