This thesis is concerned with the issues of unconditional imprisonment with the focus on early release of prisoners. A comparison of legal framework in the Czech Republic and the Great Britain is provided. The first chapter deals with the meaning and objectives of punishment. It shows a history of legal theories in the world and the Czech Republic as well. The following chapter provides an explanation of these legal theories in the Czech legislature as basic sentencing principles. Moving further into the detail it provides a legal framework of unconditional imprisonment in the Czech Republic. The third chapter gives a brief look at the history of legal framework of imprisonment on the international, European and national level. The thesis gives a thorough examination of the early release in the Czech law in its first main part. It evaluates its advantages, disadvantages and implications. The same process is made in the second main part of the thesis concerning the early release in Common law using the doctrine of judicial precedent. Following that evaluation a comparison of particular legal institutes of the early release is provided. Recommendations for improvement of the Czech legal framework are mentioned in the last part of the thesis. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Do Constitutional Court's rulings bind lower courts? Doctrinal and empirical perspectives Abstract Czech doctrinal researchers conclude that decisions of the Czech Constitutional Court are - at least in some respect - bind lower courts pro futuro. Although continental legal systems do not officially subscribe to a doctrine of precedent, a quasi-precedential role of the jurisprudence of higher courts is often defended by theorists. However, this theory of quasi-precedent has never been empirically tested in the Czech Republic. This dissertation constitutes a first such attempt as it examines whether courts actually decide in practice according to the jurisprudence of the Czech Constitutional Court. Specifically, it focuses on a guideline decision by the Czech Constitutional Court on parole decisions made in 2018. The guideline decision emphasized that parole decisions - made by courts in the Czech legal system and not by parole boards or committees - constitute a systemic problem since they are poorly reasoned and as a result they are ambiguous and not persuasive. The guideline decision in detail stated what reasons can be used to justify parole decision and how various factors, such as previous convictions, should be interpreted when deciding on parole. This dissertation studies two groups of first-level...

TITLE: Work with offenders and victims of crime in the agenda of a probation worker AUTHOR: Mgr. Martin Jelínek DEPARTMENT: Faculty of Education SUPERVISOR: doc. PaedDr. Eva Šotolová, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The thesis presents the agenda of the Probation and Mediation Service and it's approach to offenders and victims of crime in the agenda of probation workers. It focuses on the area of re-offending and the possibility of reducing reoffending through appropriate follow-up services for conditionally released persons with probation supervision. The thesis analyses the problems resulting in the unsuccessful reconciliation of persons released from prison, in accordance with the aim of the thesis based on combined research (respondents were all probation workers in the Czech republic), as well as proposing possibilities for further development of work with conditionally released persons with probation supervision, and suggests systematic measures that could reduce the risk and rate of re-offending. These measures relate to the areas of dependency, employment, and education. KEYWORDS: Probation, mediation, imprisonment, re-offending, resocialisation, conditional release

The concept of social innovation is increasingly becoming a subject of interest particularly due to the challenges associated with the crisis of the welfare state. The high rate of ex- offending is an example of a current challenge and mentoring is a social innovation which seeks to take up this challenge. The main goal of this thesis is to interrogate the process of social innovation using mentoring of ex-offenders as an example and to explore mentoring and its implementation within the Czech Republic. The theory of the process of social innovation, as documented in the overseas literature, guided the extensive research conducted in Czech non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide mentoring approach. The empirical part of this thesis provides a valuable insight into the process of social innovation from NGO perspective. It includes a comprehensive description of developmental stages of the process as well as highlights the limitations that NGOs encounter in implementing mentoring in the Czech Republic.

The Share of the Civil Element in the Criminal Decision-Making Procedure Key words: civil element, Comission for Conditional Release (parole), Ministry of Justice, probation and mediation service, assessors, associate judges, criminal proceedings This paper examines the share of the civil element in the criminal decision-making procedure. The aim is to introduce and analyze the institute that has been introduced in the Czech judiciary in the mid-19th -century - the associate judge, as well as the new institute, under which civil representatives can assess applications for release on probation. It further focuses on the Ministry of Justice's intention to introduce the Parole Board, which could single handedly decide about probation in the future. The paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter offers a historical exposé of the institute of the associate judge, devoting particular attention to the reasons which led the legislative authority to implement this civil element. The second chapter discusses the current status quo, the system, and the benefits of associate judges. Accent is placed on the legislative enactment of the share of the civil element in the criminal decision- making procedure and then on the merits and importance of their judicial participation in criminal matters. The...

The diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of the effects of probation work and brings new knowledge about their effectiveness. It presents data obtained using semi-structured interviews with six probation officers and six former clients of the Probation and Mediation Service. The aim of the research is to identify and map the factors that lead to effective probation work and whether, or to what extent, the view of officials with the views of clients in their views on these factors and their use coincides. The main results include that the most significant factor influencing cooperation is the human approach of officials to clients, their support and positive motivation. The effectiveness of probation work very significantly affects the client's internal motivation to change his current situation and lead a proper lifestyle, this internal motivation is a significant element that results in the termination of an individual's criminal career. A significant finding concerns the excessive workload of probation officers, mainly in the territory of Prague, which prevents more intensive cooperation and thus greater success of probation supervision.

The thesis focuses on the socio-educational work methods of the probation and mediation services and of its workers in relation to their clients with imposed probation supervision and on the opportunities for development and support of their healthy social functioning. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. In the theoretical part initially are defined the basic concepts and terms, then it is described the target group of conditionally released from prison clients, which currently are under supervision of a probation officer. The thesis sees the imprisonment as a difficult life situation and it deals with the influence of penitentiary environment on the personality of the convict in relation to his further development. In the second part are described the specific activities of the probation and mediation service workers in relation to clients from the target group. The thesis focuses on the socio-educational work of the probation officers, as well as social workers or other organizations for social prevention and their impact on the social stabilization of individuals, belonging to the target group. Here the concept of social stabilization is concretized and related to individual areas, which should be implemented within the probationary period. The practical part shows...