Clinical legal medicine and toxicology in sexual assaults

It is important for forensic centres to be appropriately accredited and to use cutting-edge technology and scientific knowledge for the benefit of their clients. This is a new phase for technology, science, medicine and justice. Daily clinical forensic practice needs to be more specific and clear in adopting objective criteria, especially considering human rights violations. In today’s technologically and scientifically advanced world, justice needs to be supported much more by qualified, standardized expertise. Clinical forensic examination includes systematic documentation of physical injuries and sampling of biological evidence for legal purposes. Clinical evaluation and reporting should be submitted to the clinician by an authorized clinical legal medicine specialist and/or competent forensic scientist, fully responsible for the results and the advice provided. Forensic experts should be independent-should only use scientific knowledge and nothing else through the standardization/accreditation of their works and quality assurance, as noted by all international regulations. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2017