Protection without compromising the evidence: implementation of special testimony and factors associated with conviction in child sexual abuse cases (Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2023)

Abstract

This article investigates the pace of implementation of special testimony and of the precautionary early production of evidence (Law 13,431/2017), as well as the factors associated with conviction in cases of statutory rape of minors under 14. The problem is twofold: to what extent specialized interview have penetrated judicial practice, and whether the hearing format changes case outcomes. A 20% random sample of criminal appeals adjudicated in 2023 by the four specialized Criminal Chambers of the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, was analyzed (205 cases; 226 victims); filing year and county were derived from the national case-numbering standard, with association tests and logistic regression. Protected judicial hearings rose from 23.1% (cases filed 2010–2016) to 77.2% (2021–2023), yet the mandatory precautionary procedure reached only 25.0% of recent cases. Documented consequences for the victim (OR = 11.0) and hearsay testimony (OR = 4.6) independently predicted conviction; privately retained counsel predicted acquittal (OR = 0.13). Protected hearing formats did not change, statistically, the probability of conviction (OR = 1.30; 95% CI 0.57–2.98). It is concluded that the protection afforded by special testimony operated without evidence of evidentiary harm or inflation in the sample analyzed; the deficit, therefore, lies in the late implementation of the single early hearing and in judicial delay.