What is the best way to deal with young people who commit crimes?
How can criminals be persuaded to give up crime?
Does the accused always get a fair sentence? What punishment do you consider to be relevant for this or that crime or offence?
LESSONS ON A LIFE OF CRIME
It is Monday morning at the Cantell School in Southampton and a slight, attractive man of 45, wearing plain grey clothes, introduces himself to a group of 40 children. ‘My name is John. How old are you … 13 or 14? Well, I’ve spent as many years as you’ve been alive in prison. At the moment, I am serving a seven-year sentence. This is my parole licence.’ He waves a paper in front of them, then picks up three closely-typed pages and continues: ‘This is my criminal record. Detention centre, Borstal, prison. That’s a wasted life.’ John Bower’s visit is part of the children’s personal development course, a chance to explore ideas about responsibility that they have already discussed with their teacher, John Jones. For Mr Bowers, it is a chance to redeem himself after 30 years of crime. On his release last February, he contacted New Bridge, a voluntary organization that helps ex-prisoners find employment. He began giving talks about prison life to schools where the children might be at risk of getting into trouble. ‘Those of us who are concerned with prisoners believe that the process of caring has to continue when they leave prison,’ says Eric McGraw, the director of New Bridge. ‘The main problem is that people are let out of prison with £20 in their pocket, no job and nowhere to go, and we expect them not to commit crimes again.’
At Cantell, a large secondary school, Mr Bowers writes ‘prison’ and ‘prisoner’ on the board and asks the children to suggest what the words mean. Hands go up and ‘bars’, ‘bad news’, ‘lonely’, ‘isolation’, ‘terrible food’, ‘shame’, and ‘violence’ are written down. ‘Boredom’ says one girl. ‘That’s exactly right,’ says Mr Bowers. ‘What do you think of me for wasting my life in a place like that? Honestly?’ There is an awkward pause, then a boy at the back of the class whispers ‘thick!’ and everybody laughs. Later some of the questions reveal traces of anger, perhaps because the children have been victims of crime. ‘Did you ever burgle a house at Christmas?’ one girl demands. ‘No,’ Mr Bowers says. ‘In some crazy moral way, I laid low at Christmas – as if that justified doing it at other times of the year.’ Another child asks whether he had any regrets. ‘You try and blot out what you are doing to people,’ he explains. ‘If I had robbed your house, it wouldn’t have been anything personal. If I had had any conscience, I wouldn’t have lasted five minutes.’
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Mr Bowers has written on the board all the words the children came up with. ‘That’s right,’ he says. ‘All these words apply to me.’ This is the heart of his message. ‘I’m here to say that all these words will apply to you too, if you embark on a life of crime, or waste your life through drugs, alcohol or, as I did, through imagining the world owes you a living.’ He asks them to think about how their parents would feel if any of them were arrested for shoplifting or stealing a car radio. There is some uncomfortable shuffling as they volunteer ‘ashamed’ and ‘upset’. He asks why they think people commit crime. Short of money, revenge on a society that does nothing for you, problems at home, no friends or the wrong sort of friends, they reply. But he accepts no excuses. ‘Most prisoners are very selfish people,’ he says. ‘They would rather rob than get a job. No friends, jealousy and idleness – this covers 99 per cent of the prison population.’
Mr Jones suggests that the children should tell Mr Bowers what they think of him now they’ve heard what he has to say. Replies come thick and fast: friendly, honest, willing, a good citizen, trustworthy, ‘nearly a normal person’. In 40 minutes Mr Bowers has undergone a journey that is vital to his self-respect, from a criminal whom one boy said he wouldn’t like to meet on a dark night, to being an ex-offender – ‘nearly a normal person’. It is, after all, a course in personal development.
· Find a word or phrase in the text that in context has a similar meaning to:
1. time in prison
2. permission to leave prison
3. list of criminal convictions
4. regain his self-respect
5. stupid
6. slight indications
7. sense of right and wrong
8. begin
9. moving the feet
· Are the following statements true or false?
1. John Bowers has been a criminal for 14 years.
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2. He has finished his prison sentence.
3. At first the children are hostile to Mr Bowers.
4. The children feel embarrassed.
5. Mr Bowers writes up all the words the children use to describe him.
6. Mr Bowers is more critical of criminals than the children are.
7. Mr Bowers makes a good impression on the children.
· Find English equivalents to the following words and word combinations.
1. разрешение на досрочное освобождение
2. уголовное прошлое / судимости
3. искупать (вину) / исправлять (ошибки)
4. забыть что-то неприятное
5. предлагать (слова)
6. все слова относятся ко мне
7. вступить на путь преступления
8. месть обществу
9. он не принял никаких оправданий
10. человек, которому можно доверять
· Answer the following questions.
1. What have you learnt about John Bowers?
2. What is the purpose of the children’s development course?
3. What is the aim of Mr. Bowers in taking part in this course?
4. What are voluntary organizations like New Bridge designed for?
5. What problems do ex-prisoners come up against?
6. What do the children associate prison with?
7. What do some of the children’s questions reveal? Why?
8. What does Mr. Bowers say trying to justify himself?
9. What does Mr. Bowers warn the children against?
10. Why do people embark on a life of crime according to the text? Are there any other reasons for it?
11. What do the children think of Mr. Bowers at the end of the meeting?
12. Why does he make a good impression on them?
13. What effect does his visit have on both him and the children?
· Summarize the text.
· Retell the text.
VOCABULARY
AN ARREST
· Put each of the following words in its correct place in the passage.
| theft | pleaded | fingerprints | witnesses | evidence | found |
| arrest | oath | investigate | sentence | charge | cell |
| detained | fine | court | magistrate | handcuff |
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A policeman was sent to (a) _________ the disappearance of some property from a hotel. When he arrived, he found that the hotel staff had caught a boy in one of the rooms with a camera and some cash. When the policeman tried to (b) _________ the boy, he became violent and the policeman had to (c) _________ him. At the police station the boy could not give a satisfactory explanation for his actions and the police decided to (d) __________ him with the (e) __________ of the camera and cash. They took his (f) __________, locked him in a (g) ________, and (h) __________ him overnight. The next morning he appeared in (i) __________ before the (j) __________. He took an (k) __________ and (l) ___________ not guilty. Two (m) _________, the owner of the property and a member of the hotel staff, gave (n) __________. After both sides of the case had been heard the boy was (o) _________ guilty. He had to pay a (p) _________ of £50 and he was given a (q) _________ of three months in prison suspended for two years.
LAW AND PUNISHMENT
· Put each of the following words and phrases in its correct place in the passage.
| detective | plain clothes | jury | warders | coroner |
| verdict | solicitor | trial | inquest | death penalty |
13. If you want legal advice in Britain, you go to a __________.
14. At the end of the __________, the judge ordered the twelve men and women of the __________ to retire and consider their __________, guilty or not guilty.
15. Men or women who look after prisoners in prison are called prison officers or __________.
16. If a person dies in unusual circumstances, an __________ is held at a special court, and the judge is called a __________.
17. A policeman who investigates serious crime is called a __________. He wears _________, not uniform.
18. In some countries murderers are executed but other countries have abolished the _________.
LAW BREAKERS
· Match each person on the left with the correct definition on the right.
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| 1. an assassin 2. a hooligan 3. a stowaway 4. a thief 5. a hijacker 6. a robber 7. a smuggler 8. a traitor 9. a gangster 10. a deserter 11. a bigamist 12. a drug dealer | a) causes damage or disturbance in public places b) hides on a ship or plane to get a free journey c) takes control of a plane by force & makes the pilot change the course d) murders for political reasons or a reward e) buys and sells drugs illegally f) is someone who steals g) is a member of a criminal group h) steals money etc. by force from people or places i) marries illegally, being married already j) is a soldier who runs away from the army k) brings goods into a country illegally without paying tax l) betrays his or her country to another state |
When people do wrong, how should they be punished?
Look at the list and put these actions in order, with the one you consider to be most serious first, and the least serious last. Decide what punishment is suitable in each situation.
1. A man was driving a car and a child ran out into the road. Although he tried to stop, he hit the child, who was killed.
2. A seven-year-old boy took his friend’s bicycle and hid it where it could not be found.
3. A woman was bitten by her husband for many years, and then one day, she attacked him with a kitchen knife and killed him.
4. A teacher sold a group of students a copy of the examination paper in advance and was then discovered by the head of the school.
5. Two teenagers went into a shop after school and stole three bars of chocolate.
6. A woman made a serious mistake on the firm’s computer, but blamed the error on her colleague, who was dismissed.
7. Two visitors to Britain brought a dog into the country from overseas, although they knew it was against the law.
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