THE NECESSITY OF TECHNICAL EXPERT ASSESSMENT IN CASES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Abstract

The autonomous criminalization of psychological violence against women demands a profound reassessment of traditional standards of material proof in Brazilian criminal procedure. This scientific article aims to investigate whether an official forensic examination is required or dispensable to demonstrate the materiality (corpus delicti) of the offense defined in Article 147-B of the Penal Code, enacted by Law No. 14.188/2021 and amended by Law No. 15.123/2025, from the perspective of contemporary evidentiary law and the jurisprudence of the Superior Court of Justice. The research employs a deductive method with a qualitative approach, using bibliographic and documentary techniques that combine criminal law dogmatics, sociological frameworks on gender asymmetry, and Superior Court precedents. It examines the apparent tension between the general rule of forensic examination set forth in Article 158 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the intrinsic immateriality of emotional harm, assessing the scope of supplementary proof regulated by Article 167 of the same procedural statute. It concludes that the emotional harm required by the criminal offense does not equate to a pathological psychiatric injury, which is why the Superior Court of Justice has consolidated the dispensability of an official forensic medical report, recognizing the full evidentiary validity of the victim's testimony when corroborated by multidisciplinary psychosocial reports, clinical records, digital messages, and witness statements.