NCJ Number
183934
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2000 Pages: 568-572
Date Published
May 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes three false sexual assaults in which clothing damage analysis assisted in resolving the case.
Abstract
Damage to textiles, most often clothing, may provide valuable evidence in serious crimes of violence such as homicide and rape. Characteristics of the damage may provide information as to the possible implement which caused the damage, the manner in which it was caused and whether it was “recent.” Damage analysis may corroborate or disprove a particular crime scenario. In the first of the three cases discussed in this article, analysis of a T-shirt allegedly torn during a sexual assault disclosed that the shirt had actually been cut with a pair of moderately blunt scissors; the woman had filed a false report of assault in order to gain attention from her boyfriend. The second case was also proven to be a false report when it was determined that knife slashes through pieces of the complainant’s clothing could not have been made in the way she described the incident. In the third case, damage analysis revealed that the complainant’s shirt had been cut with scissors and her trouser seams had been cut before they were ripped open. Here, too, it was ultimately determined that the report of assault was false. Figures, references