Problematics of extraordinary punishment - Abstract The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive overview about a criminal law's legal institute of the extraordinary punishment. In this thesis I will comprise historical development of this legal institute and its connection with the death penalty. The first chapter is focused on defining the concept of punishment and its purpose, along with punishment theories. I will compare both theories with the extraordinary punishment. Subsequently I will deal with the historical development of punishment in the Czech republic in general, and than focus on the strictest penalties and finally I will represent historical develompent of the extraordinary punishment. The third chapter deals with the death penalty and its context. At the beginning I will shortly mention the history of the death penalty and than I will introduce situation in the world about the death punishment. Mostly this chapter analysis the arguments of supporter and opponents of the death penalty. In the fourth chapter I will deal with international sources that influenced the national adjustment of exceptional punishment primarily on the performance of imprisonment. The fifth part of my work will be based on the definition of substantive and processing provisions of the national adjustment of...

The abolition of the death penalty lies at the core of the EU’s human rights agenda. Iraq, a long-term partner of the EU, has one of the highest execution rates in the world. Despite the plethora of policies, agreements and strategies of the EU in its relations with Iraq, the death penalty remains unbridled and in widespread use. With human rights and the EU’s abolitionist policy constituting essential elements of the EU’s relations with third countries, it is vital to examine the extent to which this is the case in its relations with Iraq. The legitimacy of the EU as a leading promoter of the universal abolition of the death penalty is at stake. This thesis examines the subject of human rights promotion in the EU’s external actions with Iraq, focusing on the EU norm of the abolition of the death penalty. The EU as a ‘normative power’ in its relations with Iraq is analyzed. This thesis aims to answer the following questions: How has the EU’s foreign policy towards Iraq aligned with its normative objectives and human rights priorities? To what extent is the EU limited in its ability to promote the abolition of the death penalty in Iraq? The focus is on the period from 2004 onwards, as this marked the beginning of official EU-Iraq relations. The thesis concludes that the EU’s normative power is and will remain limited in its ability to bring about normative change as long as the Iraqi community and society continue to accept the death penalty as an appropriate punishment. Therefore, the EU must continually maintain its strong opposition to the death penalty by consistently addressing the death penalty in the documents with Iraq, working with the local community and civil society, and taking concrete action to provide for alternative punishments.

"Public opinion finds its way into the justice system and finally to the decision making platform of the courts through various channels. These include public opinion polls, legislative debates, writings of jurists, social pressures, political situations and referendum on legal issues. Regarding the death penalty, the role of public opinion becomes more debatable because as Kakooza explains, there is a difficulty of addressing death penalty issues as values, national aspirations and conditions of social intercourse vary from society to society. The death penalty touches life, which is the most important of all human rights. It, therefore, remains debatable as to whether it is the courts or the people that may decide the legality of criminal sanctions like the death penalty. Protection of judicial independence conflicts with the need for legitimacy, given that courts are occupied by un-elected judges. While sticking to legalistic and official positions, courts must keep in touch with the public since they need the latter's approval for decisions to be respected and implemented. It is also not clear whether, and if so, to what extent, courts may rely upon public opinion in making decisions, thus the importance of assessing the role it sould play and coming out with a way forward. ... Chapter one comprises the background of the study, statement of the problem, significance of the study, aims and objectives of the study, literature review, methodology and limitations of the study. Chapter two is a discussion of the role public opinion ought to play in court decisions in general, and decisions on the legality of the death penatly in particular. Chapter three is an analysis of the actual influence of public opinion on court decisions on the legality of the death penalty. It also has a comparison of court practice in Uganda and South Africa and includes a critique. Chapter four is a presentation of arguments for and against the role of pulic opinion in court decisions. Chapter five contains conclusions from the research findings and recommendations on how public opinion should be treated in court decisions generally, and the legality of the death penalty in particular." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Raymond A. Atuguba at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The thesis deals with the crime of women in Czechoslovakia. The aim of the theoretical and empirical work is to map the crime of women in Czechoslovakia, namely its occurrence, and to use selected case studies to find out the motives of women perpetrators, who were victims, and apply selected theories of crime to specific cases. In the theoretical part will be introduced basic theories and concepts related to crime , from the sociological, psychological and biological point of view. Given that the work focuses primarily on female crime, the next section will specifically focus on the specificities of female crime and define the types of female criminals with the motives behind the crime, especially with a focus on murder. The last part of the theoretical part is focused on how crime was measured not only in the period of Czechoslovakia, but also how it is measured today, and where it is possible to get information about this social phenomenon. The empirical part of the thesis is devoted to the research itself, in which both qualitative and quantitative data were used. It also includes research on historical archival research, as it was worked from sources from archives. In the empirical part of the thesis, we are already working with specific data, namely data that map women's crime in...

The present study attempts to provide a more thorough understanding of public attitudes toward capital punishment. Two theories are tested toward this end, utilizing a random sample taken from the jury pool in Hillsborough County, Florida. First, An indirect test of reference group theory demonstrates the degree to which faith group, religiosity, and race affect public attitudes toward the death penalty. Surprisingly, there is little, albeit mixed, support for reference group theory as it attempts to explain attitudes toward capital punishment. Using the relationships between religion and capital punishment attitudes that we presumed would emerge from the test of reference group theory, we developed a processual model to more accurately describe how the relationships between religion and capital punishment operates. A test of attribution theory provided the vehicle through which this processual model could be tested. Although it seemed that the model was dependent on significant findings between the relationships in reference group theory, this was not the case. Indeed, we found many relationships between certain dimensions of religion and capital punishment attitudes that were consistent with previous research. Moreover, this piece of research is among the first to examine the effect of possessing a more progressive theological emphasis on death penalty attitudes. It addresses important theoretical and empirical questions regarding the direct and indirect relationships between religion and capital punishment attitudes.

abstract: Although most Americans support capital punishment, many people have misconceptions about its efficacy and administration (e.g., that capital punishment deters crime). Can correcting people’s inaccurate attitudes change their support for the death penalty? If not, are there other strategies that might shift people’s attitudes about the death penalty? Some research suggests that statistical information can correct misconceptions about polarizing topics. Yet, statistics might be irrelevant if people support capital punishment for purely retributive reasons, suggesting other argumentative strategies may be more effective. In Study 1, I compared how two different interventions shifted attitudes towards the death penalty. In Studies 2 - 4 I examined what other attitudes shape endorsement of capital punishment, and used these findings to develop and test an educational intervention aimed at providing information about errors in the implementation of the death penalty. Altogether, these findings suggest that attitudes about capital punishment are based on more than just retributive motives, and that correcting misconceptions related to its administration and other relevant factors reduces support for the death penalty. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees individuals’ right to trial by an impartial jury. However, empirical research indicates that the jury system is flawed, especially regarding judicial sentencing instructions. More specifically, jurors frequently misunderstand or misinterpret State patterned instructions. On a more encouraging note, there is evidence that comprehension of jury instructions can be improved. Thus, this research assessed improvement in juror comprehension using revised sentencing instructions. For the current investigation, participants included 201 volunteers called for jury duty in Western Tennessee. Data were generated via a questionnaire, which allowed for the collection of information relating to participants’ understanding of the sentencing instructions. Findings suggest that comprehension is low when jurors are only exposed to instructions written by the State. Furthermore, when jurors were given a more detailed explanation of certain problematic terminology, comprehension significantly increased. Policy implications of this research and directions for future improvement are discussed.

How society views the use of the death penalty as a means of punishment greatly affects the decisions of lawmakers, politicians who use it as a platform for election, and the criminals who commit the crime of murder. This study used 40 different vignettes involving real-life murder scenarios in order for participants to form a more precise opinion of what the correct punishment for the crime should be. Given a choice between the death penalty, life without the possibility of parole, a prison term of their choosing, or other, participants were asked to assign a sanction for each vignette. Respondents were asked to answer demographic questions about themselves in order for these variables to be regressed to examine how their status relates to their opinion of the death penalty as a punishment for murder. Statistical analysis showed income level, political affiliation, and religious affiliation to be significant variables. Analysis of the vignettes themselves revealed substantial variation in individual's willingness to apply the death penalty across various types of murder.

There has been an increase in writings that address the last statements of condemned offenders. Many of these writings suggest that exposure to the humanity sometimes exhibited in these last statements may steer public opinion against the death penalty. This dissertation tests this suggestion by exposing 400 participants to randomly generated vignettes containing various capital crimes, demographic characteristics, and last statements. The survey data are analyzed utilizing multilevel modeling. Study results include the effects of varying levels of demonstrated humanity in the last statements of condemned offenders on public opinion, and whether specific demographic characteristics appear to influence study participant responses. Findings showed no statistically significant results that indicate any effect on death penalty opinion as a result of reading last statements demonstrating humanity. Condemned inmates who did not provide a statement, or stated they had nothing to say, elicited higher levels of confidence that executing them was the right thing to do. Condemned inmates who claimed innocence in their last statements were associated with the lowest level of respondent confidence that execution was the right thing to do, and a higher level of support for life without parole as an alternative punishment. Recommendations for further research are discussed.

This thesis tests the three hypotheses derived from the written opinion of Justice Thurgood Marshall in Furman v Georgia in 1972. Subjects completed questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the fall 2006 semester. Experimental group subjects were enrolled in a death penalty class, while control group subjects were enrolled in another criminal justice class. The death penalty class was the experimental stimulus. Findings provided strong support for the first and third hypotheses, i.e., subjects were generally lacking in death penalty knowledge before the experimental stimulus, and death penalty proponents who scored "high" on a retribution index did not change their death penalty opinions despite exposure to death penalty knowledge. Marshall's second hypothesis--that death penalty knowledge and death penalty support were inversely related--was not supported by the data. Two serendipitous findings were that death penalty proponents who scored "low" on a retribution index also did not change their death penalty opinions after becoming more informed about the subject, and that death penalty knowledge did not alter subjects' initial retributive positions. Suggestions for future research are provided.