The current study examines judicial discourse about BDSM activities within decisions rendered in Canada during the past 20 years. A recent uprise in popular culture representation has resulted in a greater uptake of Bondage / Discipline / Dominance / Submission / Sadism / Masochism (BDSM) in the sexual lives of Canadians. Little research to date has been completed to analyze the implications that the uprise may have on the legal system when BDSM cases are presented. In particular, the legal system is being tasked with interpreting many different consent standards through the narrow affirmative-based definition found under Section 273.1 (1). The current study employed a qualitative analysis of all Canadian criminal court cases and appeals available in legal software that dealt with the issues of consent and BDSM (n=23) over a 20-year time frame. The study found that judges must interpret 4 different types of consent found within sexual relationships: affirmative consent, advanced consent to unconscious acts, consent to bodily harm and mistaken consent. Finally, the current study found that the way judges interpreted BDSM consent standards reflects a wider shift in governance from legal moralist thinking to a neoliberal paternalist governance.

The response of community members and public institutions to the crimes of rape and sexual assault have been, historically, disappointing. Victims have felt forced into silence, ashamed to speak out about their experiences. More recently, with the rise of social media use and the #me-too movement, attention and interest has been garnered for this unique class of crimes and victims. It has been discovered that victims of sexual assault who report their assault to community members, police investigators, and health care workers are at risk of secondary victimization. This is a series of attitudes, behaviors, and practices that retraumatizes, shames, and blames victims of sexual assault. These behaviors contribute to increased levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, shame, self-blame, lack of perpetrator prosecution, and more. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the causes and effects of secondary victimization, its extent and prevalence, specifically how young adult females were affected by this issue, and any potential programs or solutions that may reduce or limit secondary victimization. This aim was achieved by reviewing and synthesizing thirty-two research articles related to issues of women's health, secondary victimization, and sexual assault or rape. Several programs were found to show promise for reducing this phenomenon, including sexual assault nurse examiner programs, victim advocates, professional counseling, and improving the education of police investigators and others involved in interactions with sexual assault victims.

Sexual assault investigations utilize both physical and biological evidence to aid in the investigation. Physical evidence may include fingerprints, hair, fibers, stains, soil, and glass. Biological evidence may include semen, saliva, vaginal secretions, menstrual blood, and skin. Semen, often found in small or trace quantities, is of great importance when trying to identify the perpetrator. From the semen sample, DNA profiles using autosomal short tandem repeats (aSTRs) (gold standard in forensic science) or Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) can be obtained and can be used to identify a perpetrator through comparison to suspect reference samples or by searching the profile against a DNA database (CODIS). Obtaining DNA profiles can be challenging when assaults are reported many days after the incident. The amount of semen will decrease as the time frame increases due to various factors such as drainage from the vagina. To potentially overcome this obstacle and improve the recovery of profiles from extended interval samples, it may be possible to develop novel collection and analysis methods using individual or few sperm cells. Small quantities of sperm cells may still be present in extended interval samples that may otherwise fail to provide a DNA profile using conventional methods. The work presented here focuses on the development of these novel analysis methods using micromanipulation techniques and enhanced amplification strategies for the analysis of individual sperm cells to determine if a full DNA profile is present. The developed methods will be applied to the analysis of extended interval post coital samples.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.