The University Master’s Degree in Legal, Forensic and Criminological Psychopathology at UIC Barcelona has organised a new conference on Forensic Psychopathology that has brought together experts from the sector. Magistrates, lawyers, prosecutors and forensic psychologists reviewed the current legal-social context in which families find themselves and have agreed on the importance of discussing expert evidence from a multidisciplinary perspective: from a psychological and a legal perspective.

The fifth Conference on Forensic Psychopathology, held on Friday, 21 April, had two round table discussions. The first, moderated by Esperanza Gómez-Durán, director of the Master’s Degree in Legal, Forensic and Criminological Psychopathology, focused on the legal evaluation of expert psychological evidence in family proceedings, and with the participation of Xavier Abel Lluch, magistrate, Court of First Instance No. 14, Barcelona, specialised in Family Law; Virtudes Campos, prosecutor, Family Court; and Cristina Díaz-Malnero Fernández, president of the Family Law Section, Illustrious Professional Association of Lawyers of Barcelona (ICAB).

For Xavier Abel, the methodology is the foundation of expert evidence. “Just by reading the methodology, I can know how much time I need to study the expert evidence. We don’t dedicate the same amount of time to a methodology that includes interviews with parents as we do to another methodolgy that doesn’t,” Abel said. Virtudes Campos highlighted the figure of the minor within the process, because “together with diversity, the minor is the most important factor in expert evidence,” Campos said. Lastly, Díaz-Malnero pointed out the need to have a specialised and proper family procedural law, just like other countries of the European Community already have.

Round table two, moderated by Aina Gassó, focused on forensic psychological assessment in family proceedings, with Mercè Cartié, coordinator of the Civil-Family Technical Advisory Team of Barcelona; Gabriel Marti, forensic psychologist, Technical Advisory Service on Family Affairs (EATAF); and Laia Navas, expert psychologist, UVFI (Gender-based Violence Comprehensive Forensic Assessment Units)  in the courts of Barcelona.

Mercè Cartie focused on parental filters (gatekeeping) as a facilitator “when one parent acts to help the participation and maintenance of a significant relationship of the child with the other parent.” Next, Gabriel Martí focused on the forensic psychological evaluation of minor boys, girls and adolescents (NNyA) in family proceedings. “The child should be asked open-ended questions that do not provoke an emotionally charged response, questions that are not suggestive and that avoid direct confrontation,” Martí explained. Lastly, Laia Navas talked about forensic psychological assessment in gender-based violence cases. The UVFI is involved in cases of continued violence, sexual violence, prevalence of psychological violence, cases with little evidence or severe episodic violence.

The conference “Forensic Assessment in Family Procedures: A Multidisciplinary View,” led by UIC Barcelona assistant professor Esperanza Gómez-Durán, director of the master’s degree programme, and Aina Gassó, academic coordinator of the master’s degree programme, is the fifth conference held in Forensic Psychopathology, following a two-year pause due to the Covid pandemic.