Identity of the Victim in Crimes of Homicide

The first problem in relation to the victim is to determine his identity. As soon as identity is established, a history of the victim should be secured. This history, which may reveal factors leading to his death, takes up his life from the last moment he was seen alive and may go as far as his childhood or birth. His immediate past is usually the most important, especially the last moments or days.

Establishment of the victim's identity is closely related to his history. To be accurate, the victim's own peculiar history must fit into the circumstances immediately preceding the mortal injury. Identification is established easily when the victim was in company with his acquaintances at the time he received the mortal injury and the victim remained in the presence of the witnesses. Difficulties in identification increase whenever there is a space of time between the last known appearance of the victim and the time the body is found. The problem of identity is a serious difficulty when the victim is a stranger in the community or when his body has been decomposed or mutilated.

The work of identification includes taking fingerprints, photographs, masks in moulage, descriptions and measurements with attention paid to the physical characteristics that are peculiar to that person. Clothing and other items are examined for trade marks, laundry marks, or other marking that will furnish clues. If wounds are on the body, it is important to know if the clothing was or was not covering the place where the wound was inflicted. Identification is best established by fingerprints if they were taken before death and that person was accurately identified at the time the prints were taken. Identification by some person who knows the victim well and views the body is the next best. Photographs of a person made before death may be used to identify the body although identification from a photograph alone is not always accurate. Identification may be confirmed by other evidence which shows individual characteristics in facial or body formation, marks, scars, dental work, jewelry, clothing, handbags etc., provided that a living person can identify these characteristics.

25. Злочин та покарання. Види покарання

Crimeis an action or activity that is against the law or illegal activity generally for which there is punishment by law. Crimes may be classified in various ways as being against people, against property, and against public order or public morality

Punishment

Punishment, in modern criminal law, is a penalty inflicted by the state upon a person for committing a criminal offence.

There are several kinds of punishment available to court. In civil cases the most common punishment is a fine. For criminal offences fines are also often used when the offence is not a serious one and when the offender has not been in trouble before. Another kind of punishment which is available in some countries is a community service. This requires the offender to certain amount of unpaid work for community. For more serious crimes the usual punishment is imprisonment.

Some prison sentences are suspended: the offender is not sent to prison. The offender should keep out of trouble for a fixed period of time, but if he does offend again both suspended sentence and any new one will be imposed. The length of sentences varies from a few days to a lifetime.

In modern law the most severe form of punishment is capital punishment, legal infliction of the death penalty. The usual alternative to the death penalty is long-term or life imprisonment.

Nowadays many countries of the world have abolished the death penalty. The most severe form of punishment in Ukraine is life imprisonment.

26 Смертна кара як вид покарання.

Pros and cons of capital punishment (Плюси і мінуси смертної кари)

Capital punishment is the death penalty given by the government of a country, to people who have committed hideous crimes like homicide, rape, etc. Capital punishment has been a way of punishing people since ages. Although there are some countries that have abolished death penalty from their law, there are still many which still practice the act of killing a person for crime. Capital punishment is prevalent in the US, Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Some of the ways of executing criminals are hanging, shooting, electrocution and giving lethal injections.

People have different opinions on the issue of capital punishment given to a convict. While some think that death penalty is necessary for those who have committed a terrible crime, there are others who consider it as an immoral act that goes against the values of humanity.