This Thesis is focused on the criminal trial, which is the most important part of the criminal proceeding. The purpose of the criminal proceeding, which is to investigate the perpetrator of the crime and his just punishment, is fulfilled during the criminal trial. The object of this Thesis is to present the process of the criminal trial and to particularly elaborate about the legal regulation of those juridical institutes, which may appear problematic or not fully clear. The aim is also to present the critical view on some juridical institutes contained in the legislation or to those which cause difficulties in practice together with the outline of their future regulation or de lege ferenda view or how the foreign regulation deals with them. This Thesis consists of five chapters which are subdivided into subchapters where it is necessary. The first chapter follows the purpose, object and legislation of the criminal trial together with introduction to the forthcoming recodification of the criminal procedure law, which should follow the recent recodification of the criminal substantive law. The second chapter deals with the basic principles of the criminal proceeding which apply to the criminal trial. The aim of the third chapter is to outline the process before the criminal trial itself, while...

I have chosen the topic "Criminal Trial", because I am interested in criminal law and during my studies I completed an internship at court, which gave me the opportunity to experience criminal trial in practice. The aim of my thesis is to provide a comprehensive view of criminal trial as the most important part of criminal proceedings with its actual issues. The thesis begins with an introduction and ends on a conclusion. Between that, the thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter is called the general characteristics of criminal trial and deals with the Czech legislation governing criminal trial, purpose and meaning of criminal trial and describes the basic principles of criminal proceedings, especially those most used in criminal trial. The second chapter focuses on the preparation of criminal trial, which is very important. Only a precise preparation can lead to a fluent criminal trial without any adjournment, as law requests. This chapter also discusses presence of the public and media at the court. The chapter tries to answer the question whether it is appropriate if the presiding judge permits making video and audio broadcast from the hearing. The third chapter analyses the course of the criminal trial, especially its beginning, rights and obligations of parties in the...

Alternatives to unconditional imprisonment Petr Horák The following thesis is concerned with alternatives to unconditional imprisonment. I have chosen this theme because I think it is very topical and frequently discussed issue not only among experts bud within the general public, too. These specific institutes of the criminal law enable quick, economical and effective solution of particular criminal cases with no need of using unconditional imprisonment. The main goal of this paper is to provide its reader with a summarizing overview about the existing alternatives in the present Czech criminal law , about their advantages and disadvantages, about the reasons which led to their implementation to our legal system and about another important related aspects. The introductory chapter of this text deals with the general issues of the purpose of sentencing and sanctions. It provides the basic information about the main principles of sentencing and the theories of sentencing which laid the foundation of contemporary system of criminal justice. The following chapter describes the beginnings of the development of alternative sentencing in Bohemia region. The restorative justice and its principals brought new ideas to criminal law during the second half of the 20th century. According to this original doctrine the...

This thesis studies the explanation for the media fascination surrounding domestic violence criminal cases of professional athletes, and the reality of the power that the media has on the criminal justice system.

anglicky The aim of this diploma is to describe the role of an expert psychologist witness in criminal trial and to define purpose of forensic psychological assessments. It also tries to answer current questions related to the field of psychological expert opinions. The psychological forensic expert witness is appointed in the same way as other legal expert witnesses. That means he has the same rights and obligations as them. The first chapter is therefore devoted to connoisseurship in general. It deals with the historical development of expert witnesses, current applicable legislation and upcoming legislative changes in this area. The second chapter approaches other expert witnesses in court too. It includes number of forensic experts in various fields and compares expert psychologists to psychiatrists, who often provide their opinions alongside psychologists'. The main part of the chapter is left to expert opinions. It clarifies terms such as personality, intellect, memory, motivation and dangerousness of the offender, that are the most commonly evaluated aspects. Conclusion of second chapter summarises the expert opinions in selected EU countries and the USA. The final chapter is devoted to the expert report as evidence in criminal proceedings. In addition to the description of expert witnesses...

Le système répressif français comporte des juridictions ordinaires et des juridictions spécialisées. Dans cette catégorie, on trouve les juridictions spécialisées de droit commun et les juridictions d’attribution. Les juridictions spécialisées de droit commun, créées à partir 1975 sont compétentes en matière d’infractions complexes. Les juridictions d’attribution rassemblent les anciennes formations d’exception et sont dédiées au jugement de délinquants particuliers, les mineurs, les militaires et les membres du gouvernement. La première partie de notre étude est destinée à rechercher comment le législateur procède à l’intégration des formations spécialisées dans le système de droit commun en les soumettant au respect des règles du procès pénal. La seconde partie présente leur mode de fonctionnement et les moyens qui sont mis à leur disposition pour lutter contre les infractions les plus complexes. / The French repressive system comprises ordinary courts and specialized jurisdictions. In this category, one can find the specialized courts of common law and the courts of attribution. The specialized ordinary courts established since 1975 have jurisdiction over complex offenses. The courts of attribution bring together former formations of exception and are dedicated to the judgment of particular offenders, minors, soldiers and members of the government. The first part of our study is intended to as certain how the legislator integrates specialized training in the common law system by subjecting them to respect for the rules of criminal trial. The second part presents their mode of operation and the means that are made available to these formations to combat the most complex infringements.

This thesis examines the concept of civil disobedience, and the role the latter can play in a democratic society. It aims to offer a moral justification for civil disobedience that departs from consequentialist or deontological considerations, and focuses instead on virtue ethics. By drawing attention to the notion of civic virtues, the thesis suggests that, under some circumstances, an act of civil disobedience is the very act displaying a virtuous disposition in the citizen who disobeys. Such disposition is interpreted in light of a duty each individual has to respect her fellow citizens as autonomous agents. This grounds, in turn, a moral obligation to respect the law. The central claim of the thesis is that the obligation towards the law is fulfilled not only through acts of obedience but also, under different circumstances, through acts of disobedience. The status of non-violence as a necessary component of civil disobedience is questioned, and it is argued that a degree of force or violence may be permissible in civil disobedience, when it is compatible with the duty to respect others’ autonomy. Subsequently, the thesis offers an analysis of ‘reasonableness’ as a civic virtue, and by comparing three different approaches to the issue of reasonable disagreement among democratic citizens, it defends the deliberative approach as the most suited for treating fellow citizens as autonomous agents. The last two chapters focus on the importance, for an act of civil disobedience, of the agent’s willingness to accept the legal consequences of her law-breaking behaviour. It is argued that a civil disobedient has an obligation to face the prospect of being punished for the breach of the law. However, in considering the behaviour of a virtuous civil disobedient who appears at her criminal trial, it is also claimed that she should plead not guilty and aim to persuade her fellow citizens that she does not deserve to be punished, because what she did does not constitute a criminal wrong. In doing so, this thesis depicts civil disobedience not as a merely permissible form of behaviour, but as a morally praiseworthy conduct within a democratic community.

La Cour d'assises : une juridiction séculaire et atypique en perpétuelle quête de rénovation. Indubitablement, la Révolution française demeurera l’événement majeur de l'histoire des institutions françaises. Par le renoncement à la société d'Ancien Régime, les nouveaux constituants bouleversèrent durablement la vision de la société, l'identité et les grands principes des institutions. Dans ce contexte de profondes mutations, on assista à l'émergence d'une « autre Justice », un service public construit sur des assises modernes et durables. Ainsi, en matière criminelle, la loi des 16 et 21 septembre 1791 institua une juridiction singulière, le tribunal criminel départemental – qui deviendra quelques années plus tard la Cour d'assises –. Cette institution se distingua dès son origine par sa composition mixte associant magistrats professionnels et citoyens tirés au sort. Près de 250 ans après son adoption, cette juridiction criminelle perdure dans le paysage institutionnel. De la sorte, on peut s'interroger sur les raisons de la longévité d'une institution trop souvent envisagée à travers le prisme de la Révolution. Le but de cette thèse était donc d'étudier les dynamiques qui présidèrent à l'évolution de celle-ci. Car, au fil de son existence, la Cour d'assises a sensiblement évolué, dans sa composition et dans son fonctionnement jusqu'à y voir l'abandon de la figure révolutionnaire et la dénaturation de l'institution originelle. La première partie de ce travail est consacrée au particularisme structurel de la Cour d'assises, sa composition mixte. Car associer des techniciens du droit à des citoyens néophytes a toujours été un choix controversé. Dans un premier titre, l'institution populaire est envisagée sous l'angle historique et sous la question de la légitimité. Il s'agit alors de comprendre non seulement les raisons qui gouvernèrent l'adoption d'une telle forme de justice, mais également celles qui expliquent sa préservation. Dans un second titre, le propos se concentre sur l'identité des juges professionnels et populaires appelés à composer les Cours d'assises.La seconde partie de cette thèse a trait au fonctionnement de la juridiction criminelle. Longtemps sa composition mixte commanda un fonctionnement particulier, distinct de celui des autres juridictions pénales. Pourtant, il est notable que des réformes successives ont imposé une certaine rupture avec la vision révolutionnaire suscitant ainsi des mutations profondes de la procédure de jugement criminel. Dans un premier titre, on envisage la procédure criminelle sous l'angle des acteurs du procès criminel, dans la gestion des débats. Aussi est-il encore nécessaire de s'interroger sur l'efficacité actuelle de la discussion criminelle. Dans un second titre, c'est la phase décisoire du procès criminel, récemment sujet de réformes d'ampleur, qui est examinée. Le travail de recherche a donc porté sur les réformes successives qui ont affecté la juridiction d'assises.Celle-ci, bien qu'ancienne et toujours attachée à son histoire, est une institution en perpétuel renouvellement. / The French "Cour d'assises" : an age-old and atypical court of laws constantly reforming itself. The French Revolution certainly remains a major event in French history. As the Ancien Régime failed, the vision of society matured, such as the way we consider public institutions. In that context of acute transformations, we could witness the birth of another kind of justice based on modern and sustainable principles. Above all, new constituents established, for criminal law, a very extraordinary jurisdiction : the Cour d'assises. The main peculiarity of that institution consisted in its joint composition, as professional magistrates had to work with ordinary citizens to judge. 250 years later, this criminal jurisdiction still lasts. So, we can wonder why this so old institution is still working. This thesis aims to study movments that have affected the Cour d'assises troughout years. Actually, that institution has noticeably evolved in its composition and its working, so that it no longer looks like the institution established during the XVIIIth century. The first section deals with the joint composition of the court. In fact, couple law professionals to neophytes is certainly a controversial choice. A first sub-section intends, through an history of jury, to explain why a popular court had been chosen to punish crimes. In this part, we also wonder about the legitimacy of that kind of Justice. A second sub-section looks at the members of jury's identity. The second section of the thesis deals with the institution's working. For a long time, the composition of the court explained how it worked. However, successive reforms renew the institution. A first sub-section takes into consideration the role each of the members of the criminal court plays during proceedings. It also questions about the efficiency of the criminal trial. A second sub-section is dedicated to the final phase of the criminal process, which has recently been reformed. To sump up, the research deals with successive reforms that have deeply affected the French criminal court. In spite the fact it is an old institution, always attached to the French Revolution, the Cour d'assises is an institution that goes on reforming itself.

Les bouleversements de plus en plus rapides et violents qui affectent la loi pénale ne sont que le symptôme d'un conflit normatif systémique qui travaille notre droit depuis la codification impériale. Dissimulé depuis l'origine du droit pénal moderne par le mythe de l'équilibre répressif, il voir l'ordre pénal républicain, formellement consacré par le Code pénal de 1810, confronté à une force constante d'érosion contrariant sa mise en œuvre effective et conséquente. Avançant sous l'apparence du bon sens répressif, cette opposition trahit en réalité une hostilité radicale à l'idée de Sûreté, assise sur la résurgence de certains traits saillants d'un absolutisme pénal singulièrement mâtiné des innovations de l'utilitarisme pénal. Sous l'effet d'une double instrumentation du procès pénal qui, sous l'influence du néolibéralisme, se mue progressivement en un outil de gestion coercitive de la déviance et de satisfaction symbolique de la victime, l'époque contemporaine voit le conflit normatif entrer dans une phase critique. Avec le passage du bon sens répressif au réalisme répressif, l'ordre pénal républicain est bientôt menacé d'implosion. De la nécessité de punir à l'émergence d'une impossible principe de précaution pénale, ce sont l'ensemble de ses principes directeurs qui se trouvent remis en cause en leurs fondements. / The faster and faster and violent upheavals which affect the penal law are only the symptom of a systematic normative conflict which works our law since the imperial codification Hidden since the origin of the modern criminal law by the myth of the repressive balance, it to see the penal order republican, formally dedicated by the Penal code of 1810, confronted with a constant strength of erosion opposing its effective and consequent implementation. Moving forward under the appearance of the repressive common sense, this opposition betrays in reality a radical hostility at the idea of safety, based on the resurgence of certain striking lines of a penal absolutism strangely crossbred of the innovations of the penal utilitarianism. Under the influence of a double instrumentation of the penal trial which, under the influence of the neoliberalism, moved gradually one coercive management tool of the abnormality and the symbolic satisfaction of the victim, the contemporary time sees the normative conflict entering a critical phase. With the passage of the repressive common sense in the repressive realism, the republican penal order is soon threatened with implosion. Of the necessity of punishing in the emergence of one impossible principle of penal precaution, it is the set of its guiding principles which are questioned in their foundations.

En 2000, le Chili a promulgué un nouveau Code de procédure pénale qui a bouleversé les fondements de l’ancienne procédure. Cette réforme s’est appuyée sur l’idée d’une rupture totale avec la législation antérieure en faisant graviter la procédure autour de la notion clé de débat contradictoire. L’émergence de ce principe a été obtenue grâce à une répartition innovante des rôles entre les différents protagonistes du procès, notamment avec la réapparition du Ministère Public en première instance. Afin d’innerver l’ensemble du procès, le débat contradictoire se réalise à toutes les étapes de la procédure et permet d’aboutir à une décision judiciaire qui puise sa légitimité dans la participation active des parties aux débats. Toutefois, ce débat contradictoire ne peut acquérir sa pleine dimension et son effectivité maximale que grâce à l’institution de mécanismes particuliers. Ainsi, la prévention des atteintes au contradictoire est assurée par la refonte du statut des protagonistes du procès et par l’obligation du juge de motiver ses décisions. Enfin, ce sont les voies de recours qui ont été modifiées et repensées afin d’assurer l’effectivité du principe du contradictoire. Grâce à ce mouvement, le Chili a effectué une véritable révolution juridique parachevant ainsi sa transition vers la démocratie. / In 2000, Chili promulgated a new Code of criminal procedure that deeply shook the foundations of the previous procedure. This reform is based on the idea of a complete change from the former legislation by having criminal procedure rotate around the key concept of adversarial debate. The development of this principle was allowed thanks to the innovative distribution of the tasks bearing on those involved in the trial, such as the appearance of the Public Prosecutor who has recovered his function of criminal prosecution, which had been so far handled by the judge. In order to affect the whole trial, the adversarial principle carries out its effects at every stage of the proceedings. It leads to a ruling that grounds its legitimacy in the active participation of the parties in the proceedings. Consequently, the law of evidence was modified and the legal hierarchy of evidence gave way to the principle of free assessment of evidence. Yet, the adversarial debate can only develop and be effective through the setting up of specific mechanisms. Therefore, a reworking of the status of the actors of the criminal proceedings has been designed to prevent any breach of the adversarial principle. Regarding the possible breaches of the adversarial principle by the judge, these are prevented by the obligation bearing on the judge to give grounds for his rulings, as well as the modification of his status. Finally, the judicial remedies were modified and rethought in order to ensure the efficiency of the adversarial principle. Thanks to this reform, Chile made a real legal revolution, thereby completing its transition to democracy.