Several justifications exist for the death penalty, yet it is only recently that the concept of “closure” has come to serve as a rationale for American capital punishment. This contemporary justification promises murder victims’ families that the execution of their loved one’s murderer should provide them with “closure”—a contested word that typically denotes an end to the pain associated with their loved one’s murder. How and when this new narrative came about has garnered little scholarly attention, particularly as murder victims’ families begin to challenge closure as relevant to their healing. The goals of the current study seek to: 1) elucidate how closure entered the American death penalty debate; 2) illustrate the myriad meanings assigned to closure, identifying how various stakeholders have trafficked in the term’s use; 3) examine how closure has been used politically to legitimize death penalty practices and the state’s right to take life; and 4) critically analyze claims that closure has “symbolically transformed” the American death penalty today. The study employs discursive textual analysis of nearly 2500 American newspaper stories from 1989 to 2008, legislative hearings, legal case histories, academic and popular sources, and archival materials from American death penalty and victims’ rights groups during this twenty year period. The findings illustrate that closure entered death penalty discourse in the late 1980s, and reached a tipping point in news coverage in 2001 with Timothy McVeigh’s execution. While the term was used in nearly every way imaginable, the findings illustrate it was most prominently used in supporting secondary victims’ “right to view” the executions of their loved ones’ murderers and in justifying Timothy McVeigh’s execution for his role in the Oklahoma City Bombing. I argue that the media’s sensational portrayals of such historical moments allowed them to serve as “galvanizing events” ushering in closure as a powerful symbol in justifying the state’s right to take life and the view that executions are a form of “therapeutic justice.” Despite closure being used to support certain death penalty practices, the analyses presented here provide little support for the notion that closure has “symbolically transformed” American capital punishment today as has been suggested by some scholars. Closure is a small blip in print news coverage and does not resonate strongly with Americans’ support for capital punishment in national opinion polls. The study concludes with a critical examination of the role of closure as a contemporary, and empirically unchallenged, justification for the death penalty—one that serves as an empty promise for murder victims’ loved ones. / text

A drug abuse and all problems associated with it, affects not only the abuser him-/herself but the people surrounding that person as well. This study aimed to qualitatively investigate in detail the role and experiences of six relatives to a drug abuser in the city of Sundsvall. The study looked through the use of the theoretical framework of Travis Hirschi´s Social bond theory how the social bonds were affected. The use of open-ended interviews got stories of the development and reciprocal impact of a drug problem. Four main themes of the role and experiences of relatives to a drug abuser were identified using thematic analysis. The four key themes identified, including several sub-themes, were (a) Characteristics of relative's early experiences, (b) Negative consequences, (c) Role and reactions of relatives and (d) Frustration. The experiences and impact of having a child/sibling abusing narcotics was varied and highly personal but the four themes were emphasised as being significant and shared in the narrative of the majority of participants. The result of the analysis showed a profound negative impact on the relatives of the drug abuser on several levels, as well as roles of great sacrifices that were hypothesized to impact the abuser. These negative consequences did in turn affect the social bonds within the family, leading to stress, friction and in some cases disrupted bonds. The four main themes were connected to each other, presenting a multi-faceted impact on- and role of relatives. The answers attained were in line with earlier studies on the topic, illustrating profound negative effects and therefore the use of the term: secondary victims were considered appropriate in this context. / <p>2017-06-01</p>

The aim of this thesis is to describe Czech approach towards pecuniary compensation in connection with immaterial damage arising from providing medical care. Protection of patient's personality rights and eventually that of his relatives is stressed out. Over the last few decades, the issue of compensation for immaterial harm has become more significant, whereas the same could be said about the role of patient in the system of providing medical care. Regarding the fact that there is currently a period of recodification of Czech private law, it is opportunity to have hindsight of where theory, respectively judicial practice, has reached regarding immaterial damage compensations. Therewithal, it is necessary to try to describe and analyze new laws and compare them with the current laws and evaluate their positive and possible negative approaches. This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first one is an introduction and it is divided into three parts. The first one deals with the issue of medical-legal disputes, the second one focuses on the issue of sources of law and the third one on questions arising from protection of personality rights. The second chapter straightly deals with the issue of immaterial satisfaction according to the Civil Code of 1964 and discusses its purpose and questions...

in English The final thesis mainly deals with the description and evaluation of the development of civil legislation on compensation for non-pecuniary damage to health in connection with the adoption of the New Civil Code. The main purpose of the thesis is to analyse the manner of determining the amount of reparation of non-pecuniary damage, including comparisons of the compensation according to the Methodology of the Supreme Court with the previous system of compensation in connection with non-material injury. The first chapter approaches the theoretical background important for the establishment of the obligation to compensate non-material damage, mainly legal tort liability and the related preconditions for its emergence, i.e. the unlawful conduct, formation of the damage, causation and fault. Next chapter describes the individual claims included in non-pecuniary damage, i.e. claims for suffered pain, social impairment and mental suffering, including discussion whether these claims remain individual under the New Civil Code. The third chapter, as the core of the whole thesis, describes the method of determining the amount of compensation for non-pecuniary damage caused by bodily injury, particularly in relation to the Methodology of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic issued for the purpose...

Damage to health as an interference with personal rights protection The purpose of this thesis is to describe the kinds of claims arising to the damaged parties in cases of unjustified interference with personal rights, especially in cases of bodily harm. This thesis comprises four chapters, where the first chapter provides brief overview of the legislation regulating personality rights and rights to protection of health in the Czech Republic. Chapter two provides more detailed overview of personality rights and rights to protection of health of an individual in the current Civil Code and it also serves as theoretical basis for the following chapters. Chapter two especially describes the content of personality rights and rights to the health of the individual, and identifies the parties entitled to sue and having the capacity to be sued. Chapter two also describes the circumstances under which the interference with the protection of personality is permissible and also the means of protection of personal rights which the damaged individual has. The essential part of this thesis is focused on the relation of the (non)pecuniary claims arising from the unjustified interference of personal rights protection pursuant to sec. 11 and following of the Civil Code and the damages to compensate physical injury...

ABSTRACT! ! ! In the present thesis, I focus on the comprehensive legal framework for the legal instrument of compensation for non-pecuniary harm that was sustained by secondary victim(s), i.e., a person or persons not affected directly who are close relatives to primary victims, differing from primary victims whose interest is secured by article 2958 of the Civil Code (designated as smart money and compensation for aggravation of social position). It is these secondary (indirect) victims who sustain non-material harm through mental suffering that is a natural reaction to the death or grave injury of the primary victim who is their close relative. They are also provided for by law by means of the special provision of article 2959 of the Civil Code, which allows them to seek adequate pecuniary settlement from the offender, aimed at mitigating the pain upon either the loss of a close relative or their permanent and irreversible grave impairment that requires permanent care. ! ! First of all, I produced a thorough analysis of the specific legal instrument in its current legal arrangement; then, I compared this arrangement to that of the 1964 edition of the Civil Code. In particular, I defined legal reasons for the inception of this pecuniary compensation, particular the criteria for objective assessments,...