Redress for victims of crime in South Africa: a comparison with selected Commonwealth jurisdictions

In terms of the Constitution every person has the right to freedom and security of the person. This includes the right to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private sources. The state is charged with the duty to protect the individual from such harm. While the Constitution refers to the protection of victims of crime in broad and general terms without indicating how these rights should be protected, it makes meticulous and detailed provision for the rights of arrested, detained and accused persons. This leads to the popular belief that the Constitution protects the criminal and not the victim, engendering public dissatisfaction with the status quo, which is amplified by the fact that South Africa’s current legal dispensation for victims of crime does not embody the requirements of ubuntu and African customary law, which the Constitution declares to be binding on South African courts. This study analyses the means that exist in South African law for the victim of crime to obtain redress for criminal acts and proposes effective avenues through which victims can obtain redress, should the existing machinery prove to be inadequate. The term restitution is used to indicate recompense obtained from the perpetrator, while the term compensation refers to recompense obtained from the state. A comparative study is conducted to ascertain how the legal position of victims of crime in South Africa compares with that of victims of crime in Great Britain, India and New Zealand, respectively. South Africa does not have a state-funded victim compensation scheme such as those which exist in most developed countries. The respective proposals of the South African Law Commission for a victim compensation scheme and revised legislation to deal with offender/victim restitution are considered critically, inter alia, in the light of the findings of the comparative study. Proposals are made regarding changes to the South African legal system to bring it in line with international developments regarding restitution and compensation to victims of crime, attention being given to the meaning, significance and implementation of the doctrine of restorative justice when dealing with the aftermath of criminal injury. In addition to a complete revision of South African legislation dealing with offender/victim restitution, this study recommends the consolidation of the Road Accident Fund and the Compensation Fund operating in terms of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act. These two bodies should be amalgamated to create a unified Compensation Scheme to compensate victims of crime, as well as victims of traffic and industrial injuries. General qualifying criteria for claimants would be drafted, with specific criteria applying in cases of traffic, industrial and crime related injuries, respectively

Når ordbøgerne går på nettet i undervisningen

Last year Gyldendal launched a new dictionary site designed for primary and secondary school students. The site provides L1 monolingual dictionaries with Danish and L1-L2 and L2-L1 bilingual dictionaries with English, German, French and Spanish. In this article we discuss what is special about a dictionary for educational use and how we have worked with the project from design and user interface to deciding which kinds of information should be presented in the articles and how

Aggregation of measures to produce an overall assessment of animal welfare. Part 1: a review of existing methods

Several systems have been proposed for the overall assessment of animal welfare at the farm level for the purpose of advising farmers or assisting public decision-making. They are generally based on several measures compounded into a single evaluation, using different rules to assemble the information. Here we discuss the different methods used to aggregate welfare measures and their applicability to certification schemes involving welfare. Data obtained on a farm can be (i) analysed by an expert who draws an overall conclusion; (ii) compared with minimal requirements set for each measure; (iii) converted into ranks, which are then summed; or (iv) converted into values or scores compounded in a weighted sum (e.g. TGI35L) or using ad hoc rules. Existing methods used at present (at least when used exclusively) may be insufficiently sensitive or not routinely applicable, or may not reflect the multidimensional nature of welfare and the relative importance of various welfare measures. It is concluded that different methods may be used at different stages of the construction of an overall assessment of animal welfare, depending on the constraints imposed on the aggregation proces

Palliative care for cancer patients in a primary health care setting: Bereaved relatives' experience, a qualitative group interview study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Knowledge about the quality and organisation of care to terminally ill cancer patients with a relatives' view in a primary health care setting is limited.</p> <p>The aim of the study is to analyse experiences and preferences of bereaved relatives to terminally ill cancer patients in a primary care setting to explore barriers and facilitators for delivery of good palliative home care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three focus group interviews with fourteen bereaved relatives in Aarhus County, Denmark.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three main categories of experience were identified: 1) The health professionals' management, where a need to optimize was found. 2) Shared care, which was lacking. 3) The relatives' role, which needs an extra focus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Relatives experience insufficient palliative care mainly due to organizational and cultural problems among professionals. Palliative care in primary care in general needs improvement and attention should be drawn to the "professionalization" of the relatives and the need to strike a balance between their needs, wishes and resources in end-of-life care and bereavement.</p

Hydrogen evolution enhancement of ultra-low loading, size-selected molybdenum sulfide nanoclusters by sulfur enrichment

Size-selected molybdenum sulfide (MoSx) nanoclusters obtained by magnetron sputtering and gas condensation on glassy carbon substrates are typically sulfur-deficient (x = 1.6 ± 0.1), which limits their crystallinity and electrocatalytic properties. Here we demonstrate that a sulfur-enriching method, comprising sulfur evaporation and cluster annealing under vacuum conditions, significantly enhances their activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The S-richness (x = 4.9 ± 0.1) and extended crystalline order obtained in the sulfur-treated MoSx nanoclusters lead to consistent 200 mV shifts to lower HER onset potentials, along with two-fold and more-than 30-fold increases in turnover frequency and exchange current density values respectively. The high mass activities (~111 mA mg-1 @ 400 mV) obtained at ultra-low loadings (~100 ng cm-2, 5 % surface coverage) are comparable to the best reported MoS2 catalysts in the literature

The establishment of a primary spine care practitioner and its benefits to health care reform in the United States

It is widely recognized that the dramatic increase in health care costs in the United States has not led to a corresponding improvement in the health care experience of patients or the clinical outcomes of medical care. In no area of medicine is this more true than in the area of spine related disorders (SRDs). Costs of medical care for SRDs have skyrocketed in recent years. Despite this, there is no evidence of improvement in the quality of this care. In fact, disability related to SRDs is on the rise. We argue that one of the key solutions to this is for the health care system to have a group of practitioners who are trained to function as primary care practitioners for the spine. We explain the reasons we think a primary spine care practitioner would be beneficial to patients, the health care system and society, some of the obstacles that will need to be overcome in establishing a primary spine care specialty and the ways in which these obstacles can be overcome.https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-709X-19-1

Predictors of mental health in female teachers

Objective: Teaching profession is characterised by an above-average rate of psychosomatic and mental health impairment due to work-related stress. The aim of the study was to identify predictors of mental health in female teachers. Material and Methods: A sample of 630 female teachers (average age 47±7 years) participated in a screening diagnostic inventory. Mental health was surveyed with the General Health Questionnaire GHQ-12. The following parameters were measured: specific work conditions (teacher-specific occupational history), scales of the Effort-Reward-Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire as well as cardiovascular risk factors, physical complaints (BFB) and personal factors such as inability to recover (FABA), sense of coherence (SOC) and health behaviour. Results: First, mentally fit (MH+) and mentally impaired teachers (MH-) were differentiated based on the GHQ-12 sum score (MH+: < 5; MH-: ≥ 5); 18% of the teachers showed evidence of mental impairment. There were no differences concerning work-related and cardiovascular risk factors as well as health behaviour between MH+ and MH-. Binary logistic regressions identified 4 predictors that showed a significant effect on mental health. The effort-reward-ratio proved to be the most relevant predictor, while physical complaints as well as inability to recover and sense of coherence were identified as advanced predictors (explanation of variance: 23%). Conclusion: Contrary to the expectations, classic work-related factors can hardly contribute to the explanation of mental health. Additionally, cardiovascular risk factors and health behaviour have no relevant influence. However, effort-reward-ratio, physical complaints and personal factors are of considerable influence on mental health in teachers. These relevant predictors should become a part of preventive arrangements for the conservation of teachers' health in the future