Protection of Victims of Crime Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the issue of protection of victims of crime. The first chapter is focused on victimology - a branch of criminology that scientifically studies the relationship between a victim and an offender. This chapter also deals with various historical and current approaches in victimology. The partial goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the theoretical background, which should provide the reader with a basis for understanding the position of victims, protection of victims and their role in criminal proceedings, which are discussed in the following chapters. The second chapter deals with the phenomenon of the victim of crime. This chapter analyzes the concept of the victim of crime, compares the definition of the victim in the law of the Czech Republic and in the law of the European Union. It also deals with society's response to crime, the relationship between society and the victim, and some misconceptions about the so-called ideal victim. The relationship between society and the victim can be key to the victim's willingness to report committing of crime to law enforcement authorities, so I pay close attention to it. The third chapter deals with the individual rights of victims under the Act on Victims of Crime. The aim of the work...

The topic of my thesis is Assistance to victims of crime. I have chosen this topic for its importance in our era full of violence and crime. It is an issue interesting not only for lawyers but for many other different professions and public in general. My goal was to lay out as much information as possible and talk about some problematic spots regarding the rights of victims and their position not only in the criminal procedure. The first part of my thesis is focused on brief explanation of the history and development of the relatively young science - victimology and basic terms used in victimology. Significant part of the first chapter covers analysis of one simple word "victim". The following part of this paper tries to examine individual elements of the complex assistance provided to crime victims. The third chapter discusses possibilities of financial support to the victims from the government when it is impossible to obtain reparation from the offender. Many countries, including the Czech Republic, have enacted appropriate laws and have also become signatories of the European Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes. The following chapter is concerned with the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the field of crime victim assistance and their cooperation with the...

This diploma thesis deals with the particularly vulnerable victims of crime and their protection within criminal proceedings. The situation of victim protection is one of the emerging trends in the area of criminal law and because it is a topic that has just recently been addressed by the legal order, there is a room for its assessment and an analysis of problematic areas of concerning legislation. The aim of this thesis is to clarify current legislation regarding the legal position and protection of particularly vulnerable victims of crime that is set out in Act no. 45/2013 Coll., on Victims of Crime. The text is divided into five chapters that are further divided into sub-chapters and the research was done mainly through legislation, explanatory memorandums and concerning comments, specific legal literature and legal journal articles. The first chapter is concerning the historical development, leading to the current legislation regarding the protection of victims of crime within the Czech legal order as well as the international legal order. The second chapter defines important terms for this thesis (victim and particularly vulnerable victim) as stated in the current legislation. It also shortly describes the term criminal proceedings and its specifications in the context of the legal position of...

The thesis deals with the protection of victims of crimes, especially from the point of view of the formal aspect of their guarantee. The aim of the thesis is to identify the rights of victims belonging to such persons by law, taking into account the shortcomings of the law adopted for the protection of victims and its subsequent amendment, together with the concrete implications for the status of the victim. For this purpose, the work is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is devoted to the necessary definition of the concepts that are crucial to this work, such as the victim, the victim and the particularly vulnerable victim, as well as the determination of the basic distinguishing features between the concepts of crime victim and the victim. The second chapter deals with the legislative development of the protection of victims of crime, at international, European and Czech level. At the same time, this chapter briefly summarizes the legislative development of the adoption of the first independent law on the protection of victims in the territory of the Czech Republic. The third chapter presents the most important shortcomings of the original wording of the Act on the Protection of Victims, which have been widely criticized by the authors of the said law and which have been manifested...

The chosen topic for this MastersThesis is "Assistance to Victims of Crime" - primarily due to its growing social significance. Society as a whole should not turn a blind eye to the serious impact of crime, focusing only on the punishment of convicted criminals; it should also focus on assistance to those harmed and affected by crime. Criminals usually commit crimes with a strong conscious awareness of their misbehaviour, while victims have no similar expectation; for them, a criminal event is like something "out of the blue". The shocking and traumatic impact following the crime, is something unbelievable for one who never had such an experience; hence, the return back to normal life is often very difficult for victims of crime. A society which aspires to be modern and developed should make this return as easy as possible, implementing a series of measures in the field of assistance. My goal was to describe the possibilities which exist in this area but also to concentrate on the current legislation, especially on new rights being brought into practice by the new Victims of Crime Assistance Act No 45/2013 Coll. The Thesis consists of eight chapters including an Introduction and a Conclusion. The first part is dedicated to victimology, a part of criminology that comprises a scientific study focused on...

The thesis focuses on the assistance to crime victims, mostly in terms of Czech legislation, its compliance with the European legislation and its application in real life, it does, however, provide historical and theoretical explanation about crime victims. The thesis reflects the legislation, that is in effect at the time. The main aim of the thesis is to offer a comprehensive view on the issue of assistance to victims, to analyse and evaluate the legislation of victims' rights, especially under the Victims of Crime Act, and to assess the benefits of its first major amendment. The last goal of the thesis is to evaluate the current quality of assistance provided to crime victims. The thesis consists of five parts, in addition it also contains an introduction and a conclusion. The first part offers historical and international insight into the assistance of crime victims and details how this field has evolved over the last hundred years. It also places the issue into historical context while analysing international requirements laid down by the Council of Europe, the European Union and the United Nations. Part 2 explains legal terms "victim" and "injured party", providing a comparison of these two terms with a view toward their use in subsequent chapters of this thesis. Part 3 contains theoretical...

The thesis concerns two pathways for legal intervention in cases of suspected child abuse at the hands of parents. One pathway is based on social law, where society's utmost tool is child protective custody. The other pathway is criminal law, where the abuse is investigated and enforced as a criminal offence. Sometimes only one of these pathways becomes relevant, sometimes both. The purpose of the thesis is to examine and analyse the regulatory framework and its practical application, and to highlight what the two pathways of intervention can accomplish in relation to the child victim's rights and interests. In the case of child abuse, the (legal) relationship between parents and children - and between children, parents and society - is brought to a head. The study demonstrates that many complex legal issues arise when the person subjecting the child to violence and abuse is the same person who under family law answers for the child's protection, care and representation. It is inter alia noted that the concept "best interests of the child" is interpreted somewhat freely, which can risk overriding the legal rights of the child victim. It is concluded that, in order to secure the child victim's legal protection, the regulation needs many small enhancements, each tailored to the problem conditions.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Les victimes d’actes criminels, dans notre système de justice pénale, vivent un sentiment d’injustice face à la façon dont elles sont traitées dans le cadre du procès. Nous sommes passés d’un système de droit pénal, où la victime était à la fois l’instigatrice et le point central, à un système où la victime s’est vue reléguer au seul plan de témoin. Notre système l’a évincé en devenant un système bi-partie ou le litige se situe entre l’État et l’accusé. Plusieurs raisons ont mené à ce changement, entre autre la présomption d’innocence et il n’est pas question de revenir en arrière à un système barbare. Toutefois, il est impossible de ne pas voir les conséquences néfastes que la situation actuelle engendre. Ce sentiment d’injustice mène assurément à une perte de confiance des victimes et par conséquent de la population en notre système. Il faut donc rééquilibrer la situation et redonner un certain sentiment de justice aux victimes. Certaines tentatives ont été faites par le gouvernement, mais ce n’est pas suffisant. Un simple énoncé de principes ne peut pas remédier à tout, il doit s’agir d’actions plus concrètes. Nous proposons que ces actions doivent être d’inclure la victime dans les protections constitutionnelles à l’instar de l’accusé et de lui octroyer un statut de participant lors du procès. / Victims in today’s criminal justice system are living with feelings of injustice because of the way they are treated during their trials. We have gone from a system where the victim was the instigator of the proceedings, to one where he is relegated to simply being the victim. Our system has ousted them by involving only two parties: the State and the accused. This change happened for many reasons, the main one being the presumption of innocence and, therefore, returning to a barbaric system is out of the question. However, it is impossible not to see the negative consequences of the current system. The injustice felt by the victims leads to a loss of confidence in our criminal justice system, not only by the victims themselves, but by the general population as well. Consequently, there is an important need to rebalance the system and help victims recover the sense of justice that they have lost. There have been attempts by the Government, however they have revealed themselves to be insufficient. A government policy statement cannot be the only solution, concrete action is required. We propose that these actions should be to constitutionally protect victims’ rights, similarly to those of the accused and make the victim an active participant during criminal trials.