Aspects regarding experts’ evaluation and consideration in child custody cases

Abstract

Domestic violence constitutes a stressful situation at home, with a negative repercussion that worsens in the child. Sometimes, these situations require the attention of the courts and for this; instruments are needed that assess, from a broad aspect, the psychological damage suffered by the victim. Currently there is a divergence in the information on psychological expertise in judicial processes; therefore, this research was developed to present aspects about the expert’s evaluation and consideration in child custody cases. A bibliographic review of the literature was carried out, for which documents available in the Scopus, SciELO, Redalyc and Dialnet databases were consulted; those articles published from 2018, written in Spanish and English that addressed the studied subject were selected. It is concluded that, although there are divergences in the literature consulted, there is a greater agreement on the expert’s reports value for judicial decision-making in determining the minors’ custody. It is necessary to create instruments, methodologies and protocols that guide a correct psychological expertise process, since legal psychology in Latin America and Ecuador is still an emerging field.

Keywords

• maltrato a los niños
• violencia
• psicología
• técnicas de apoyo para la decisión