Institutions Strengthening the Position of the Injured Party of the Offence of Failure to Pay Alimony under Section 196 of the Czech Criminal Code and in Selected European Legal Regulations

Abstract

Summary The offence of failure to pay alimony under section 196 is one of the most frequent offences in the Czech Republic. Since the protected interest is the right to support and maintain and the most common is the duty of parents towards their children, it is a very serious illegal activity that significantly endangers children and has a negative impact on their development, both health and social. In recent years, Czech legislators have focused on this issue and adopted institutes that strengthen the position of the injured party in these cases. Any kind of sanction has proved to be an ineffective tool for enforcing the delinquent alimony, so it has been necessary to ensure that it can be enforced by other means. Therefore, the legislators broadened the definition of the injured party in criminal proceedings and introduced the so-called substitute alimony. It is also interesting to look into foreign legal regulations and compare selected institutes.