On the impact of DNA extraction procedure on the recovery of condom evidence.

On the international level, different protocols exist for sampling condom traces, similarly to DNA traces. Usually collected with cotton swabs, some protocols use nylon swabs, which were found more efficient for the desorption of DNA, because they offer a better desorption of the compounds during the extraction. In addition, not all the protocols do contain swabs for other evidence than DNA.

A preliminary investigation of underwear as a support for condom evidence in rape and sexual assault cases.

Condom lubricants have been found to be a new type of evidence to investigate and analyze in sexual assaults and rape cases. Casework studies highlighted two main types of trace evidence supports collected from the victim and send to forensic laboratories: cotton swabs and victims' underwear. If cotton swabs have been used in most of the recent published research papers, the underwear and the textile effects on the recovery of condom lubricants are under investigated although such studies are very important for the interpretation of the evidence, as highlighted in the Regina v.

A preliminary investigation of transfer of condom lubricants in the vaginal matrix.

Condom evidence has become in the past years a very relevant item of evidence in sexual assault or rape cases, being an objective help in the reconstruction of the activity. Traces recovered from a vaginal swab might help to identify whether a condom or other lubricants were used, and thereby possibly confirming or infirming allegations of the parties. However, the interpretation of condom traces can be challenging and requires a detailed understanding of various factors like condom lubricant chemical composition and occurrence on the market, transfer and persistence parameters and background.

The use of an optimized DRIFTS-FTIR method for the forensic analysis and classification of silicone condom lubricants.

Condom residues may be encountered in forensic investigations as traces left in sexual assault or rape cases. Considering casework samples analysis, where material from swabs will need to be extracted, Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) was reported as the most relevant method for trace evidence analysis. However, there has been no study to identify which specific parameters were the most suitable for the analysis of silicone-based lubricants, especially in terms of repeatability of the analyses.

Condom evidence: Characterisation, discrimination and classification of pyrolysis-GC-MS profiles.

Analysis of condom evidence commonly focusses on the detection of silicone-based lubricants, such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Although various instruments are used to analyse silicone lubricants, pyrolysis-gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (py-GC-MS) is one of the few instruments that presents immediate applicability to casework. However, considering that this technique detects silicone-based evidence, it is important to evaluate the discrimination potential of the method when applied to various samples.