Assessment of the testimony of the victim in sexual crimes according to the law and jurisprudence

Abstract

This investigative work deals with the assessment of the testimony of the victim in sexual crimes. Its purpose is to determine the jurisprudential criteria regarding this issue emanating from the National Court of Justice of Ecuador and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to contrast these data with the legal value rule contained in the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code. Regarding the premise that the testimony of the victim in sexual crimes is important: 1. the rule of the Code indicates that it must be valued together with the other evidence; and, 2. national jurisprudence, on the one hand, considers that the value of the victim is transcendental and capable of undermining the presumption of innocence by itself; However, on the other hand, it requires that it be corroborated by other evidence. International jurisprudence, for its part, establishes a standard that gives it the character of fundamental evidence. In this context, a contribution linked to the evidentiary argument is offered within the standard beyond all reasonable doubt. It is proposed: the following parameters be established in the evaluation of this evidence: 1. when there are other means of proof, it must be evaluated with these as a whole; and, 2. when it is the only means of proving the charge, its credibility should be confirmed through a test.