Conclusions: Medicine, Morality and the Law

Abstract

The nineteenth century was a period of important change in medical knowledge and practice. Forensic medicine developed as a profession in the Victorian period and established an increasingly coherent body of knowledge, which included the legal aspects of sexual crime. Science carried some weight on the witness stand, where practitioners of sexual forensics testified on the legal implications of a complainant’s physical and mental signs in the aftermath of an alleged sexual crime. Medical witnesses needed to consider all possible meanings of a sign in order to identify whether it held legal relevance. Sexual forensics therefore dealt with subjects that were outside the remit of most witness testimony, ranging from a complainant’s general physical maturity to her (and sometimes his) chastity.