Capital Punishment: FOR and AGAINST
Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.
- постоянный закон гравитации
- менее постоянные законы экономики
- природные явления
- нарушить закон
- истинный владелец
- обеспечивать повиновение
- отказаться подчиниться
- человеческое поведение
- описательные законы
- предписывающие законы
- налагать наказание
- потребовать возмещения/ возвращения
- вести себя в соответствии с личными стандартами морали
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.
- давать возможность процветать
- установить рамки
- определенный образ поведения
- платить налоги
- не подчиняться правилам
- в рамках «можно и нельзя»
- наниматься на работу
- обеспечивать соблюдение соглашений
- разрешать спорные вопросы
- налагать ограничения
- давать гарантии
2. Complete the sentences using the words from the box.
 |
Allow tax permission originate resign acceptable
Prohibit cause
1) That kind of behaviour is not ……… in public place.
2) She is very strict with her children and …….. them to watch television only at weekends.
3) Bad weather in Spain continues to ……. problems for travellers.
4) You are not allowed to camp here without …….
5) Smoking is ……. inside the building.
6) He makes it clear that he doesn’t want to …….. from active politics.
7) The government promised not to increase …….. on petrol.
8) Although the technology …….. in the UK, it has been developed in the US.
Before you read the text, try to match the following expressions with their meanings:
| a. legitimation of euthanasia | 1. | право на существование |
| b. terminally ill patient | 2. | пытаться сделать все возможное |
| c. suicide act | 3. | быть виновным в убийстве |
| d. codification of the norms | 4. | облегчать страдания |
| e. be guilty of murder | 5. | узаконивание эвтаназии |
| f. to release liability | 6. | снять ответственность |
| g. the right of subsistence | 7. | безнадежно больной пациент |
| h. alleviate suffering | 8. | кодификация норм |
| i. to try someone’s best | 9. | акт самоубийства |
|
|
|
The Right to Die or the Right to Live?
The debate on euthanasia has lasted for many years. There is much research on euthanasia no matter in jurisprudence or medical areas and there are many different opinions on it. People who support the legitimation of euthanasia believe that we should respect patients to choose how to die and that it also meets the principle of humanitarianism. In the Netherlands, the law allows doctors to help terminally ill patients to die. The law on euthanasia is governed by the "Termination of life on request and assisted suicide act" of 10 April, 2001 that entered into force on 1 April, 2002. This act is generally considered as the codification of the norms and procedures that have governed the practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands for almost three decades. In Great Britain public support for legislation to permit assisted dying has grown from 69% in 1976 to 82% in 2004. These views are echoed in an ethical analysis by Professor Torbjörn Tännsjö, who argues that a system for euthanasia would mean that people could approach the terminal phase of their lives without fear. "They would know that, if, when their turn comes, and things turn out to be terrible, they have a way out," he writes.
In China doctors and family members who help the patients to make the euthanasia happen are guilty of murder under present laws. So, they wish to release these people's liability by passing a law on euthanasia. Experts who oppose euthanasia believe that the right of subsistence is deprived by other people no matter if it is the will of the patients or not. Many doctors warn that the legitimation of euthanasia may open a door for crimes like murder.
|
|
|
Recent research in Belgium had pointed out that Belgian (or at least Flemish) physicians frequently 'forget' to obtain the patient’s request before ending his life. “As a doctor, I suggest cancer patients be given pain killing prescriptions to alleviate their suffering. We should try our best to help terminally ill patients spend the rest of their lives with less pain and more happiness”, says Chen Fan, a doctor of Beijing Tumor Hospital in China.
1. Translate the following expressions using the text:
- одна из самых безопасных стран
- законы нацелены на воспитание самодисциплины в обществе
- большое множество законов и постановлений
- суровое наказание
- нарушать спокойствие
- люди, нарушающие закон в первый раз
- люди, нарушающие закон повторно
- вы получите штраф
- подлежит большим штрафам
- исправительные работы
- для освещения события приглашаются средства массовой информации
- общественные помещения (здания)
- другие товары, которые не могут ввозиться в страну
- обеспечивается строгое соблюдение законов
- мелкие правонарушения
- общественные работы
- законы, касающиеся более серьезных нарушений
- значительные усилия
- приговор не был отменен
- число ударов было уменьшено
What’s a Crime?
A crime is an offence against the whole society; it is a wrongful act or omission, serious enough for the wrong-doer to be punished by the rest of the community.
|
|
|
Criminal behaviour is seen as sufficiently serious or deviant or immoral for the majority of society to ban it. Public opinion is not set for all time and legislation reflects changing habits and norms. Moreover, new forms of potentially criminal activity arise, and the courts respond to those too. Criminal law in the widest sense covers a multitude of activities and sins – from murder, rape, arson, theft and damage of property to the less overtly criminal matters of careless motoring, selling unfit food or serving alcohol to a teenager. The principal areas of Criminal Law are offences against persons and offences against property. Offences against persons can be fatal and nonfatal. The former deals with homicide (killing of a human being by a human being) which falls into three categories: murder (premeditated unlawful killing of another), manslaughter, infanticide. The latter covers such crimes as assault and battery, wounding and grievous bodily harm, sexual offences (rape and others), kidnapping. Offences against property include: theft, robbery, burglary, blackmail, arson, forgery and counterfeiting. They distinguish a group of the so-called inchoate offences: aiding and abetting, incitement, conspiracy, and attempt. There are offences which affect the secrets of the state or international in character: piracy and hijacking, treason, terrorism.
There are a number of offences concerned with obstructing justice: perjury, assisting offenders, concealing, refusal to assist a police officer, contempt of court.
There are also road traffic offences. As for the classification of crime, the Criminal Law Act 1967 introduced the concept of “arrestable” and “non-arrestable” offences, thus abolishing the old distinction between felonies (serious crimes) and misdemeanours (minor offences). An arrestable offence is one for which no specific arrest warrant is required; a police officer can arrest without a magistrate’s warrant for a suspected crime carrying a maximum of five-year imprisonment or where the penalty is fixed by law as is in the case of murder, treason and piracy with violence.
|
|
|
Another way of classification is by the manner of trial. Criminal offences may be divided into two main classes: indictable offences, and offences punishable on summary conviction before magistrates (summary offences). Indictable offences are tried by a jury. They therefore may be generally regarded as serious ones and summary cases as less serious or minor. Two essential concepts in the operation of the Criminal Law are those of actus reus and mens rea. Actus reus means the “guilty action”, mens rea – “guilty mind”. In other words it must be shown that the accused has committedan act or omission which is criminal in nature. Secondly, it must be shown that he intended to commit an offence (though it may not always be a matter of deliberate intention – inattentiveness, recklessness or some other state of mind will suffice to constitute mens rea). Thus actus reu is, approximately, the physical element of crime, mens rea is the mental element. A conviction cannot be secured unless it is shown thatboth factors were present. It is for the prosecution to prove mens rea and actus reus beyond reasonable doubt1; the burden of proof2 lies upon the Crown.
28
1. Pair the verbs in column A with a suitable phrase in column B.
A
B
1) accuse someone
2) arrest someone
3) ban
4) break
5) charge someone
6) commit
7) cross-examine
8) hijack
9) hold up
10) murder someone
11) pinch
12) serve
13) sound
14) take someone
15) try
16) vandalize
a) in cold blood
b) into custody
c) a witness
d) telephone boxes
e) for armed robbery
f) a prison sentence
g) a case
h) with murder
i) smoking in public places
j) of shoplifting
k) the alarm
l) a crime
m) some money
n) a plane
o) the law
p) a bank
2. Match the offences to the correct definition.
Arson
a) is taking a person away by force and keeping him as aprisoner, usually in order to demand money for his safe return.
Assault
b) is the serious crime of stealing large amounts ofmoney from a bank, a shop or a vehicle, often using force or threats of violence.
Blackmail
c) is the crime of copying things such as banknotes,letters, official documents, etc. in order to deceive people.
Burglary
d) is killing a person by accident or negligence.
Embezzlement
e) is forcing someone to have sex with you.
Forgery
f) is the crime of deliberately setting fire to a building.
29
Fraud
g) is taking control of an aeroplane, train, etc. by force,usually in order to make political demands.
Hijacking
h) is killing a person deliberately.
Kidnapping
i) is demanding money or favours from someone bythreatening to reveal a secret about him which, if harm.
Libel
j) is deliberately
taking
goods
from
a
shop
without
paying for them.
Manslaughter
k) is stealing money that is placed in your care, oftenover a period of time.
Murder
l) is the crime of getting
money
from
someone
by
tricking or deceiving him.
Rape
m) is the crime of physically attacking someone.
Robbery
n) is printing or publishing something which is untrueand damages another person's reputation in some way.
Shoplifting
o) is the crime of breaking into a house, a flat, etc. inorder to steal things.
Theft
p) is the crime of stealing.
3. Fill in the missing crimes in the sentences below. Choose from the words in the previous exercise.
1. The chief cashier admitted taking $30,000 of the firm's money during the previous three years and was found guilty of _______________.
2. She sued the newspaper for ____________ when it printed a story about her in which it claimed she had once been arrested for taking drugs.
3. The supermarket decided to install closed-circuit television in order to combat the problem of ________________.
4. This is the sixth fire in the area in the past month. The police suspect
____________.
5. He pleaded not guilty of murder but guilty of __________ saying that the gun had gone off and killed his wife by accident.
6. There have been so many cases of ___________ in the street recently that the police are advising residents to install alarms and to notify neighbours when they go out.
30
7. The customs officer found nearly $20,000 worth of cut diamonds hidden in the man’s guitar case. He was arrested and charged with ___________.
8. Pop stars and famous people often employ bodyguards for themselves and members of their families as they are constantly worried about ___________.
5. Choose the best alternative to complete the following sentences.
1. A person who commits a criminal offence is called a criminal, or _________.
a) offender
b) citizen
c) witness
2. If you attack another person illegally you will be tried for unlawful ________.
a) damage
b) assault
c) action
3. If you physically hurt or injure the person you attack, you will be tried for unlawful assault causing ______________.
a) wounding
b) murder
c) infanticide
4. If the injury you cause in the attack is very serious it is called ________.
a) manslaughter
b) grievous bodily harm
c) assault and battery
5. A police officer can arrest __________ for a suspected crime carrying a maximum of five-year imprisonment.
a) by chance
31
b) with an issued warrant
c) without a magistrates’ warrant
6. The law can punish criminals in many different ways, but the worst is _____.
a) fine
b) life imprisonment
c) death sentence
7. Young people who committed a crime are tried by a special court called ________.
a) the Juvenile Court
b) the High Court
c) the Crown Court
8. __________cannot be secured unless actus reus and mens rea were present.
a) an acquittal
b) a conviction
c) a discharge
9. Criminal offences may be broadly divided into _________________.
a) affect the secret of the state and road traffic offences
b) indictable and summary
c) inchoate and obstructing justice
10. The warrant must contain particulars of _________________.
a) the fatal offence
b) the non-arrestable offence
c) the alleged offence
The С auses of С rime
Read the text and match the following headings with it:
§ Psychological and psychiatric theories
§ Biological theories
§ Multiple causation theory
§ Social environment theories
§ Theological and ethical theories
§ Climatic theory
(1) No one knows why crime occurs. The oldest theory, based on theology and ethics, is that criminals are perverse persons who deliberately commit crimes or who do so at the instigation of the devil or other evil spirits. Although this idea has been discarded by modern criminologists, it persists among uninformed people and provides the rationale for the harsh punishments still meted out to criminals in many parts of the world.
(2) Since the 18th century, various scientific theories have been advanced to explain crime. One of the first efforts to explain crime on scientific, rather than theological, grounds was made at the end of the 18th century by the German physician and anatomist Franz Joseph Gall, who tried to establish relationships between skull structure and criminal proclivities. This theory, popular during the 19th century, is now discredited and has been abandoned. A more sophisticated theory ‒ a biological one ‒ was developed late in the 19th century by the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso, who asserted that crimes were committed by persons who are born with certain recognizable hereditary physical traits. Lombroso’s theory was disproved early in the 20th century by the British criminologist Charles Goring. Goring’s comparative study of jailed criminals and law-abiding persons established that so-called criminal types, with innate dispositions to crime, do not exist. Recent scientific studies have tended to confirm Goring’s findings. Some investigators still hold, however, that specific abnormalities of the brain and of the endocrine system contribute to a person’s inclination toward criminal activity.
(3) Another approach to an explanation of crime was initiated by the French political philosopher Montesquieu, who attempted to relate criminal behavior to natural, or physical environment. His successors have gathered evidence tending to show that crimes against person, such as homicide, are relatively more numerous in warm climates, whereas crimes against property, such as theft, are more frequent in colder regions. Other studies seem to indicate that the incidence of crime declines in direct ratio to drops in barometric pressure, to increased humidity, and to higher temperature.
(4) Many prominent criminologists of the 19th century, particular those associated with the Socialist movement, attributed crime mainly to the influence of poverty. They pointed out that persons who are unable to provide adequately for themselves and their families through normal legal channels are frequently driven to theft, burglary,
33
prostitution, and other offences. The incidence of crime especially tends to rise in times of widespread unemployment. Present-day criminologists take a broader and deeper view; they place the blame for most crimes on the whole range of environmental conditions associated with poverty. The living conditions of the poor, particularly of those in slums, are characterized by overcrowding, lack of privacy, inadequate play space and recreational facilities, and poor sanitation. Such conditions engender feelings of deprivation and hopelessness and are conducive to crime as a means of escape. The feeling is encouraged by the example set by those who have escaped to what appears to be the better way of life made possible by crime. Some theorists relate the incidence of crime to the general state of a culture, especially the impact of economic crises, wars, and revolutions and the general sense of insecurity and up rootedness to which these forces give rise. As a society becomes more unsettled and its people more restless and fearful of the future, the crime rate tends to rise. This is particularly true of juvenile crime, as the experience of the United States since World War II has made evident.
(5) The final major group theories are psychological and psychiatric. Studies by such 20th century investigators as the American criminologist Bernard Gluck and the British psychiatrist William Healy indicated that about one-fourth of a typical convict population is psychotic, neurotic, or emotionally unstable and another one-fourth is mentally deficient. These emotional and mental conditions do not automatically make people criminals, but do, it is believed, make them more prone to criminality. Recent studies of criminals have thrown further light on the kinds of emotional disturbances that may lead to criminal behavior.
(6) Since the mid-20th century, the notion that crime can be explained by any single theory has fallen into disfavour among investigators. Instead, experts incline to so-called multiple factor, or multiple causation theories. They reason that crime springs from a multiplicity of conflicting and converging influences ‒ biological, psychological, cultural, economic and political. The multiple causation explanations seem more credible than the earlier, simpler theories. An understanding of the causes of crime is still elusive, however, because the interrelationship of causes is difficult to determine.
The Study of Crime
Criminology is a social science dealing with the nature, extent, and causes of crime; the characteristics of criminals and their organizations; the problems of apprehending and convicting offenders; the operation of prisons and other correctional institutions; the rehabilitation of convicts both in and out of prison; and the prevention of crime.
The science of criminology has two basic objectives: to determine the; causes, whether personal or social, of criminal behaviour and to evolve valid principles for the social control of crime. In pursuing these objectives, criminology draws on the findings of biology, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, and related fields.
Criminology originated in the late 18th century when various movements began to question the humanity and efficiency of using punishment for retribution rather than deterrence and reform. There arose as a consequence what is called the classical school of criminology, which aimed to mitigate legal penalties and humanize penal institutions. During the 19th century the positivist school attempted to extend scientific neutrality to the understanding of crime. Because they held that criminals were shaped by their environment, positivists emphasized case studies and rehabilitative measures. A later school, the ‘social defence’ movement, stressed the importance of balance between the rights of criminals and the rights of society.
Criminologists commonly use several research techniques. The collection and interpretation of statistics is generally the initial step in research. The case study, often used by psychologists, concentrates on an individual or a group. The typological method involves classifying offences, criminals, or criminal areas according to various criteria. Sociological research, which may involve many different techniques, is used
35
in criminology to study groups, subcultures, and gangs as well as rates and kinds of crime within geographic areas.
Criminology has many practical applications. Its findings can give lawyers, judges, and prison officials a better understanding of criminals, which may lead to more effective treatment. Criminological research can be used by legislators and in the reform of laws and of penal institutions.
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following:
- криминология рассматривает природу и причины преступлений
- изучение обстоятельств правонарушения по материалам дела
- криминология опирается на открытия других наук
- проблемы задержания преступников
- проблемы предотвращения преступлений
- применение на практике
- исправительные учреждения
- установить причины преступности
- выработать действующие принципы
- смягчить наказание
- подвергнуть сомнению
2. Match each word on the left with the appropriate definition on the right:
| 1) an arsonist | a) attacks and robs people, often in the street |
| 2) a shop-lifter | b) sets fire to property illegally |
| 3) a mugger | c) is anyone who breaks the law |
| 4) an offender | d) breaks into houses or other buildings to steal |
| 5) a vandal | e) steals from shops while acting as an ordinary |
| customer | |
| 36 |
| 6) a burglar | f) kills someone |
| 7) a murderer | g) deliberately causes damage to property |
| 8) a kidnapper | h) steals things from people’s pockets in crowded |
| places | |
| 9) a pickpocket | i) gets secret information from another country |
| 10) an accomplice | j) buys and sells drugs illegally |
| 11) a drug dealer | k) takes away people by force and demands money |
| for their return | |
| 12) a spy | 1) helps a criminal in a criminal act |
| 13) a terrorist | m) uses violence for political reasons |
| 14) an assassin | n) causes damage or disturbance in public places |
| 15) a hooligan | o) hides on a ship or plane to get a free journey |
| 16) a stowaway | p) takes control of a plane by force and makes the |
| pilot change course | |
| 17) a thief | q) murders for political reasons or a reward |
| 18) a hijacker | r) is someone who steals |
| 19) a forger | s) makes counterfeit (false) money or signatures |
| 20) a robber | t) is a member of a criminal group |
| 21) a smuggler | u) steals money, etc. by force from people or places |
| 22) a traitor | v) marries illegally, being married already |
| 23) a gangster | w) is a soldier who runs away from the army |
| 24) a deserter | x) brings goods into a country illegally without |
| paying tax | |
| 25) a bigamist | y) illegally carries drugs into another country |
| 37 |
| 26) drug smuggler | z) betrays his or her country to another state |
Treatment of Criminals
Read the text and match the following headings with its sections:
§ Rehabilitative programs
§ Psychiatric and case-study methods
§ Bentham approach
§ Neoclassical school
§ Preventive approach
(1) Various correctional approaches developed in the wake of causation theories. The old theological and moralistic theories encouraged punishment as retribution by society for evil. This attitude, indeed, still exists. The 19th-century British jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham a tried to make the punishment more precisely fit the crime. Bentham believed that pleasure could be measured against pain in all areas of human choice and conduct and that human happiness could be attained through such hedonic calculus. He argued that criminals would be deterred from crime if they knew, specifically, the suffering they would experience if caught. Bentham therefore urged definite, inflexible penalties for each class of crime; the pain of the penalty would outweigh only slightly the pleasure of success in crime; it would exceed it sufficiently to act as a deterrent, but not so much as to amount to wanton cruelty. This so-called calculus of pleasures and pains was based on psychological postulates no longer accepted.
(2) The Bentham approach was in part superseded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a movement known as the neoclassical school. This school, rejecting fixed punishments, proposed that sentences vary with the particular circumstances of a crime, such as the age, intellectual level, and emotional state of the offender; the motives and other conditions that may have incited to crime; and the offender’s past record and chances of rehabilitation. The influence of the neoclassical school led to the development of such concepts as grades of crime and punishment, indeterminate sentences, and the limited responsibility of young or mentally deficient offenders.
(3) At about the same time, the so-called Italian school stressed measures for preventing crime rather than punishing it. Members of this school argued that individuals are shaped by forces beyond their control and therefore cannot be held fully
38
responsible for their crimes. They urged birth control, censorship of pornographic literature, and other actions designed to mitigate the influences contributing to crime. The Italian school has had a lasting influence on the thinking of present-day criminologists.
(4) The modem approach to the treatment of criminals owes most to psychiatric and case-study methods. Much continues to be learned from offenders who have been placed on probation or parole and whose behavior, both in and out of prison, has been studied intensively. The contemporary scientific attitude is that criminals are individual personalities and that their rehabilitation can be brought about only through individual treatment. Increased juvenile crime has aroused public concern and has stimulated study of the emotional disturbances that foster delinquency. This growing understanding of delinquency has contributed to the understanding of criminals of all ages.
(5) During recent years, crime has been under attack from many directions. The treatment and rehabilitation of criminals has improved in many areas. The emotional problems of convicts have been studied and efforts have been made to help such offenders. Much, however, remains to be done. Parole boards have engaged persons trained in psychology and social work to help convicts on parole or probation adjust to society. Various U.S. states have agencies with programs of reform and rehabilitation for both adult and juvenile offenders. Many communities have initiated concerted attacks on the conditions that breed crime. Criminologists recognize that both adult and juvenile crime stem chiefly from the breakdown of traditional social norms and controls, resulting from industrialization, urbanization, increasing physical and social mobility, and the effects of economic crises and wars. Most criminologists believe that effective crime prevention requires community agencies and programs to provide the guidance and control performed, ideally and traditionally, by the family and by the force of social custom. Although the crime rate has not drastically diminished as a result of these efforts, it is hoped that the extension and improvement of all valid approaches to prevention of prime eventually will reduce its incidence.
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions:
1. бессмысленная жестокость
2. досрочное освобождение
3. общественные организации
4. ограниченная ответственность
5. освобождение на поруки
6. порождать преступление
7. преступления, совершенные несовершеннолетними
8. привлекать внимание общественности
9. совет по условно-досрочному освобождению
10. упадок традиционных общественных норм
Manslaughter
In 1981 Marianne Bachmeir, from Lubeck, West Germany, was in court watching the trial of Klaus Grabowski, who had murdered her 7 year old daughter. Grabowski had a history of attacking children. During the trial, Frau Bachmeir pulled a Beretta 22 pistol from her handbag and fired eight bullets, six of which hit Grabowski, killing him. The defence said she had bought the pistol with the intention of committing suicide, but when she saw Grabowski in court she drew the pistol and pulled the trigger. She was found not guilty of murder, but was given six years imprisonment for manslaughter. West German newspapers reflected the opinion of millions of Germans that she should have been freed, calling her ‘the avenging mother’.
Crime of Passion
Bernard Lewis, a thirty-six-old man, while preparing dinner became involved in an argument with his drunken wife. In a fit of a rage Lewis, using the kitchen knife with which he had been preparing the meal, stabbed and killed his wife. He immediately called for assistance, and readily confessed when the first patrolman appeared on the scene with the ambulance attendant. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The probation department’s investigation indicated that Lewis was a rigid individual who never drank, worked regularly, and had no previous criminal record. His thirty-year-old deceased wife, and mother of three children, was a ‘fine girl’ when sober but was frequently drunk and on a number of occasions when intoxicated had left their small children unattended. After due consideration of the background of the offence and especially of the plight of the three motherless youngsters, the judge placed Lewis on probation so that he could work, support and take care of the children. On probation Lewis adjusted well, worked regularly, appeared to be devoted to the children, and a few years later was discharged as ‘improved’ from probation.
Murder
In 1952 two youths in Mitcham, London, decided to rob a dairy. They were Christopher Craig, aged 16, and Derek William Bentley, 19. During the robbery they were disturbed by Sydney Miles, a policeman. Craig produced a gun and killed the policeman. At that time Britain still had the death penalty for certain types of murder, including murder during a robbery. Because Craig was under 18, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Bently who had never touched the gun, was over 18. He was hanged in 1953. The ease was quoted by opponents of capital punishment, which was abolished in 1965.
Assault
In 1976 a drunk walked into a supermarket. When the manager asked him to leave, the drunk assaulted him, knocking out a tooth. A policeman who arrived and tried to stop the fight had his jaw broken. The drunk was fined 10 pounds.
41
Shop-lifting
In June 1980 Lady Isabel Barnett, a well-known TV personality was convicted of stealing a tin of tuna fish and a carton of cream, total value 87p, from a small shop. The case was given enormous publicity. She was fined 75 pounds and had to pay 200 pounds towards the cost of the case. A few days later she killed herself.
Fraud
This is an example of a civil case rather than a criminal one. A man had taken out an insurance policy of 100,000 pounds on his life. The policy was due to expire at 3 o’clock on a certain day. The man was in serious financial difficulties, and at 2.30 on the expiry day he consulted his solicitor. He then went out and called a taxi. He asked the driver to make a note of the time, 2.50. He then shot himself. Suicide used not to cancel an insurance policy automatically. (It does nowadays.) The company refused to pay the man’s wife, and the courts supported them.
Read the following text, translate into Russian and try to summarize it.
Key vocabulary
imprisonment ( n )–тюремное заключение primarily ( adv )–главным образом
confinement ( n )–лишение свободы,заключение под стражу convicted person –осужденный
transportation (n)–транспортация(ссылать за моря как вид уголовногонаказания)
abolition (n)–отмена
concern (n)–забота,беспокойство
predominantly (adv)–преимущественно
violence (n)–жестокость,насилие
Prisons
The idea of imprisonment as a form of punishment is relatively modern. Until the late 18th century, prisons were used primarily for the confinement of debtors who could not pay, of accused persons waiting to be tried, and of those convicted persons waiting for their sentences – death or transportation. Since the late 18th century, with the decline of capital punishment (death penalty), the prison has come to be used also as a place of punishment. With the abolition of transportation, the prison has become the principal sanction for most serious crimes.
Concern over prison conditions has not diminished over the years. Problems of security and the protection of prisoners from violence on the part of other prisoners have been compounded by the difficulties arising from overcrowding, as prison populations in most countries continue to grow. The people who make up the populations of most prison systems have many characteristics in common. The populations of most prison systems are predominantly male – in England males
42
outnumber females by 28 to 1 (although the number of women in prison is rising at a higher rate than the number of men) – and relatively young – nearly 70 percent of those in custody are under the age of 30. [To be in custody means to be kept in prison by the police until you go to court, because the police think you are guilty].
Most offenders in prison have a number of previous convictions; the offences they have committed are most commonly burglary, theft, violence, or robbery. A similar picture is revealed by U.S. statistics; the most common offences for which prisoners are in custody are burglary and robbery. [Burglary is the crime of getting into a building to steal things. Violence is behaviour that is intended to hurt other people physically. Robbery is the crime of stealing things from a bank, shop etc. especially using violence].
1. Translate the following words and expressions using the text above.
Тюремное заключение; тюремный надзиратель; содержащийся под стражей; лишение свободы; осужденный; обвиняемый; камера одиночного заключения; приговор; должник; судимость; ночная кража со взломом; грабеж с насилием или разбой; санкция; население; узник совести; правонарушители; безопасность; защита; насилие; виновный; общая камера.
Capital Punishment: History
Read the text about the history of capital punishment and translate it into Russian.
Capital punishments is a legal infliction of the death penalty; in modern law, corporal punishment in its most severe form. The usual alternative to the death penalty is long-term or life imprisonment.
The earliest historical records contain evidence of capital punishment. It was mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. The Bible prescribed death as the penalty for more than 30 different crimes, ranging from murder to fornication. The Draconian Code of ancient Greece imposed capital punishment for every offence.
In England, during the reign of William the Conqueror, the death penalty was not used, although the results of interrogation and torture were often fatal. By the end of the 15th century, English law recognized six major crimes: treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson. By 1800, more than 200 capital crimes were recognized; and as a result, 1000 or more persons were sentenced to death each year (although most sentences were commuted by royal pardon). In early American colonies the death penalty was commonly authorized for a wide variety of crimes. Blacks, whether slave or free, were threatened with death for many crimes that were punished less severely when committed by whites.
Efforts to abolish the death penalty did not gather momentum until the end of the 18th century. In Europe, a short treatise, On Crimes and Punishments, by the Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria, inspired influential thinkers such as the French philosopher Voltaire to oppose torture, flogging, and the death penalty.
43
The abolition of capital punishment in England in November 1965 was welcomed by most people with humane and progressive ideas. To them it seemed a departure from feudalism, from the cruel pre-Christian spirit of revenge: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Many of these people think differently now. Since the abolition of capital punishment crime ‒ and especially murder ‒ has been on increase throughout Britain. Today, therefore, public opinion in Britain has changed. People who before, also in Parliament, stated that capital punishment was not a deterrent to murder ‒ for there have always been murders in all countries with or without the law of execution ‒ now feel that killing the assassin is the lesser of two evils. Capital punishment, they think, may not be the ideal answer, but it is better than nothing, especially when, as in England, a sentence of life imprisonment only lasts eight or nine years.
The fundamental questions raised by the death penalty are whether it is an effective deterrent to violent crime, and whether it is more effective than the alternative of long-term imprisonment.
DEFENDERS of the death penalty insist that because taking an offender’s life is a more severe punishment than any prison term, it must be the better deterrent. SUPPORTERS also argue that no adequate deterrent in life imprisonment is effective for those already serving a life term who commit murder while being in prison, and for revolutionaries, terrorists, traitors, and spies.
In the U.S. those who argue against the death penalty as a deterrent to crime cite the following: (1) adjacent states, in which one has the death penalty and the other does not, show no significant differences in the murder rate; (2) states that use the death penalty seem to have a higher number of homicides than states that do not use it; (3) states that abolish and then reintroduce the death penalty do not seem to show any significant change in the murder rate; (4) no change in the rate of homicides in a given city or state seems to occur following an expository execution.
In the early 1970s, some published reports showed that each execution in the U.S. deterred eight or more homicides, but subsequent research has discredited this finding. The current prevailing view among criminologists is that no conclusive evidence exists to show that the death penalty is a more effective deterrent to violent crime than long-term imprisonment.
The classic moral arguments in favor of the death penalty have been biblical and call for retribution. “Whosoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” has usually been interpreted as a divine warrant for putting the murderer to death. “Let the punishment fit the crime” is its secular counterpart; both statements imply that the murderer deserves to die. DEFENDERS of capital punishment have also claimed that society has the right to kill in defence of its members, just as the individual may kill in self-defence. The analogy to self-defence, however, is somewhat doubtful, as long as the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crimes has not been proved. The chief objection to capital punishment has been that it is always used unfairly, in at least three major ways. First, women are rarely sentenced to death and executed, even though 20 per cent of all homicides in recent years have been committed by women. Second, a disproportionate number of non-whites are sentenced to death
44
and executed. Third, poor and friendless defendants, those with inexperienced or court-appointed attorney, are most likely to be sentenced to death and executed.
DEFENDERS of the death penalty, however, have insisted that, because none of the laws of capital punishment causes sexist, racist, or class bias in its use, these kinds of discrimination are not a sufficient reason for abolishing the death penalty. OPPONENTS have replied that the death penalty can be the result of a mistake in practice and that it is impossible to administer fairly.
Capital Punishment: FOR and AGAINST
Perhaps all criminals should be required to carry cards which read: “Fragile: Handle with Care”. It will never do, these days, to go around referring to criminals as violent thugs. You must refer to them politely as ‘social misfits’. The professional killer who wouldn’t think twice about using his cosh or crowbar to batter some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her meagre life-savings must never be given a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of ‘hospital treatment’. According to his misguided defenders, society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evil ‒ or so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of talk, it makes you wonder why we aren’t all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of criminal legislation in Britain and a number of other countries has been the suspension of capital punishment.
The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is pursued by the press and paid vast sums of money for his ‘memoirs’. Newspapers which specialize in crime-reporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publishers of trashy cops and robbers stories or ‘murder mysteries’ have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movement. The hardened criminal is cuddled and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on the other. It’s no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes.
Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving his arsenic cocktail. It prevented unarmed policemen from being mowed down while pursuing their duty by killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society,
46
young children, from brutal sex-maniacs. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. We all know that ‘life sentence’ does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of ‘good conduct’, the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, thank you, on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always willing to hold liberal views at the expense of others. It’s always fashionable to pose as the defender of the under-dog, so long as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one wonders, in their desire for fair-play, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment? Hardly. You see, they couldn’t, because all the victims were dead.
1. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions:
· a brutal sex-maniac
· to breed evil
· a cold-blooded poisoner
· a hardened criminal
· to deter criminals
· a professional killer
· to do away with
· to get away with murder
· a violent criminal
· to mow down
· to rob
· to batter
47
APPENDIX 1
Дата добавления: 2021-05-18; просмотров: 228; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!