Elementos persuasivos empleados por fiscales en presuntos casos de delito sexual

Abstract

The present investigation was intended to identify persuasive elements used by prosecutors in the city of Popayán (Cauca – Colombia) in alleged cases of sexual crime, based on qualitative research and the principle epistemological phenomena, which allows to study the phenomena as they are experienced and are perceived. Four prosecutors belonging to the Sexual Offences Unit of the city of Popayán were involved, these being the only ones assigned by the Attorney General's Office to deal with such cases, and three criminal judges of the circuit with functions delegates to make the judicial decision in the case where the prosecutors intervened in mention. The information was collected from two sources of information that in turn became analysis units, which were: in-depth interview steeg of prosecutors and judges, and review of audio-recorded oral hearings. This information was analyzed through the axial coding of the theory based on the Atlas Ti software, and taking as categories of analysis: source, message, receiver, communication channel and context, each with their respective axes of inquiri. Thus, it was evident that half of the components of the persuasion process are absent in the prosecutors' arguments specifically at oral trial hearings. However, despite this absence, it is found that prosecutors manage to achieve their initial objective consisting of convictions depending on the case. It is also important to note that the greatest limit for the absence of these components is the time allocated for prosecutors both for their arguments and for the planning and preparation of cases. From this, in the category of "source" analyses, characteristics such as credibility, attractiveness, power and reciprocity become evident facilitating persuasion. In the "message" category, relevant, interesting and quality messages, rational, one-sided, structured and ordered messages, are the only features present. On the contrary, in the "receiver" category, the presence of any of the characteristics for persuasion generation was not found. At the same time, in the face of the "communicative channel" category, face-to-face communication is the one that is most representative for both parties, but despite this, certain shortcomings due, probably, due to poor preparation were evident. Keywords: persuasive elements, sex crime, prosecutors, judges.