Text Study

Ex. 1. Mark the statements which are true and give your reasons:

1. Penalty must be imposed according to the circumstances and the personality of the offender.

2. Punishments range from life sentence to community service.

3. All forms of punishment can be totally rational.

4. If a person is found guilty of a fairly small offence, he may receive no punishment.

5. The most common form of non-custodial punishment is “suspended sentence”.

6. Contemporary legislators use unfair, cruel forms of punishment.

7. Any break of the Community Service Order by the offender will make him liable to fines or other punishment.

8. During the period that the sentence stays suspended, the offender can do what he wants.

Ex. 2. Read the parts of the text containing the answers to the following questions:

1. Why is the main object of Criminal Law to punish the wrong-doer?

2. Why should the punishment fit the crime?

3. What types of sentences may the courts pass?

4. When is a person found guilty of a fairly small offence?

5. What is meant under “suspended sentence”?

6. What are the actions of the offender during the probation order?

7. When does a person receive no punishment?

8. What measures are taken by legislators and the English sentencing system towards young offenders?

Ex. 3. Discuss the following points using words and phrases from the text:

1. Which forms of punishment are effective deterrents?

2. Which punishments can help to rehabilitate an offender?

3. What do you think are the main aims of the penal system in your country?

Ex. 4. Put the punishments you know in the order of strictness on the word ladder below, starting with the least serious and ending with the most serious.

Ex. 5. How can you qualify the following wrongs committed? What punishments can you suggest?

1. A person who robbed a shop and wounded the owner with a knife.

2. A person who set fire to his or her flat for the insurance money.

3. A person in the Government who has been spying for a foreign power.

4. A person who took a bar of chocolate from a shop without paying for it.

5. A person who bought a camera with a false cheque.

6. A person who murdered a policeman in cold blood.

7. A person who kidnapped a small child and held him to ransom. (The child was unhurt.)

8. A person who hi-jacked a plane. In the rescue attempt one passenger died of a heart attack.

9. A person caught selling cocaine and heroin.

10. A person who saw a woman being attacked, went to her aid and accidentally killed her attacker.

11. A person who refuses to do military service.

12. A person who stole a car, then crashed into another one, seriously injuring the driver.

13. A football supporter who threw a brick at a referee during a football match. (The brick struck the referee on the leg.)

Ex. 6. Case study.

Business tycoon, George Henderson, aged 45, was found murdered last night in the library of his mansion. Police detectives are questioning the four suspects. Working in pairs, read the information about the victim and the suspects and decide who the murderer could be and what sentence can be applied.

George Henderson (the victim)

The multi-millionaire had been stabbed in the back at about 10 pm. No murder weapon was found. The victim had been watching a documentary on TV Channel 3 when he was killed. His supper tray was found on a table in the library; the food had not been touched!

Roy Smith (the butler)

The butler’s mother is very ill, but his salary is too low to pay for the surgery she needs, even though he had been working for Henderson for twenty years. He was considered by all to be a loyal employee. He claims that at the time of the murder, he was watching a documentary on TV Channel 3.

Charles Henderson (the nephew)

George Henderson’s nephew, Charles, had been warned by his uncle to change his “wild ways” or he would be cut out of the will. He had no keys to the mansion. He was secretly seeing Henderson's housemaid, Claudine. He says he was at home alone watching a sports programme on TV Channel 3 between 9 and 11 pm.

Claudine Dupont (the maid)

George Henderson's maid for the past two years, Claudine, was believed to be a reliable employee. She says she was washing Henderson’s supper dishes in the mansion's kitchen at the time of the murder.

Charlotte Henderson (the wife)

Henderson and his wife Charlotte had been separated for seven months. She was not living in the mansion at the time of the murder, although she still had a key! The divorce was not yet final when the murder occurred. Charlotte believed she’d probably be awarded very little money in the divorce case. She says she was at the home of Henderson’s lawyer when the murder occurred.