Expert action training in cases of gender violence

The I-CRIME cooperation project, managed by FIIAPP with European funding, has organised training sessions aimed at forensic institutions in Central American Integration System (SICA) countries. This activity is part of a series of actions to improve expert performance in cases of gender violence.  

Risk assessment is currently considered a highly important discipline among professionals operating in the field of criminal justice. It consists of detecting those individuals who have a high probability of manifesting violent behaviour in the future, even if so far they have not shown any signs that could lead to that conclusion. Being able to predict this violence can enable the necessary protection measures to be put in place so that such new violent act does not happen. 

Throughout these conferences, organised through the Connect-FIIAPP platform, a series of practical cases were presented that served as a basis for reviewing the risk factors in the family environment and the use of the available tools to carry out correct evaluations. Work was also done on several issues of special importance, such as risk assessment in the event of homicide or situations in which the aggressor has some type of mental illness.  

As an example of the deployment of these expert techniques in Spain, the new Protocol for Urgent Forensic Assessment of the Risk of Gender Violence was drawn up by the Scientific Committee of the Forensic Medical Council and it is currently being used in the different Institutes of Forensic Medicine. 

On this occasion, the conference was led by Mar Pastor Bravo, Forensic Physician, Section Chief of the Unit of Comprehensive Forensic Assessment of Violence Against Women at the Alicante Institute of Forensic Medicine.