Doctor Legum - LLD / The thesis draws on the author's own contribution to a co-authored text Wolhuter, et al, 2009), which was aimed at introducing students to the legal landscape pertaining to victims' rights in England and Wales. All the arguments presented and issues addressed in this contribution constitute the author's own work, and were developed without any form of collaboration with the co-authors. While the thesis incorporates the basic issues that arose for consideration in the author's contribution to this text, it goes beyond this contribution to develop a systematic framework for the recognition of enforceable victims' rights flowing from the overarching rules of EU law. The thesis explores the extent to which the entrenchment in English law of enforceable rights for victims of crime in general, and socially unequal victims in particular, will reduce secondary victimisation at the hands of criminal justice agencies. The absence of such rights in English law constitutes a significant lacuna in the state’s responses to victims, particularly in light of the recent recognition of enforceable victims’ rights in EU law. The thesis accordingly seeks to contribute to the generation of a victims' rights discourse in the UK, with the aim of encouraging the introduction of enforceable rights for victims. To this end, it engages in a comparative analysis of victims' rights in EU law, European human rights law and American law. It contends that the United Kingdom ought to agree to be bound by the Draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (2011, the "Victims' Directive"), which will render the victims' rights enshrined therein directly enforceable in national courts. In addition, it considers each of the rights in the Framework Decision on the standing of victims in criminal proceedings (2001/220/JHA), and its prospective successor, the Victims' Directive, including the rights to information, respect and recognition, protection, participation and compensation, pointing to ways in which these rights may be given full effect in English law. In particular, the thesis advocates the recognition of active victim participation to empower victims in the pre-trial and trial processes. It maintains that the models of active victim participation in German and Swedish law, namely auxiliary prosecution and victims’ lawyers, reduce secondary victimisation, particularly for vulnerable victims of serious offences, and ought to be introduced in English law. The thesis also evaluates the position of socially unequal victims, namely women victims of gender-based violence, minority ethnic victims of racially and religiously motivated crime, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") victims of homophobic and transphobic crime, and victims of elder abuse. It locates these victims within the framework of international and European human rights law, and recommends reforms to English law that would facilitate and enhance their exercise of the victims' rights that it advocates. The thesis concludes by delineating the contours of a victims' rights' model, which encompasses the recognition of victims' rights as enforceable human rights, the correlation of these rights with the right to freedom from discrimination, and the introduction of active procedural rights in the pre-trial and trial processes.

Le législateur cherche à favoriser l'indemnisation des victimes de certains types de dommages comme le démontre la mise en place de plus en plus régulière des fonds d'indemnisation. Cette multiplication n'est pourtant pas le gage d'un respect des droits des victimes, qui a priori favorisées, doivent parfois faire des sacrifices discutables. S'il nous faut admettre que les victimes sont aujourd'hui mieux indemnisées, les liens entre les fonds d'indemnisation et les droits des victimes apparaissent ambigus. Des questions demeurent. Les victimes sont-elles égales face aux fonds d'indemnisation? Le système instauré hors des prétoires ne vient-il pas porter atteinte à des droits jugés essentiels? Il s'agit alors de confronter aux mécanismes établis le respect des droits des victimes. Si, effectivement, les fonds d'indemnisation permettent aux victimes un accès à l'indemnisation rendu difficile par les règles du droit commun, il apparaît que l'indemnisation des victimes se révèle perfectible. À tous les stades de la procédure, de profondes inégalités sont mises en lumière entre les victimes relevant d'un fonds, entre ces dernières et les victimes du droit commun, mais également entre les fonds d'indemnisation et les victimes demanderesses. Ainsi, un fonds d'indemnisation unique, garantie d'un système plus égalitaire et plus cohérent, doit être proposé afin de faire des fonds d'indemnisation une véritable alternative pour les victimes. / Lawmakers tend to favor the victims of certain kind of damages as evidenced by the growing establishment of compensation funds. However, this multiplication doesn't guarantee respect for victims' rights. Although they seem to be favored at first sight, sometimes the victims have to make questionable sacrifices. Admittedly, victims are compensated better nowadays; however, the links between the compensation fund and the rights of victims appear equivocal. Some questions remain.Are victims treated equally before compensation funds? Does this system impair essential rights?An analysis of respect for the victims' rights by the compensation funds is required. Even though compensation funds offer to the victims an easier access to compensation, the mechanism turns outto be improvable. Deep inequalities are highlighted between victims of a same funds between those and the victims of the ordinary law, but also between the compensation funds and the plaintiff victims. Thus, a more egalitarian and more coherent system should be offered to make compensation funds a real alternative for the victims.

This thesis focuses on legal protection of victims of human trafficking in Sweden. Human trafficking involves the exploitation of often already vulnerable individuals and is a violation of their human rights. Human trafficking is also a threat to state security as a component of transnational organized crime and illegal migration, and has therefore long been a subject of international cooperation.      In this thesis international responses to human trafficking are categorized as being focused on two distinct and separately protected parties, namely the individual and the state. The implementation of these international responses have, in the case of Sweden, mainly led to new criminal regulation relating to human trafficking, and in this thesis international as well as Swedish legal measures against human trafficking are analyzed from a victimological perspective. The overall aim is to investigate and analyze whether victims of trafficking have received an enhanced legal protection through Swedish criminal law.      The thesis shows that human trafficking is not considered a problem in the Swedish legislative context, and that the international measures to protect victims of trafficking have not been regarded to any great extent. Few victims of trafficking in Sweden are even identified as victims, and measures against human trafficking have largely been associated with measures against prostitution. To legally connect human trafficking with prostitution is, however, problematic because these crimes have different primary protective interests and the victims have different roles in the investigation and litigation process. From a victim's perspective, the categorization of the crime is crucial because the status of plaintiff, as is required for the possibility for financial redress and other legal rights, is assessed in Sweden by how the offense is classified. It is therefore important for the victims of human trafficking to be identified and categorized correctly in order to be defined as plaintiffs and obtain protection under criminal law. As a result of all these factors, the intended enhanced legal protection for victims of trafficking in Sweden is lost.

Magister Legum - LLM / This study assesses the development ofvictims' rights in the legislative and policy framework in South Africa. It is argued that although victims' rights are recognised more has to be done to concretise these rights.

Rights of the victims of crimes and options of their employment during the criminal proceedings Abstract This master's thesis inquires into crime victims' rights, their status in the criminal proceedings and actual employability of their guaranteed rights. It contains a brief history of development of the legislative concerning the topic. My thesis comes to a conclusion that especially in the last fifty years, the status and range of crime victims' rights has been constantly improving. Crime victim is becoming less and less just a bearer of evidence of the crime and is more and more becoming an active subject of the criminal proceedings, on which they also have their interest. With the passing of the new Crime Victims' Rights Act, the Czech legal system was enriched by a wide array of victims' rights that provides special care and approach from the state and its authorities. In the heart of the new act is the victim as a target of an undeserved attack in the form of a crime and as such is entitled to help. Necessary help provided to the victim is not only specialized psychological and social assistance, but also straightforward financial help and a kind and understanding approach. One of the main goals of the Crime Victims' Rights Act is prevention and protection from the secondary victimization, which is...

In recent decades the Swedish legislature has increasingly focused on the treatment of victims of crime and the information they receive. Victimology research has also shown the importance of treating victims with respect and of keeping them informed of their rights and the progress of their case throughout the process. The requirements thus set have to be met by all judicial actors, which presuppose a level of cooperation among them. Cooperation therefore constitutes one way of meeting victims' needs. In the current study these three factors; information, good treatment and cooperation, are referred to as victims’ rights.           Studies have shown that victims experience shortcomings in the legal process regarding information and treatment. The causes of these shortcomings can be multiple, but from a legal point of view, however, the issue raises the question of whether there may be potential legal difficulties involved in incorporating adequate information and good treatment of crime victims into the judicial process. The purpose of this thesis is to study and analyse victims’ rights in the judicial process. As they are not without a legal context, these victims’ rights are analysed in relation to other legislation, principles and requirements that govern the functions of the judicial system, such as the duty of the police, prosecutors and courts to act objectively, conduct their work independently, and run an efficient legal process. The main question is whether the incorporation of victims’ rights conflicts with other rules and legal principles.         The study concludes, inter alia, that victims’ rights concerning the treatment of victims and coordination of the work with victims is vaguely regulated and the intended meaning of the requirements are not clear, which may lead to problems when these requirements are incorporated into the justice system. Regarding information, treatment of victims and coordination and cooperation, little guidance is given about how to incorporate this at the local level. Informational requirements are expressed more clearly in the legislation, but how and to what extent information to victims should be given can still be a matter of interpretation on the part of the actors. The existence of local differences is therefore likely, which can affect the actual support that individual victims gain access to. The legislature could choose to further clarify and elaborate upon how victims’ rights issues relate to other aspects of the judicial process, how priorities or balancing of interests should be handled as well as to reveal the underlying motives for such considerations. Such clarification could possibly increase the consistency of the incorporation of victims’ rights, and transform abstract goals into concrete actions.

Recent policies in England and Wales and the United States have recognised for the first time enforcement mechanisms for victims of crime under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA) in the United States as well the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime in England and Wales (the Code). Although very different from one another, these policies ostensibly aimed to provide a stronger commitment to victims’ rights, by recognising an accessible, timely and impartial process that recognises accountability and provides individual remedies in cases of breaches. This thesis engages in a careful in-depth analysis of these mechanisms and their implementation based on elite qualitative interviews, case law analysis and a multidisciplinary examination of the relevant literature. It argues that on the whole, these mechanisms have presented a number of limitations, and thus in many respects cannot and have not delivered accessible, and timely means to respond to victims’ rights breaches. Most importantly, it demonstrates that for certain types of breaches and in certain contextual settings, these mechanisms have recognised only limited or no redress at all for breaches. This research takes the available victims’ literature further by arguing that many of these promises have been closer to rhetoric than reality and providing a more nuanced portrait of the substantial difficulties and limitations that relate to these enforcement mechanisms. In effect, these limitations can be understood in light of the nature and structural components of these selected mechanisms, as well as the ways they have been implemented by the main actors involved in these processes and the different contexts under which the different types of breaches take place. Finally, despite their limitations, when compared to one another, each mechanism can be considered a better option for access, timeliness and redress – depending on context and the type of breach. Following from this analysis, a complementary approach is developed which can facilitate and increase opportunity for redress for a wider range of situations. It is important to bear in mind however the limits of the complementary approach; namely, that it only includes elements inspired from the two mechanisms examined in this thesis and that there are several limitations that relate to transplants and policy transfers.

Face aux préjudices irréparables engendrés par les crimes internationaux, le droit international, hormis les cas de poursuites devant la CPI et la pratique des commissions et fonds d'indemnisation des N.U, fait ponce-Pilate au droit interne pour la mise en oeuvre du droit à réparation des victimes de ces crimes. Une hypocrisie qui s'affirme notamment à travers des pratiques d'assistance humanitaire. Le droit interne des Etats quant à lui, fait un recours systématique à son système classique pour la mise en oeuvre de ce droit. Cet attrait pour le système classique tranche pourtant avec les facteurs matériels du droit en cette matière où le contexte des crimes, l'ampleur des préjudices, la vastitude des victimes et les fluctuations de la qualité des auteurs l'ont presque plongé dans la désuétude. C'est ce qui a fait émerger la quête d'un paradigme d'efficacité dont l'expérience de la justice transitionnelle et de la justice réparatrice constituent « l'essai ». La discussion sur l'efficacité des résultats de cet essai conduit l'observateur averti à la conclusion qu'il y a encore du chemin. Pour la RDC, contre l'aporie du droit classique face aux souffrances des victimes des crimes internationaux, cette étude propose la construction d'une politique criminelle basée sur une approche holistique de la réparation. L'approche holistique impliquant, ici, une réaction globaliste face aux préjudices subis par les victimes des crimes internationaux. Préjudices multiformes pour lesquels les réponses en termes de réparation doivent relever d'une appréhension globale du droit, reposant sur l'interdisciplinarité et l'ouverture à la « technologie sociale ». / Faced with the irreparable prejudices arising from international crimes, except for the cases being prosecuted at the ICC and the processes of various Commissions and reparations funds of the UN, international law has been pontius-pilating when it comes implementing under domestic laws the rights of victims to reparations. This hypocrisy is particularly highlighted by the use of humanitarian aid. Domestic laws have systematically resorted to traditional practices to implement this right. This inclination towards traditional approaches is indeed at variance with the material elements of the law on reparations in as much as the context of the crimes, the scope of the damage, the vast number of victims and fluctuations in the types of perpetrators have simply made the traditional systems obsolete. Whence the quest for an efficiency paradigm hinged on «attempts» within transitional justice and reparations justice. Analyses of these attempts by experts reveal that a lot still has to be done. In the case of the DRC, and mindful of the shortcomings of the traditional legal system in mitigating the suffering of victims of international crimes, this study proposes a holistic approach to the development of a criminal reparations policy. This holistic approach requires a global response to the damage suffered by victims of international crimes. The reparations response to these multidimensional prejudices must reflect a global understanding of the law based on interdisciplinary and «social technology» considerations.

Magister Legum - LLM / Crime victims once played a prominent role in the criminal justice system. Historically, victims who sought to bring their wrongdoers to justice conducted their own investigations and argued their own cases or employed others to do so. As time passed, a distinction was drawn between offences against the social order and disputes between individuals. Crime control became a function of government and the state increased its responsibility for the investigation and punishment of criminal conduct. Gradually, the victim was removed from the proceedings and relegated to serving as a witness for the state. The assumption was that the state, whilst representing the interests of society, would represent the interests of the victim also. This fallacy provided the foundation for a criminal justice which, until recently, encourage victim exclusion. In recent years, there has been a clear trend towards re-introducing the right of victims to participate in the criminal justice process. This international trend has been labelled the „return of the victim‟. In South Africa, the Constitution and, in particular, the Bill of Rights contained therein underscore the move towards procedural rights for victims of crime. Moreover, the South African government has taken significant legislative steps to ensure that victims have formal rights in criminal justice proceedings. However, to date, comparatively little attention has been paid to the question of whether or not victims should be allowed a meaningful role in the process of plea and sentence negotiations. One of the aims of this study is to determine whether victims‟ rights are properly understood, defined and implemented within the criminal justice system. In particular, this study aims to clarify the rights of victims who find themselves affiliated with a specific stage of criminal prosecution, namely, negotiated justice.

La recherche s’intéresse aux rapports qu’entretiennent le droit de l’UE et les systèmes répressifs nationaux italien et français. Elle vise notamment à analyser les problèmes posés par l’influence croissante des sources européennes sur l’exercice par les Etats du droit de punir. Elle analyse également la compatibilité des obligations européennes de punir par rapport au principe de la légalité des délits et des peines, consacré au niveau constitutionnel en Italie et en France. En effet, quoiqu’issus d’une même tradition romano-germanique, ces deux systèmes semblent consacrer des conceptions sensiblement différentes du principe de la légalité. Par exemple, alors que le droit italien conçoit la légalité surtout comme relevant de la loi au sens formel, le système français semble insister sur la clarté, l’intelligibilité et l’accessibilité de la norme pénale qui seules peuvent en assurer la prévisibilité. Compte tenu de la pratique de la Cour de Justice d'interpréter le droit européen selon les traditions communes aux États membres, la comparaison entre les systèmes juridiques de deux États membres permettra de mieux apprécier les choix opérés dans le cadre de l'harmonisation européenne en matière pénale.Une fois le principe défini, la deuxième partie du travail se concentre sur la possibilité d'utiliser les obligations de criminalisation et la primauté du droit de l'Union pour protéger les droits fondamentaux des victimes. A ce propos le travail vise à un équilibre entre légalité pénale et protection effective des droits fondamentaux qui découlent de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme et de la Charte des droits fondamentaux de l’Union européenne.Descripteurs : Principe de légalité des délits et des peines, obligations d’incrimination ; droit pénal comparé ; droit pénal européen ; droits fondamentaux ; droits des victimes. / The research focuses on the influence of the EU competence in criminal law on Italian and French criminal systems. More specifically it refers to the impact of this competence on the traditional principle of legality and on individual safeguards it represents. The first part deals with the increasing Union’s power to impose specific obligations of criminalization in relation to the fundamental principle of legality in criminal law. This principle acquires different meanings according to different national systems. While in Italy it is mainly conceived as a statute monopoly, France considers clarity, ascertainability and foreseeability of criminal norms as the main aspect. The research analyses whether it is possible to set aside certain national specific features in order to achieve a new European common definition of the principle of legality. Given the practice of the Court of Justice to interpret Union law according to traditions common to Member States, the research has been conducted following a comparative approach. A comparative analysis makes it possible to better assess the choices made by the European Union towards harmonization in criminal matters.The second part of the thesis concerns the possibility to use EU obligations of criminalization and the primacy of Union law to protect fundamental interest, in particular fundamental rights of victims. The research aims therefore at finding a compromise between the legality principle in criminal law and an effective protection of fundamental rights stemming from the European Convention of Human Rights and the Charter of fundamental rights of the EU.Keywords: Principle of legality ; obligations of criminalisation ; comparative criminal law ; EU criminal law ; fundamental rights; victims’ rights.