Sistematización de una experiencia piloto de implementación de una Sala Gesell para la entrevista de niños en un Tribunal de Familia

Abstract

Introduction: Children and adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse or severe mistreatment are exposed to secondary victimization-understood as the revictimization resulting from the constant memory of the mistreatment or the abuse suffered when they are subject of multiple questions about what happened-when they have contact with the justice system. In 2012, the Chilean State implemented a pilot Gesell dome in order to reduce this risk and move towards a single interview process, with probative value in the context of the judicial process. Objective: To systematize the implementation process of a Gessel Dome in a chilean Family Court. Subjects and Method: Qualitative, non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive study. Ten representatives of institutions of the inter-institutional network of the Family Court at the city of Melipilla were interviewed. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of participants, which seeks to obtain a representative discourse of the participants. The Semi-structured Individual Interview was used, based on seven research dimensions: 1) knowledge of the Gesell dome; 2) knowledge of the right of the child to be heard; 3) knowledge regarding severe mistreatment and sexual abuse; 4) knowledge about secondary victimization; 5) organization and operation of the institutional network; 6) training; and 7) general evaluation of the Gesell dome of the Melipilla Family Court. Results: There are differences in knowledge and information management among the institutions associated with the project. Coordination difficulties of the local network that affect the objectives of the project are identified. Conclusions: There are problems of coordination and networking in the implementation and use of the Gesell dome. In order to achieve the objective of reducing secondary victimization, in addition to the investment in physical facilities and specialized training, a strong investment in local network management and coordination is required. The results facilitate the development of plans to avoid such difficulties in the future implementation of Gesell domes as public policy.