Ten years ago, the National Board of Forensic Medicine performed a total of 6,638 forensic certificates, including both those based on physical examinations performed by specialist forensic doctors and forensic certificates in the form of opinions on medical records from the ordinary health care system.

Since then, the number of court certificates has decreased by a third, to 4505 last year.

With regard to the physical examinations, which are included in the total number of forensic certificates, they have almost halved since 2008 when the National Board of Forensic Medicine performed 2885 physical examinations, compared with 1,500 last year.

- This is because the police to a lesser extent order court certificates from us, says Elias Palm.

Uses patient records

It is the preliminary investigation leader in a criminal investigation, either a prosecutor or the police, who decides whether a legal certificate should be requested.

But it is the police who order the court certificates.

The police authority states to SVT Nyheter that they have not analyzed the reason for the reduction in the number of court certificates, but that a theory may be that they do not collect court certificates routinely as they did before.

A review conducted by the State Treasury in 2018 shows that it has become more common for the police's preliminary investigation leader to only use patient records as injury documentation.

- There is no guarantee that it will result in a good forensic certificate, says Elias Palm, who explains that the forensic doctor's purpose with the examination of a person exposed to violence is to map and document the injuries and understand how they arose.

This also includes examination of places that a treating doctor does not usually examine, such as the oral cavity or behind the ears, which can reveal typical signs that the person has been subjected to violence.

Implications for legal certainty

Violence in close relationships affects thousands of women every year.

So far this year, almost 9,000 women have reported violence from a close relative to the police, according to BRÅ's latest figures.

It is a type of crime where witnesses are often missing and court certificates are therefore important evidence.

But legal certificates are not only important when it comes to detecting, investigating and prosecuting for crimes but also to be able to rule out that a crime has been committed, according to Elias Palm.

Lack of legal certainty is the ultimate consequence.

It is important that everyone who works with violent crime understands that we can do these investigations and that they can lift a preliminary investigation.