The Purpose of State Punishment
Murder
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. Three unarmed policemen have been killed in London by bandits who shot them down in cold blood. This crime has drawn attention to the fact that 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 "lifelong" imprisonment (a life sentence, as it is called) only lasts eight or nine years.
All this is very controversial. And all the arguments for and against can be refuted in practice. The problem remains - the problem of how to prevent murders. Some murders are committed by criminals evading arrest, by insane or mentally disturbed people, by cold-blooded sadists completely devoid of all human feelings. The important thing in the prevention of murder is to eliminate as far as possible the weapons and instruments, the guns and knives, with which these crimes are committed, and futhermore to stop the dangerous influence of violence in books, films, television and other mass media, from which so many criminals derive their "inspiration".
TASK 2 Work т groups. Make a list of arguments for and against the following statements ] . Mild sentences are a sign of a civilized society.
2. Capital punishment is not a deterrent to murder.
3. Armed policemen can perform their duties better.
4. Scenes of violence in films encourage crime.
5. Legalized selling of firearms stimulates murder.
6. Legalized selling of firearms ensures security.
7. The instinct to kill is basic to human nature.
TASK 3. Read the text
Crime in Great Britain
$
About 90 per cent of all crimes are dealt with by Magistrates' courts. Sentences (that is, the punishments decided by the court) vary a lot but most people who are found guilty have to pay'a fine. Magistrates' courts can impose , fines of up to £2,000 or prison sentences of up to six months. If the punishment is to be more severe the case must go to a Crown Court vThe most severe punishment is life imprisonment: there has been no death penalty in Britain since 1965. , ^
The level of recorded crime and the number of people sent to prison both increased during the 1970s and 1980s. By the end of that period the average prison population was more than 50,000 and new prisons had to be built as overcrowding had become a serious problem. By 1988 the cost of keeping"^ someone in prison was over £250 per week, which was more than the national average wage. \>
TASK 4. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following expressions.
^ V - уровень преступности; ^ j, - средний заработок;
9-6858
b - жестокое наказание; Ч - пожизненное заключение; С] - смертная казнь; V - признаны виновными; ^ - содержание кого-либо в тюрьме; ^ - преступления рассматриваются в магистратских судах;
; - накладывать штраф; \1° - приговор;
The Survey of Crimes
. Match the words from the box with the definitions below.
| drug smuggling; hijacking; pickpocketing; | shop-lifting; kidnapping; mugging; | fraud; arson; theft. |
a) they broke the window of his car and stole the radio;
b) they sold paintings that they knew weren't genuine masterpieces;
c) they illegally carried drugs into another country;
d) they held a pistol at the pilot's head and he had to do what they said;
e) they set fire to the hotel;
f) they took some things off the shelves and left the supermarket without paying for them;
g) they took away the rich man's son and asked him for a lot of money; h) they hit the man on the head as he was walking along the street, and stole all his money and credit cards;
i) they took her purse out of her handbag as she was standing on the crowded platform waiting for the train.
TASK 6. Look at this list of "crimes ". Try and rate each crime on a scale from 1 to 10. (I is a minor misdemeanour, 10 is a very serious crime). They are in no order.
- driving in excess of the speed limit;
\ - common assault (e.g. a fight in a disco-club); I - drinking and driving;
- malicious wounding (e.g. stabbing someone in a fight);
- murdering a policeman during a robbery;
- murdering a child;
- causing death by dangerous driving;
- smoking marijuanna;
- selling drugs (such as heroin);
- stealing £1,000 from a bank, by fraud;
- stealing £1,000 worth of goods from someone's home;
- rape;
- grievous bodily harm (almost killing someone);
- shop-lifting;
- stealing £ 1,000 from a bank, by threatening someone with a gun;
- possession of a gun without a licence;
- homicide.
Unit II PUNISHMENT
The Purpose of State Punishment
TASK 1. Answer the questions.
1. What does "The State Punishment" mean?
2. What kinds of punishment do you know?
3. How do you understand the purpose of State Punishment?
4. How should the punishment be organized?
TASK 2. Make a list of ideas and proposals on the topic of State Punishment. Supplement your list with the ideas you hear in class.
TASK 3. Complete the following text with the words or phrases from the box, using them in the appropriate form.
| wrongdoer; | deterrent; | law-abiding; |
| misdeeds; | reform; | crime doesn't pay; |
| barbaric; | retribution; | corporal punishment; |
| humane; | rehabilitate; | death penalty. |
What is the purpose of punishment? One purpose is obviously to
(a)___the offender, to correct the offender's moral attitudes and anti-social
him or her, which means to assist the offender to
behaviour and to (b)
return to normal life as a useful member of the community. Punishment can also
be seen as a (c)____because it warns other people of what will happen if
they are tempted to break the law and so prevejtfs them ,from doingf so. , However, a third purpose of punishment (ievperhaps^ in sdciety s desire for ^ (d)_____, which basically means revenge. In other words, don't we feel that я
f^ht Л, , — 11 -
(e).
be cotisidere
punishmentdfit the crim f, . t cc^-Q. . </ their own property ,to e.
For those who subject to the
£с£/ф.*Лы?1'» ^ &£>'
automatically receive .__
т
ffer for his (f)
_? The form of punishment should also 'n the one hand, some .believe ihat we should "make the