Despite the low rate of sexual assault allegations, this crime type is one of the most present in oral trials in Chile, given the seriousness of the legal right contravened. Current evidence supports the fact that extralegal factors and previous cognitive schemes might influence judges' penal decisions in this matter. Having in mind this scenario, the present study aims at identifying the criminological characteristics of sexual crimes against adult women disputed on trial, as well as the relationship between verdict and the variables of the process/victim considered conducive to or indicative of potential bias on part of the court. To accomplish such aim, we proceeded by the exhaust revision of 102 randomly selected criminal sentences of oral trials corresponding to sexual crimes against adult women between 2015 and 2016, analysing the presence and frequency of sexual assault attributes. The relationship between certain extralegal variables and the verdicts was examined by means of the Chi square association statistic and its effect size. Concerning criminological characteristics of sexual crimes, the results show a predominance of aggressions committed in the close physical and relational environment of the victim, and a low presence of genital injuries as a result. Findings also indicate the influence of some variables on sentencing outcomes, such as a prior complainant-offender relationship, as well as "negative" or counter-stereotypical victim characteristics (drug use, prostitution, social vulnerability) notoriously reducing condemnatory verdicts. When committed by strangers, on the other hand, sexual assault was associated with more condemnatory sentences. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of criminal justice.

Background/ObjectiveJudicial decisions must rest on formal reasoning. Nevertheless, informal reasoning sources (cognitive and motivational biases) were observed in judicial judgment making. Literature has identified sexual aggression cases as the most favorable for informal reasoning. Thus, a field study was designed with the aim of assessing the incidence and effects of cognitive and motivational biases in judicial agents in a case to rape to a woman.MethodsAs for this, Chilean judicial agents (N = 217) assessed an allegation (weak evidence) of sexual assault in a case where the perpetrator was known or unknown to the victim. The judicial agents answered to a measure of the myths about sexual aggression, the attribution of responsibility to complainant, the attribution of responsibility to accused, the attribution of credibility to the complainant testimony, the attribution of a nature of a rape to the alleged facts and an estimation of the probability of false/unfounded accusations.ResultsThe results revealed an estimation of false/unfounded accusations of sexual aggression significantly higher than the mean of the best estimates, but into the upper limit of the best estimates; that the studied population did not share, in general, the myths about sexual aggression; and that the sources of attributional biases were driven in favor and against the complainant. Nevertheless, the case study showed that a large number of judicial agents participated of an overestimation of the probabilities of false or unfounded allegations, and of the myths about sexual aggressions and of attributional biases against the complainant.ConclusionIn conclusion, informal reasoning sources were observed in judicial agents when only formal reasoning should prevail. Thus, judicial agents should be trained to control these sources of bias substituting them by formal reasoning (evidence).

Las agresiones sexuales conllevan graves consecuencias para las víctimas y, particularmente cuando la violencia sexual es ejercida por agresores múltiples. En este trabajo, se lleva a cabo un estudio de archivo de sentencias penales en el que se examinan las características penales y criminológicas de las denominadas "manadas" o agresores sexuales que actúan en grupo. Para ello, se analizó el contenido de un total de 54 sentencias penales que incluyen 128 agresores varones múltiples encausados judicialmente y cuyas víctimas son mujeres adultas. En relación al modus operandi de este tipo de delitos se constata la primacía de grupos pequeños (hasta 3 agresores), que actúan de forma nocturna, que cometen más agresiones que abusos sexuales, hacen un uso elevado de fuerza, así como de engaño a la víctima como modalidades comisivas predominantes, y mayoritariamente sin arma ni planificación. Asimismo, destacan entre sus características la tasa de condena, el traslado de la víctima y el aprovechamiento de factores de vulnerabilidad de la víctima. Se discuten las limitaciones del estudio y se plantean algunas implicaciones para el diseño de políticas de prevención de la violencia sexual.

Sexual violence against women is a serious problem in our society, being registered in Spain a total of a total of 93,871 judicial files. The purpose of this paper was to explore indicators of primary and secondary victimization in cases of sexual abuse and aggressions against adult women, as well as relevant crime variables, and their relation with the decision-making. For this, a developed categorical system ad hoc was created, and applied to the content analysis of a total of 50 judicial sentences issued by Spanish courts between 2016-2019. Among the most relevant findings, the high prevalence of psychopathology and diverse symptomatology concomitant to the crime stands out,