Assistance provided to crime victims - comparison of national legislations in the Czech Republic and Finland

The goal of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive comparison of national legislations governing assistance provided to crime victims in both the Czech Republic and Finland. Although emphasis has been placed on analysis of the respective legal regulations of both countries, it also places the issue into historical context while analyzing international requirements laid down by the Council of Europe, the European Union and the United Nations. At the end of the thesis, the level of victim protection in both countries is assessed and particular de lege ferenda proposals are submitted. The first chapter offers historical and international insight into the assistance of victims of crime and details how this field has evolved over the last hundred years. The second chapter describes the development of protective legislation in the Czech Republic and Finland. In chapter 3, the different types of assistance provided to victims in practice, regardless of the existence of relevant regulations, are analyzed. The fourth chapter explains the legal terms "victim" and "injured party", with a view toward their use in subsequent chapters of this thesis. Chapter 5 discusses the position of the injured party in criminal proceedings, including the feasibility of achieving their rightful claims while the sixth...