Text d The Plea-bargaining Process

Task: read the text and give your understanding of the underlined parts of the sentences.

Every criminal defendant exercises some power over the way the case is to be conducted. A defendant who pleads guilty admits all the facts alleged in the accusation, he or she admits to being guilty as charged. No trial has to be conducted. A defendant who pleads not guilty denies all the facts and their legal implications and puts the government – the prosecutor – to great expense to prove guilt in an elaborate criminal trial. By the mid-twentieth century it had become common practice in the United States for prosecutors and defense attorneys to discuss the criminal charges against defendants and to agree on a reduced or modified plea that would spare the state the cost of a trial and guarantee the defendant a sentence more lenient than the original charge warranted. At first such plea negotiations were quite clandestine and officially denied. In fact, when accepting a plea, the judge would always inquire whether the plea was freely made, and the defendant always answered yes, when in fact the plea was the result of a bargain in which the defendant and the prosecutor manipulated each other into a deal. Contemporary legislation, federal and state, fully recognizes the plea-bargaining process, and simply requires guarantees that no one be coerced and that all pleas are voluntarily entered, with full awareness of the consequences.

• Nevertheless, the process of plea bargaining invites injustices of many sorts. Defendants who are morally or legally not guilty, for example, may feel inclined to accept a plea bargain in the face of strong evidence. Other defendants may plead guilty to a lesser charge even though the evidence was obtained in violation of constitutional guarantees. In some cases, by “overcharging” (charging murder instead of manslaughter, for example), a prosecutor may in effect coerce a defendant to plead guilty to the lower charge, thus, in effect, forcing him or her to relinquish the right to a jury trial. The practice of plea bargaining is widespread.

Abolishing plea bargaining would require broad changes in criminal law and procedure, and thus in the entire criminal justice system. Until such reforms are achieved, if ever, the system will continue to rely on the decisions of prosecutors and defense counsels to agree on a plea.

Text e Evidence

Task: read the text and supply it with the missing terms.

circumstantial evidence documentary evidence hearsay evidence

Evidence is the means by which the facts in issue are proved. In criminal cases the accused is presumed to be innocent until he is proved to be guilty. In order to prove him guilty the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Two types of facts are relevant: facts in issue and other facts from which the facts in issue may be inferred. This is known as ________.

There are three methods of proving the facts: by the evidence of witnesses, by __________, by real evidence.

The general rule is that all witnesses must give evidence on oath. The oath is: “I swear by Almighty God that the evidence which I shall give be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!”

There are two basic rules which relate to the testimony of witnesses: firstly evidence should be given orally and in open court (there are some exceptions to this rule, for example provisions enabling evidence to be taken before trial, and in some cases given by affidavit); secondly evidence must be continued to facts which the witness personally perceived (this rule excludes opinions and ________: he cannot give evidence of what he heard another person say).

A person who wishes to rely on the contents of a document as a means of proving a fact must prove that the document is authentic or has been duly executed.

Real evidence refers to the inspection of physical objects (other than documents) by the court. There are three main types of real evidence: material objects, referred to in courts as 'exhibits'; physical appearance of persons in court when it is necessary to assess damages for personal injury; a view, i.e. an inspection outside the court of a relevant place or object.