Domestic violence and forensic assessment: a multidisciplinary network perspective on the doma in of psychological violence in conjugality: part 2

Abstract

This paper discusses the strategy adopted by the Family Violence Department (FVD) of the Coimbra Psychiatric Hospital Center, towards the forensic assessment requested by the Investigation and Prosecution Department of Coimbra (DIAP) due to intimate partner violence (IPV) associated with psychological violence. In accordance with the National Institute of Legal Medicine (Coimbra Delegation), we are often requested to “produce a report in order to establish the psychological status of the victim and the contribution of the accused, by establishing a causal link, if possible”. With the purpose of trying to provide answers to the questions made by the Justice Department to the Health Department, five integrated levels of knowledge are proposed in this paper. It is in the crossroad of the forthcoming narratives of these theories that some of the questions by DIAP can be answered