XV. Statements (false) (true):

1. A crime is a wrong which affects the public welfare but is not prohibited by law.

2. English lawyers do not classify crimes into groups.

3. Crimes which are not serious in nature are called felonies.

4. Publishing copyrighted musical compositions without the consent of the owner is the example of a felony.

5. The purpose of punishment is the vengeance of the public to a criminal.

6. A legislature never imposes more than one penalty for the same offence.

7. The federal Constitution prescribes cruel and unusual punishments.

8. The trial court has the power to fix the actual punishment without taking into consideration statutory limits.

9. It is the function of the executive bodies to prevent the commission of crime.

10. A private individual may not interfere and prevent the commission of a crime.

XVI. Divide the text of the lesson into several logical parts. Find in each part key sentences, containing the main information. Write a summary of the text:

XVII. Retell the text using ex. X as a plan:

XVIII. What can you tell about:

1) the designation of a crime; 2) the classification of crimes in English and American criminal law; 3) the basic differentiation between felonies and misdemeanors; 4) the purpose of punishments and ways of imposing them; 5) the necessity of preventing the commission of crime.

The sentence of a court in britain

I. Read and memorize the following words and word combinations:

Punishment – покарання, conditional discharge – умовне звільнення, guilty – винний, to commit a crime – скоїти злочин, probation – випробувальний термін, minor offence – незначний злочин, to sentence – винести вирок, to imprison – ув’язнити, death penalty – смертна кара, life sen­tence – довічне ув’язнення.

II. Read and traslate the text.

If it is someone's first offence and the crime is a small one, even a guilty person is often unconditionally discharged. He or she is set free without punishment.

The next step up the ladder is a conditional discharge. This means that the guilty person is set free but if he or she commits another crime within a stated time, the first crime will be taken into account. He or she may also be put on probation, which means that regular meetings with a social worker must take place.

A very common form of punishment for minor offences is a fine, which means that the guilty person has to pay a sum of money.

Another possibility is that the convicted person is sentenced to a certain number of hours of community service.

Wherever possible, magistrates and judges try not to imprison people. This costs the state money, the country's prisons are already overcrowded and prisons have a reputation for being “schools for crime”. Even people who are sent to prison do not usually serve the whole time to which they were sentenced. They get “remission” of their sentence for “good behavior”.

There is no death penalty in Britain, except for treason. It was abolished for all other offences in 1969. Although public opinion polls often show a majority in favor of its return, a majority of MPs has al­ways been against it. For murderers there is an obligatory life sen­tence. However, “life” doesn't normally mean life.