Abstract
Discussions about the role of psychologists in listening to allegations of sexual violence against children and adolescents have emerged across the country. Specialized listening, special testimony, and an expert legal psychological report are procedures provided for in Brazilian law at different steps of an allegation of sexual violence within the System of Guarantee of Rights. While the first 2 can rely on professionals from other fields, the expert legal psychological report is the private responsibility of psychologists. Given that the main source of information about the alleged events is the child, this narrative review article aims to discuss the psychologist’s listening to allegations of sexual violence in the contexts of specialized listening, special testimony, and expert legal psychological report. The article also aims to present general guidelines for interviews with children and adolescents, considered in the literature as good practices in this field. Considering the interview as the common point between these 3 procedures, it is recommended the use of open questions, preparation of the place where the interview will be conducted, and the use of empirically validated protocols to obtain the report of the alleged event. It was observed that in the specialized literature as well as in the Brazilian legislation, it is still necessary to elucidate the operationalization of ‘Specialized Listening’, as it can hinder the effective performance of professionals working in protection and care services for children and adolescents.
Keywords:
Interview; Expert testimony; Child sexual abuse