Manuel Garrido García¹, MARIA DOLORES PEREZ CARCELES², EDUARDO JAVIER OSUNA CARRILLO-ALBORNOZ², Isabel Legaz Pérez³

(1) Departamento de ciencias Sociosanitarias. Area de Medicina Legal y Forense. Grupo de investigacion E008-06 ; Medicina Legal y Toxicología, 30001, España (Región de Murcia)
(2) MEDICINA LEGAL Y FORENSE. LEGISLACION SANITARIA, IMIB-Arrixaca, España
(3) INMUNOLOGÍA E INMUNOTOLERANCIA EN TRASPLANTES Y ENFERMEDADES DE BASE INMUNOLÓGICA, IMIB-Arrixaca, España

Chemical submission (CS) is a form of violence associated with criminal practices, especially sexual aggression, robbery, and property crime. Drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) and drug-facilitated crime (DFC) constitute a mode of violence that is generally unknown to the population and may go unnoticed by health professionals. The aim was to analyze cases of DFSA and DFC, compiling the victim’s sociodemographic characteristics, the toxins used, biological matrices and mode of action.

This systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines.

A total of 33 studies were analyzed and classified into DFSA and DFC. Alcohol, benzodiazepines and cocaine were among the most commonly detected substances in both cases. In most of the hospitals to which the victims were admitted, immunoassays, liquid chromatography (LC-MS), or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were performed. In this context, it is important to use sensitive and reliable techniques, which avoid negative results and do not lead to the destruction of samples. The most frequently used biological matrices were blood and urine.

From the judicial point of view, optimal instrumental protocols and techniques must be used for the detection of toxics in different biological matrices. They must guarantee the reliability and validity of the results, facilitate diagnosis and make the results acceptable in a court of law. It goes without saying that it is necessary to follow the recommendations that international organizations have made and appeal to states to strengthen their respective national laws against the phenomenon of CS, particularly in the area of sexual crimes.