Estimations of risk of victims of gender-based violence operate at half-throttle | Society

Estimations of risk of victims of gender-based violence operate at half-throttle | Society



"I have been here since December 30, 2004 and they have never asked us an assessment of the risk as such". Tells Cristina Pozo, psychologist of the unit valuation forensic Integral (UVFI) of Ciudad Real. Law of comprehensive protective measures against gender violence, from 2004, recommended the establishment of these offices, designed to better analyze the potential risk of women who denounced violence against women with the help of specialists. But 14 years later are not implemented in all provinces, or work in a uniform manner in which there are. Workers in these units, forensic and tax alerts that are missing media, funding, coordination and training despite their importance.

on 25 September Maguette Mbeugou died at the hands of her husband. The President of the Tribunal Superior of Justice of the Basque country, Juan Luis Ibarra, apologised after that case. And he referred to the saturation, which seems a constant, as one of the reasons why justice "not performed well". The judge denied the protection ordered the murdered because he could not count to do so with an expert report of the risk; nor nor with a forensic report by urgency, nor with the help integral evaluation unit, that grants cites several months by the workload, according to Ibarra.

in Castellón, the same day a father killed allegedly their daughters. Unique risk assessment in which the judge who refused to give protection claimed by the mother was based was made the national police, who described the risk as low. The police reports questionnaire are often the only tools that have the courts to decide, despite the fact that already the 2004 Standard included the option to analyze the situation from several areas on these forensic units physical, psychological, emotional and social victims of gender violence. A police work which, moreover, is focused exclusively on the victim. Octavio Salazar, gender expert jurist, says it: "Are not taken into account criteria regarding the offender, how is valued the risk as well?". Difficult. And add another stick to this shirt: "not worth a College, that does not provide or made to work with a crime in which enter emotional, relational, dimensions of power...".

the recommendation of creating these forensic units was included in the law, but in an ambiguous form. A common set of rules was not designed nor is made clear the structure nor the development of functions. In the available additional second of that standard only said "designing protocols for global and comprehensive action in cases of gender-based violence". Thus they began to create teams that were incorporated professionals in forensic medicine, social work and Psychology under the umbrella of the institutes of legal medicine (IML).

this lack of precision has favored, for example, that do not exist in all provinces - in Madrid even has been even an Institute. And although there is a common protocol from 2011, does not apply in a uniform way. The General State Prosecutor's Office, in its memory of 2018, warns that its use is still very low: "have been issued only 175 reports in accordance with the Protocol, 109 fewer than in the previous year and, clearly, insufficient and insignificant if it is in" It has the number of requests in which its use might have been useful."

competencies transferred

"implementation of the units has been irregular for the development of the transfer of competencies in the field of Justice", delves Rafael M. Bañón, President of the technical Scientific Committee of the Council Coroner and director of the IML from Murcia. The institutes are part of such transfers and in each community we have developed differently and with different budgets.

from the Ministry of Justice point with only performance capacity in the communities where the powers are not transferred (Castilla - La Mancha, Castile and León, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands and Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla). Banon adds that in some cases the units are composed of officials; in others by external workforce. There are even some "exist on paper, but do not have a specific performance".

"we work to salto de mata", sums up Isabel Herrera, a social worker from 2008 unit of Ciudad Real. Along with the psychologist Cristina Pozo, they realized some of these shortcomings. Failure from the cardboard box that used to put the printer until the "drawbacks" that put them to acquire specialized publications. Three months ago they shared an office between four, room for interviewing minors is decorated with drawings and dolls they carried home and for a time were located next to a court on duty of which a plasterboard wall separating them. "If we were working and a detainee giving voices came, we had to endure, we were with a minor, a woman victim of gender violence or making reports", explains.

the prosecution claims again and again the implementation of units throughout the territory with reports produced jointly by professionals that compose it in the criminal and civil procedures and who have the ability to cater to all the courts.

laura Asensi is Associate Professor at the University of Alicante and psychologist clinical and forensic, and not part of the UVFI of his province, but issues reports when you touch him through the official list of the College of psychologists of which the courts are served. "Why? No idea", says. "I also understand that having a unit for this purpose. What I realize is that judges do not rely much on this service."

"when I talk to colleagues, most say not all reports which should be requested. Not only of injury, but risk assessment", confirms Eugenia Prendes, the fiscal representative of gender-based violence in Asturias.

the representative of the Government to gender violence, Pilar Llop, insists on the need to use the legal instruments that have been created years: "the General Council of the judiciary (CGPJ) will have to take on the challenge to publicize its existence there "where there are and promote coordination among the various agencies". And makes reference to the Pact of State against domestic violence, already approved and which are developing various measures, as a politically binding document: "assessment drives are there. You have to comply with these measures, from the communities and the Ministry. And correctly".

without Guard teams

the President of the Observatory against domestic violence of the Council General of the power Judicial, Ángeles Carmona, points to another problem. Only morticians have guards; the rest of the team not despite the fact that "risk assessment is something that must be done immediately". He asked to increase the budget to swell the templates. The Prosecutor's room of violence on the woman of the Supreme Court, Pilar Martín Nájera, also alluded to this theme a few days ago: "protection orders must be taken within 72 hours. In the absence of a computer that has the same time that the Court of guard or of violence against women, not can measures be taken considering that report because not enough time to do it".

for some experts, the proceedings wrong-headed from the beginning, when a victim chooses to report. And, finally, becoming increasingly more. More aware and less fear. Last year there was the all-time high of complaints, 166.260, according to official data.

Isabel Herrero and Cristina Pozo, Ciudad Real unit, ensure not to get: "we do not supply and we can delay us to make a report up to four months. So you can not work with the diligence required by this". Overload is a common complaint of these teams that most do not have exclusivity. In Galicia, Beatriz Otero, Director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, explains: "we have agendas scheduled throughout the week with valuations of other issues and should coordinate it with what appears suddenly." That delay more procedures".

data from the expert reports

units of integrated forensic valuation (UVFI) 2017 official data.

communities without transferred competencies:

with risk assessment. In Castilla - La Mancha there are five units - one per province-, which totaled six estimations of risk abuse complainants. The nine units of Castilla y León reached five and in Extremadura these organisms that emit reports psychosocial and forensic - Cáceres and Badajoz - practiced 31 analysis of the danger that a woman who has been alleged to be the victim can be found . In Melilla, there were five; four in the Balearic Islands and 124 in Murcia.

without risk assessment. Not recorded in records that has been practiced any risk assessment in Ceuta.

communities with transferred competencies:

with risk assessment. In the Valencian Community, Valencia issued 16 detailed risk analysis.

without risk assessment. In Aragón, until November of 2017, not recorded in records that the only unit of the community has made no assessment of the risk. The same applies to Andalusia, Galicia - where there are seven units-, Cantabria and Basque country.

no data. This newspaper has failed to locate the update in the case of Asturias, Navarra, Catalonia and the Canary Islands. In the community of Madrid does not exist, not even Institute. The figures do not have a continuous national record and the sqades do not emit them periodically. There is a general count.

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