Decisão judicial processo-crime de abuso sexual de crianças

Abstract

The use of forensic psychology, in particular psychological evaluation by the courts, is an expanding reality. The requests have increased, most probably, thanks to the greater social visibility and social awareness, such as sexual abuse. So this study aims primarily, understand the importance assigned to the work of forensic psychologists as experts and formulators of forensic psychological expertise in cases of sexual abuse of minors, by the judges during the process of decision making. The sample consists of seven judges (2 female and 5 male) with different professional experiences in the area of family and crime. The methodology was qualitative, which by their assumptions met the requisites needed in this case, access to the meanings and perceptions of interviewees in relation to the theme. For the content analysis we used the Grounded Theory, essential in codification and interpretation of data collected. In this interpretation, it was noticed that in general, judges value the forensic psychological expertise and give favorable consideration, on their contribution in decision making. However, the limitation appears in the complementarity, which they must have, with the medical legal expertise. It appears that it’s still difficult to attribute to the forensic psychological expertise the responsibility that she deserve mainly in cases of sexual abuse in minors within the family, by the dynamics are difficult to detect.

Date of Award	Jul 2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Matos (Supervisor) & Catarina Ribeiro (Co-Supervisor)