Types of Punishment

The judge inflicts punishment that he or she feels will best serve both the offender and society. Laws may provide a maximum and a minimum sentence according to the crime involved.

In Britain about 80 per cent of offenders are punished with a fine. In the USA in 2001, for instance, 42 percent of all criminal offenders (excluding motoring offenders) were fined. A fine is often the punishment for a misdemeanour. But a fine and a prison sentence can be the penalty for a major crime. People who cannot pay a fine are usually ordered to serve a prison sentence. The maximum fine that can be imposed by a court in England and Wales is normally £ 5 000. When fixing the amount of a fine, courts are required to reflect the seriousness of the offence and to take into account the financial circumstances of the offender.

The courts may also order an offender to pay compensation for personal injury, loss or damage resulting from an offence.

Other financial penalties include seizure and sale of the offender's property or seizure of any funds he may have in a bank or savings account.

The judge may put a convicted offender on probation to protect the individual from the harmful effects of being imprisoned with experienced criminals. A lawbreaker who is on probation remains free but must follow certain rules. A court probation order in Britain can last between six months and three years. A probation officer assigned by the court supervises the individual's conduct. An offender may have to report weekly for the first three months, then fortnightly and, if all is going well, every three to four weeks. A probationer who violates any of the rules of his or her probation may be sent to prison.

Offenders aged 16 or over may, with their consent, be given community service orders, which punishes them by making them do work and give something back to the community. The court may order between 40 and 240 hours’ unpaid service to be completed within 12 months. Examples of work done include decorating the houses of elderly or disabled people and building playgrounds. In England and Wales the court may make an order combining community service and probation.

A custodial sentence is the most severe sentence available to the courts in many countries and can be imposed only when the offence is so serious that only such a sentence would be appropriate, or when it there is a need to protect the public from sexual or violent offender. The length of the sentence must reflect the seriousness of the offence. There is a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for murder throughout Britain. Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty for a number of serious offences such as robbery, rape, arson and manslaughter. A sentence may be served in a mass cell or in solitary confinement.

If a court decides that an offence deserves custodial sentence of not more than two years, the sentence may be suspended for a period of 1 to 2 years if exceptional circumstances justify the suspension. If the offender commits another imprisonable offence during the period of suspension, the court may order the suspended service to be served in addition to any punishment imposed for the second offence.

Capital punishment (death penalty) is punishment by death for committing a major crime. In the mid-1990's, 38 states of the United States had laws that allowed the death penalty carried out by electrocution, gassing, hanging or lethal injection. In the USA most executions have resulted from convictions for murder. The death penalty has also been imposed for such serious crimes as armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, and treason. The death penalty in Britain remains on the statute book for the offences of treason, piracy with violence and some other offences. It has, however, not been used for any of these offences since 1946. Many other countries, including most European and Latin American nations, have abolished the death penalty since 1900. Canada did so in 1976. In the early 1990's, the United States was the only Western industrialized nation where executions still took place.

B Match the beginnings and the ending of the following phrases and translate them into Russian:

to impose (inflict)	compensation
to impose	on probation
to put	punishment
to pay	one's conduct
to seize	rules
to suspend	the death penalty
to punish	a sentence
to supervise	a sentence
to violate	property
to serve	an offender
to abolish	a fine

Ex. 32 A. Match the crimes and misdemeanours below with a suitable punishment.

Crimes/Misdemeanours	Punishments
committing a foul in sport	warning/reprimand/caution
mugging/ assault	a suspension
premeditated murder	put on probation
shoplifting	a small fine
kidnapping	a stiff/ heavy fine
vandalism	community service
tax evasion	a light prison sentence
cheating in exams	a long prison sentence
burglary	life imprisonment
armed robbery	corporal punishment
playing truant from school	the death penalty

B. What reasons can you give for choosing the punishments above? Use the following prompts and useful expressions to talk about your choices.

To make the punishment fit the crime To tech them a lesson To make them pay for their crimes To give them a second chance

To deter others To allow opportunity for rehabilitation To ease the burden on tax payers To set an example

e.g. If someone is found guilty of assault, I would like to see them given a prison sentence to teach them a lesson and to deter others. Of course, the length of the sentence would depend on…

Ex. 33 Now look at these cases. If you were a judge, what sentence would you give to these people? Give full details (eg. a £1000 fine/3 years in prison/one year on probation) and discuss your decision(s).

a 18-year-old Miranda worked in a shoe-shop. She lost her job when she stole £92 from the shop.

b Nigel is 38. He drank a bottle of wine and then drove home. He had a car accident and killed a 13-year-old boy.

c Kevin, 15, was caught travelling on the train without a ticket. The correct ticket would have cost £1.75.

d Stacey, aged 22, was caught selling marijuana at a disco. At her flat about 50 grammes of the drug were found (value: around £250).

e Dean, 17, broke the window of a new Mercedes and stole a mobile phone and four CDs.

f Samira is 32. She killed her husband with a knife while he was asleep. He had been very cruel and violent with her for more than 10 years, and he often had girlfriends.

g A teenager hacks into an airline company's computer system and deliberately introduces a virus.

h A man is attacked by muggers on the subway, defends himself with a gun and shoots his assailants dead.

i A small business is caught selling pirated CDs.