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Punishment of house arrest, its execution and control Abstract This thesis deals with the punishment of house arrest. It describes the legal regulation of this punishment, further evaluates the practice and draws attention to the shortcomings. The thesis first defines the Czech system of punishments imposed for criminal offenses and describes the position of the punishment of house arrest in this system and its relationship to other punishments. The thesis further analyzes the substantive legislation of the punishment of house arrest in the Criminal Code, explains the ambiguities in the regulation and tries to recommend changes that could benefit this regulation. Moreover, the thesis deals with the legal regulation of the conversion of a punishment of house arrest sentence into a custodial sentence, which occurs when the execution of the punishment of house arrest sentence is violated. In addition, it deals with the legal regulation of the conversion of other punishments into the punishment of house arrest, draws attention to its shortcomings and proposes changes. In addition to the substantive legislation, the work also describes the execution of punishment of house arrest and all related cases where the punishment of house arrest cannot be executed. Furthermore, in this work, two ways of control of the...

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Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world. The state aims to reduce the prevalence of crime mainly by sentencing offenders to imprisonment. In turn the goal of imprisonment is to rehabilitate offenders so that they can refrain from reoffending and be reintegrated into society. Unfortunately, due to various factors which exist inside and outside of prisons, rehabilitation and reintegration is difficult to achieve. The study unpacks the perennial question of whether or not the state has a legal duty to reintegrate offenders into society. This question looms particularly, during the post-release phase of offenders’ life. Preliminary indications are that the state currently views reintegration as a ‘societal responsibility.’ This study intends to determine whether or not the state has a legal duty to reintegrate offenders and provide them with support even after their release from imprisonment.

Imposing punishments on adults Abstract This thesis deals with the imposition of punishments on adult offenders. The introductory chapters are devoted first to the definition of the concept of punishment and its position in relation to protections measures, and then to the system of punishment, within which the different types of punishment and their classification according to various criteria are discussed. A substantial part of the work is devoted to the interpretation of the issue of the purpose of punishment, which is the starting point for the imposition of punishment. The purpose of punishment is described using the three main theories of punishment, namely retributive, utilitarian and mixed theories. These theories, their approach to the purpose of punishment and their historical development are discussed in more detail, including their various modifications. This chapter also deals with the purpose of punishment in the Czech legal system and, in connection, with the question of the primary and secondary purpose of punishment. This chapter also includes a separate discussion of the issue of general and individual prevention, which is important in terms of distinguishing the different approaches to the purpose of punishment according to the above-mentioned theories of punishment. Closely related to...

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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.

Previous research has demonstrated that judicial instructions on the law are not well understood by jurors tasked with applying the law to the facts of a case. The past research has also shown that jurors are often confused by the instructions used in the sentencing phase of a capital trial. Social scientists have used two different methods to improve juror understanding of legal instructions, psycholinguistic rewrites and bias-reduction techniques. Psycholinguistic rewrites of legal instructions have been shown consistently to improve juror comprehension of general legal instructions and instructions used in the sentencing phase of a capital trial, however, there has been a call in the literature to not only improve the clarity of judicial instructions but to address comprehension biases that interfere with jurors? ability to understand the instructions. Because a bias-reduction approach has received limited empirical testing and has never been tested on capital-sentencing instructions, this research sought to test the effectiveness of a bias-reduction approach with those instructions. Participants were randomly assigned to hear either Florida's pattern instructions used in the penalty phase of a capital trial or the same instructions with additional statements that mentioned and refuted biases thought to be associated with established areas of miscomprehension. After participants heard the judicial instructions, their understanding of the law on capital punishment decision-making was assessed. Additionally, the participants were asked to render a verdict in a hypothetical case. The results revealed that comprehension was higher for participants exposed to the bias-refutation statements than for participants who were exposed to only the pattern instructions. Among all participants, greater understanding of capital sentencing instructions was associated with an increased likelihood that mock jurors recommended a life sentence, but this observed association was not statistically significant when examining capital-juror eligible participants. The results of this study suggest that efforts should be undertaken to improve specific areas of Florida's capital sentencing instructions.

La détermination de la peine par les juges est un processus complexe. Les circonstances aggravantes et atténuantes reliées à l’infraction et à l’accusé influencent la peine imposée. L’inclusion de certaines considérations légales est également nécessaire dans l’évaluation de la sentence. En effet, l’instauration de peines minimales obligatoires peut impacter la sévérité des peines imposées par les juges à travers le temps. Nous discuterons de la détermination de la peine d’une infraction particulière afin d’analyser et de comprendre plus en profondeur les facteurs qui la composent. Une infraction qui a largement pris de l’ampleur dans les deux dernières décennies est la pornographie juvénile (PJ). Cette infraction numérique a d’ailleurs subi des transformations au niveau légal, technologique et social. Cette étude vise à comprendre le processus décisionnel des juges lors de la détermination de la peine dans les cas de PJ au Canada. Il s’agit d’effectuer une analyse des circonstances légales et pénales sur lesquelles ils se basent. L’échantillon est formé de 168 jugements écrits et disponibles en accès libre faisant mention des sentences imposées par les juges pour des infractions de possession et/ou d’accès de PJ commises entre 1999 et 2019. Les différentes analyses effectuées permettent de constater une certaine variation de la sévérité des peines d’emprisonnement à travers les années. L’ajout des peines minimales obligatoires a fortement influencé cette variation. Mis à part cet ajustement, les résultats suggèrent que des circonstances mentionnées par les juges sont prises en compte lors de la détermination de la peine. Or, on remarque que la majorité des facteurs atténuants ne font pas varier la peine de prison imposée, à l’exception de la présence d’un support familial/amical chez le délinquant. Des facteurs aggravants sont considérés par les juges lors de la détermination de la peine, tel que le nombre de vidéos saisis, la présence d'antécédents judiciaires, l'investissement personnel du délinquant dans sa collection de PJ ainsi que l’absence de remords. Cette étude offre la première évaluation des facteurs déterminants de la peine des accusés de pornographie juvénile au Canada. / Sentencing is a complex process. Aggravating and mitigating circumstances related to the offence and the accused influence the sentence. The inclusion of certain legal considerations is also necessary in the assessment of the sentence. Indeed, the adoption of mandatory minimum sentences in Canada may impact the severity of sentences imposed by judges over time. We will discuss the sentencing of a particular offence to further analyze and understand the factors that compose it. One offence that has grown significantly in the last two decades is child pornography (CP). This digital offence has been subject to legal, technological, and social transformations. The purpose of this study is to understand the decision-making process of judges at sentencing in CP cases in Canada. The objective is to analyze the legal and penal circumstances on which they base their decisions. The sample is made up of 168 written judgments available in open access mentioning the sentences imposed by judges, for offences of possession and/or access of CP committed between 1999 and 2019. The various analyses conducted show a certain variation in the severity of prison sentences over the years. The addition of mandatory minimum sentences strongly influenced this variation. Apart from this adjustment, the results suggest that circumstances mentioned are considered during sentencing. However, we note that most mitigating factors do not vary the prison sentence imposed, except for the presence of a social support. Aggravating factors are considered by judges when determining the sentence, such as the number of videos seized, the presence of a criminal record, the offender's personal investment in his PJ collection and the absence of remorse. This study provides the first assessment of sentencing factors for child pornography accused in Canada.