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Файл:Закон и порядок. Учебно-методическое пособие по английскому языку для развития навыков профессиональной коммуникации
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UNIT 8
(1) to abolish death penalty
(2) abolition of capital punishment
(3) suspension of capital punishment
(4) inevitability of error
(5) an expository execution
(6) erroneous testimony
(7) to inflict the death penalty
(8) to sentence to death
(9) deterrent to violent crime
(10) deterrence
(a) мораторий на смертную казнь
(b) ошибочные свидетельские
показания
(c) отмена смертной казни
(d) возмездие / месть
(e) отменить смертную казнь
(f) сдерживающее средство против
насилия
(g) неизбежность (судебной)
ошибки
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
VOCABULARY
Task 1. Read the following words and word expressions. Translate them
into Russian.
Corporal punishment, death penalty, capital punishment, to sentence to
life imprisonment, to sentence to death, to abolish capital punishment, to impose
/ introduce capital punishment, suspension of death penalty / capital punishment,
electric chair, guillotine, humane, inhumane, death row, to get what (they)
deserve
death row – камеры смертников;
death row inmate – заключённый, ожидающий смертной казни;
to be on death row – сидеть в камере смертников; ожидать казни.
Task 2. Match the English word expressions to their Russian equivalents.
(A)
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(11) to deter crime
(12) retribution / revenge
(h) привести в исполнение
смертный приговор
(i) сдерживать преступность
(j) показательная казнь
(k) сдерживание
(l) приговорить к смерти
(1) coerced confession
(2) to admit one’s guilt / to confess
(3) to plead guilty
(4) long-term imprisonment
(5) short-term imprisonment
(6) life imprisonment
(7) corporal punishment
(8) perjured testimony / perjury
(9) witness
(10) circumstantial evidence (against
smb.)
(11) to be sentenced to three years in
prison
(12) to serve three years in prison
(13) to serve a term
(a) признать себя виновным
(b) долгосрочное тюремное
заключение
(c) признать свою вину
(d) вынужденное признание
(вины)
(e) свидетель, клятвопреступник
(f) телесные наказания
(g) отбыть трёхлетний тюремный
срок
(h) пожизненное тюремное
заключение
(i) косвенные улики
(j) быть осужденным на три года
тюрьмы
(k) краткосрочное тюремное
заключение
(l) отбывать срок наказания
(тюремного заключения)
(m) лжесвидетельство
(B)
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Task 3. Study the text below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Check
English-Russian dictionaries. Pay special attention to the words in italics and
notes.
Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by
judicial process as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death
penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital
originates from Latin «capitalis», literally «regarding the head» (Latin «caput»).
Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head.
Capital punishment has been practiced in virtually every society, and thus
it is considered to be a cultural universal or close to it, excluding those with state
religious proscriptions against it. It is a matter of active controversy in various
countries and states, and positions can very within a single political ideology or
cultural region. In the EU member states, if the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified and
implemented, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union will prohibit capital punishment.
Today, most countries are considered by Amnesty International as
abolitionists, which allowed a vote on a nonbinding resolution to the UN to
promote the abolition of the death penalty. But more than 60 per cent of the
worldwide populations live in countries where executions take place insofar as
the four most populous countries in the world (the People’s Republic of China,
India, the United States and Indonesia) apply the death penalty and are unlikely
to abolish it at any time soon.
Notes:
the Treaty of Lisbon – Лиссабонский договор о внесении изменений в
Договор о Европейском союзе и Договор об учреждении Европейского
сообщества, подписанный на саммите ЕС 13 декабря 2007 г. в Лиссабоне.
Amnesty International – «Международная амнистия» (известная
также как Amnesty, AI, Amnesty International) – международная
неправительственная организация, основанная в Великобритании в 1961
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году, которая ставит своей целью «предпринимать исследования и
действия, направленные на предупреждение и прекращение нарушений
прав на физическую и психологическую неприкосновенность, на свободу
совести и самовыражения, на свободу от дискриминации в контексте своей
работы по продвижению прав человека»
Task 4. Answer the questions and make a brief summary of the text.
1. What is the origin of the word «capital»?
2. Why is the capital punishment one of the most disputable issues in
various modern countries and states? What factors does it depend on?
3. What international organizations promote the abolition of capital
punishment?
4. Are there any equivalent alternatives to capital punishment in modern
states?
SPEAKING
Task 5. Study the following facts about the US system dealing with
inmates, prisons and laws. Comment on each fact and share your opinion with
the group.
The death penalty doesn’t deter crime. Since the death penalty was
reinstated in 1976, the South has carried out 80% of the nation’s executions, yet
it has the highest murder rate of any region in the country.
About 4% of American population is in prison, add that to the 4% – 6%
unemployment rate and that means about 1 out of 10 US citizens are either in
jail or unemployed.
A study by the US General Accounting Office found racial prejudice in
death sentencing. The race of the murder victim was shown to be a determining
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factor; killers of whites were proportionately more likely to be executed than
Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every
man’s life.
Daniel Webster, American senator and statesman
All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such.
Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of Indian independence movement
The average man does not know what to do with his life, yet wants another one
which will last forever.
Anatole France, French poet, journalist, and novelist
Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.
Adam Smith, Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy
It is justice, not charity that is wanting in the world.
Mary Wollstonecraft, English writer,
philosopher, and advocate of women's rights
were killers of blacks.
Most prison inmates are «kept» in their cells (sometimes at 200%
capacity) for 20 hours a day. Often inmates are confined to their cell 22 hours a
day; they are out for meals and a very short time to Task.
Experts estimate that at least ½ of 1% of the current inmate population
is innocent. Records of these statistics are not kept. That would be 8000
innocent out of 1.6 million.
Task 6. Comment on the following quotations.
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Task 7. Analyze the following arguments for and against the death
penalty.
a) Agree or disagree with the given arguments. Use the following
phrases:
I fully / entirely / completely agree (disagree) with the statement…
Far from it…
I mean to say that…
The fact is that ….
DEBATE
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: FOR AND AGAINST
This is not the point…
It doesn’t make sense that…
b) Look through the given arguments and decide which arguments you
consider the weightiest ones.
Arguments for the Death Penalty
1. The death of a criminal make safe of their victims (if they are still
alive) and their families.
2. The death penalty serves as a deterrent to criminals who may be
considering committing a capital offence.
3. One of the main principals of punishment and the judicial system is
that the penalty fits the crime. If someone violently murders another man or
numerous people, then it makes sense to put murderers to death.
4. Some anti-death penalty campaigners describe examples of people on
death row, or people have already been killed have then been proved innocent.
Today, the accuracy of modern forensics and DNA testing makes it very
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unlikely for an innocent person to be put on death row. Furthering this point, it
is argued that the number of innocent people that may be killed is equalized by
the number of actual criminals that are set free.
5. Putting people in prison, as opposed to executing them gives them a
chance of parole (or the small chance of escape), meaning they can commit
more crimes. Capital punishment means there is no chance of the criminal
committing another crime.
Notes:
1. make safe – обеспечивать безопасность;
2. forensics and DNA testing – судебно-медицинская экспертиза и
анализ ДНК;
3. equalize – уравнивать.
Arguments against the Death Penalty
1. The financial cost of putting people to death, once you consider extra
appeals, additional procedures etc, can often be more than the cost of putting a
criminal in prison for life.
2. The death penalty violates fundamental human rights.
3. It is simply immoral and barbaric to allow people to be killed by the
state even if they have committed violent crimes.
4. Life in prison with little freedom and poor quality of life is a better
punishment and deterrent to criminals than death row.
5. There is always the possibility that innocent men and women are put to
death without ever having committed a crime.
Task 8. Answer the questions.
1. Do you agree that capital punishment can be seen as a deterrent to
violent crime? Why?
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2. Can capital punishment be considered as the society’s desire for
6. Should the general public be allowed to watch executions?
7. Do you think the victim’s family should be able to choose the method
of execution? Is it reasonable or fair?
8. If capital punishment (death penalty) is unacceptable, what is the
alternative?
retributions?
3. What do you think of the argument “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth”?
4. Should we try to correct the offender’s moral attitudes and antisocial
behavior and to assist him or her to return to normal life (to rehabilitate the
offender) in any case? Why?
5. Should the death penalty be applied to mentally disabled people? Why?
Task 9. Read the following opinions of different people on capital
punishment. Pay attention to the words in italics and be ready to give your own
opinion on the problem.
Maria Smirnova
a third-year student of Moscow State University
“I don’t think capital punishment should be allowed. The first reason is
that the government should not have the right to take a person’s life. We all
know that the government can make mistakes. Secondly, I believe that
everybody can change. Everybody should be given a second chance. Even if
they murdered many people, we should give them a chance to understand what
they have done. A life sentence is a good enough punishment for any crime”.
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Robert Frost
a member of the San Antonio District Dental Society
“Every day in the newspaper we can read about murderers who kill
people. I believe that if they kill others, they should also be killed. These people
are not useful to our society anymore, so why should we pay money to keep
them alive in prison? In some countries, if you kill a person, you can get out of
prison after seven years. This is not a good enough punishment. I think this will
not deter a murderer”.
Jacob Morrison
a second-year student of New-York Law School
“I agree that the death penalty is a bad idea and that the government
should not have the power over life and death of the people. However, when I
read in the newspapers about a «monster» who killed many people, I feel that
the death penalty could be the best solution. There are some people who never
change. When they go to prison, they only boast about their crimes. When they
leave prison, they will do it again. I believe capital punishment could be suitable
for these people”.
John Kerry
the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the tenth most senior
United States Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the
2004 presidential election, but lost to President George W. Bush.
You have to respect the law. The law of the land is the law of the land, but
I have also said that I am for the death penalty for terrorists because terrorists
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have declared war on your country. And just as I, in a war, was prepared to kill
in defense of my nation, I also believe that you eliminate the enemy and I have
said publicly that I support that.
Task 10. Imagine that you are to participate in the first reading of the bill
of capital punishment in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Would you
support or reject the bill? Give your arguments for or against capital
punishment (death penalty) in the Russian Federation. Take into account the
vocabulary and the ideas of the texts above
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