Topic 5. Capital Punishment

Topical vocabulary

to abolish – отменять, упразднять, уничтожать to administer – отправлять правосудие, применять меры воздействия attorney – адвокат to claim – требовать, притязать, заявлять, утверждать code – кодекс defence – защита defendant – подсудимый, обвиняемый discrimination – дискриминация

flogging – порка fornication – внебрачная связь homicide – убийство larceny – кража life imprisonment – пожизненное заключение offence – проступок, нарушение, преступление objection – возражение piracy – пиратство record – запись violent – насильственный

Capital punishment means the death penalty for criminal offences. The usual alternative to death penalty is long-term or life imprisonment. The first record of it was mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. The Bible describes the death penalty for more than 30 crimes, ranging from murder to fornication. The Draconian Code of ancient Greece imposed capital punishment for every offence. In England by the end of the 15^th century the law recognized six major crimes: treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, arson. In early American colonies the death penalty was authorized for a wide variety of crimes. In England and Wales the death penalty was abolished for murder in 1965. After this date, capital punishment was still technically available for treason and piracy but was never used. It was abolished for these crimes by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The abolition of capital punishment was welcomed by most people with humane and progressive ideas. Today, public opinion has changed, because crime, and especially murder has been on increase throughout Britain. Capital punishment, they think, may not be the ideal answer, but it is better than nothing, especially when, as in England, a sentence of life imprisonment only lasts eight or nine years.

In the USA states that use the death penalty seem to have a higher number of homicides than the states that do not use it.

The classical moral arguments in favour of the death penalty have been biblical and call for retribution. Defenders of capital punishment have also claimed that society has the right to kill in defence of its members. But the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crimes has not been proved. The chief objection to capital punishment has been that it is always used unfairly: women are rarely sentenced to death and executed, a disproportionate number of non-whites are sentenced to death and executed, poor and friendless defendants, with inexperienced or court-appointed attorney are most likely to be sentenced to death and executed. Defenders of the death penalty have insisted that these kinds of discrimination are not a sufficient reason for abolishing the death penalty. Opponents have replied that the death penalty can be the result of a mistake in practice and that it is impossible to administer fairly.

Task 1. Find the English equivalents in the text.

• наказание

• смертная казнь

• пожизненное заключение

• измена

• убийство

• кража

• ночная кража со взломом

• изнасилование

• поджог

• преступление

• пиратство

• уничтожать

• гуманный

• общественное мнение

• увеличение

• приговор

• аргументы в защиту

• возмездие (кара)

• устрашение

• жестокий (насильственный)

• доказывать

• возражение

• приводить в исполнение

• обвиняемый

• неопытный

• назначенный судом

• адвокат

• настаивать

• отправлять правосудие

Task 2. Match the words as synonyms from the following stock of words.

capital punishment, to cancel, offender, stealing, life sentence, act of fornicating, setting fire to a property, to abolish, murder, death penalty, physical punishment, to ban, flogging, to kill, shop-lifting, law breaker, long-term imprisonment, killing, life imprisonment, homicide, to remit, corporal punishment, theft, arson, to execute, to repeal, to annul, fornication, betraying your country, penalty, wrongdoer, lifelong imprisonment, sentence, severe beating with a whip or stick as punishment.

Task 3. Match the words in A to their definitions in B.

A. code, life imprisonment, to fornicate, a record, larceny, piracy, offence, homicide, dependant, violent, attorney, to administer, discrimination, defence, to imprison, sentence.

B. an act of stealing; to put in prison or keep in a place or state which one is not free to leave; a written statement of facts, events; robbery by pirates, those who sail around stopping and robbing ships at sea; an act of wrongdoing, especially of breaking the law, crime; imprisonment for life or a very long time; a collection of laws and rules; an act of murder; uncontrollably fierce and usually dangerous; produced by or being the effect of damaging physical force; a person against whom a charge is brought in a court of law; a statement or feeling of disapproval or opposition; a person whose business is to advise people about laws and represent them in court; to have sexual relations with someone to whom one is not married; the act or system of treating different groups or people in different ways, especially unfairly; to see that justice is done; to govern, to rule, to run; to give to dispense; cause to make an official promise; an order given by judge which fixes a punishment for a criminal declared to be guilty in court.

Task 4. Translate into Russian.

1. In England life sentence prisoners for the murder of police and prison officers, terrorist murders, murder by firearms in the course of robbery and the sexual or sadistic murder of children are normally detained for at least 20 years.

2. Life sentence cases are reviewed on the recommendation of an internal prison review body.

3. About three-quarters of prisoners serving determinate sentences of more than 12 months and less than 2 years receive parole.

4. While he was under sentence of death (waiting to be officially killed) he was not allowed to speak to other prisoners.

5. The court administers the law.

6. The prisoners defence was rather weak.

7. She said, in her defence, that she had not seen the “No Parking” sign.

8. The positive (reverse) discrimination is the practice or principle of favouring people who are often treated unfairly, especially because of their sex or race.

9. As to the Bible, fornication deserves death as the penalty.

10. Larceny was recognized as one of the six major crimes.

11. By 1800 more than 1000 persons were sentenced to death each year, although most of them were commuted by royal pardon.

12. Some influential thinkers of the 18^th century opposed torture, flogging, and death penalty.

13. The abolition of capital punishment seem a departure from pre-Christian spirit of revenge.

14. Many people say too much violence is shown on television.

Task 5. Match the words in A with those in B. Translate the word combinations into Russian.

A. execution, to inflict, to give, corporal, instrument, to suffer, to torture, petty, mixed, compound, grand, to commit, criminal, first, to abolish, felonious, excusable, justifiable, to administer, violent, punishment, lawful, cumulative.

B. a prisoner, endured, by hanging, tortures, larceny, of torture, punishment, death, a flogging, homicide, damage on somebody, slavery, (an) offence, quarrel, language.

Task 6. Match the word combinations in A with those in B. Make up your own sentences with the English word combinations.

A	B
to inflict losses on somebody to inflict the death penalty to put somebody to torture to suffer tortures to abolish the capital punishment to be brought to punishment to endure the punishment to impose the punishment to commit an offence against law to incur punishment	a. отменить смертную казнь b. совершить преступление c. нанести кому-либо потери d. мучиться e. понести наказание f. приговорить к смертной казни g. отбыть наказание h. подвергать пыткам i. назначать наказание j. навлечь на себя наказание

Task 7. Match the opposites.

to put in prison punishment a first offence false imprisonment petty larceny felonious homicide wrongdoer to impose penalties death penalty penal code

lawful imprisonment excusable homicide grand larceny law-abiding to repeal penalties to release from prison small penalty civil code remission a further offence

Task 8. Translate into English.

1. Смертная казнь назначалась за разные виды преступлений. 2. Человека могли казнить за хищение имущества, изнасилование, поджог. 3. Государственная измена является преступлением, наказуемым смертной казнью во многих странах. 4. Существует мнение, что пожизненное тюремное заключение является бессмысленным для «идеологических» преступников. 5. Смертная казнь для предателей, шпионов, террористов меньшее из двух зол.

Task 9. Insert the prepositions (of, to, for, with, in, by, against).

1. Infliction _ the death penalty. 2. The alternative _ death penalty. 3. Punishment imposed _ every offence. 4. Blacks were threatened _ death _ many crimes. 5. A short treatise, _ Crimes and Punishments, _ the Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria inspired influential thinkers _ Europe. 6. An eye _ an eye, a tooth _ a tooth. 7. Defenders _ the capital punishment. 8. Those who argue _ the death penalty as a deterrent. 9. 20 per cent _ all homicides _ recent years have been committed _ women. 10. The death penalty can be the result _ a mistake _ practice.

Task 10. Define the statements as true or false (see the text).

1. Capital punishment is a legal infliction of the death penalty.

2. The Draconian Code of ancient Greece seldom imposed capital punishment.

3. During the reign of William the Conqueror, the death penalty was used for every offence.

4. In early American colonies the death penalty was commonly authorized for a wide variety of crimes.

5. The English philosopher Voltaire opposed torture, flogging, and the death penalty.

6. The abolition of capital punishment in England in November 1964 was welcomed by most people.

7. Today Britain’s population think that killing the assassin is the lesser of two evils.

8. In England, a sentence of life imprisonment only lasts eight or nine years.

9. Defenders of capital punishment have also claimed that society has no right to kill in defence of its members.

10. The chief objection to capital punishment has been that it is always used unfairly, in at least three major ways.

Task 11. Fill in the blanks with one of the words given in brackets.

(crime, prison, prisoner, imprisonment, defence, will pass, minor, objection, release, death, flogging, first, violent, life sentence, deterrent, offence, attorney, sentence, has been abolished)

1. When the jury has given its verdict, the judge ___ ___ sentence on him. 2. He received a heavy/ light (long/short) ___. 3. The ___ sentence ___ ___ ___ in Britain and now you get a ___ ___. 4. They won’t imprison him for a ___ offence. 5. He was sentenced to live ___ . 6. Driving while drunk is a serious ___. It is not a ___ offence. 7. The sentence was two years in ___ and a fine of $ 10.000. 8. The only ___ to hiring her is that she can’t drive. 9. She refused to make a statement until she had spoken to her ___. 10. He died a ___ death at the hands of his brother. 11. The current prevailing view among criminologists is that the death penalty is a more effective ___ to violent ___. 12. ___ was often used to punish the slaves. 13. On ___, life sentence prisoners remain on licence for the rest of their lives.

Task 12. Answer the questions.

1. Is capital punishment a legal infliction of the death penalty?

2. What is the usual alternative to the death penalty?

3. The Code of Hammurabi was written upon his memorial stone (sacred pillar), wasn’t it?

4. In what cases did the Draconian Code of ancient Greece impose capital punishment?

5. The Napoleon’s Code was enacted in 1804, wasn’t it?

6. Why was capital punishment imposed so frequently in ancient societies?

7. Whom was corporal punishment inflicted on in early American colonies?

8. When did European thinkers begin considering the alternatives to death penalty?

9. Who wrote “On Crimes and Punishment”?

10. When was capital punishment abolished in England?

11. How have the attitudes towards capital punishment changed in Britain since 1965. Why has it been changed?

12. How long does life imprisonment last?

13. What fundamental questions have been raised by death penalty?

14. Is imprisonment effective for political criminals, spies, terrorists?

15. How have Americans treated the problem of death penalty?

16. What factors may influence fair administration of justice in capital cases?

Task 13. Study the statements below the box. Provide counter-arguments to each statement using the following pro and con words, word combinations.

pro	con
to argue in favour of something supporter to accept something to admit something to agree to something to confirm something	to argue against something to consent to something to deny something to disagree with something to object to something to oppose to something to reject something

1. Criminals should carry cards: “Fragile: Handle With Care”.

2. We mustn’t refer to them as thugs, but as social misfits.

3. Killer who murders old lady for savings needs hospital treatment.

4. “Society is to be blame” argument – why aren’t we all criminals?

5. We have done away with absurdly harsh laws: that’s enough.

6. Suspension of capital punishment – senseless.

7. Violent criminal: a hero figure.

8. Glorified on screen and by press.

9. Great demands for criminal stories.

10. Train robbers: a glorious resistance movement?

11. Cuddled by sociologists, adored by masses, the criminal is a privileged person.

12. He expects and receives VIP treatment.

13. Capital punishment was once a major deterrent.

14. It protected unarmed policemen, young children.

15. Now the criminal can get away with murder.

16. “Life sentence”: ten years of good conduct and then freedom to live on the proceeds of crime.

17. People hold liberal views at the expense of others.

18. Were victims consulted before suspension of capital punishment? No: they were dead.

Task 14. Translate the words and expressions in bold type.

1. It is high time отменить смертную казнь. 2. Capital punishment is that measure без которой невозможно остановить распространение наркотиков. 3. Some countries defend the death penalty as it helps ликвидировать политический терроризм, экономическую коррупцию и, даже, супружескую неверность. 4. Is it possible to lower уровень преступности или политического насилия, применяя смертную казнь. 5. Оправдывая смертную казнь, they say that it is good at least to defend the members of its society. 6. Capital punishment is предумышленное и хладнокровное убийство человека государством. 7. Существование этой меры наказания является violation of human rights. 8. The International law forbids жестокие, негуманные или унижающие человека наказания. 9. Существует определенный процент ошибок when passing the death penalty и приведение приговора в исполнение.