Sexual violence against children and vulnerability.

Objective: To analyze the demographic and epidemiological profile of children and adolescents victims of sexual violence treated in a Unit of Forensic Medicine and the relationship between victims and perpetrators.

Methods: A descriptive study, with data collection from information gathered from sex abuse reports performed in 2009 on victims of sexual violence aged less than 18 years. The data collection tool was a form filled out with demographic information about the victim - gender and age - and information regarding the sexual violence -, location of the occurrence, time elapsed between abuse and expert report, complaints reported, sexological examination findings, description of lesions outside the genital region, and aggressor's relationship to victim.