18. Imagine that you are an on-line law counselor. Answer the questions given below.

1. Is it a crime to try and kill yourself?

2. Is it illegal to help somebody to commit suicide?

3. Why is mercy-killing (euthanasia) against the law if it’s the only way to save a person from sufferings and pangs?

4. Can you be executed for murdering a policeman?

5. If I surprise an intruder in my lounge at night stealing my millions, have I a legal right to assault him with a weapon?

6. If I set a trap – a fifty-kilo weight just above the front door – for any burglars who might try and enter the house, am I breaking the law?

7. After a divorce or legal separation, can a wife be required to pay alimony to her ex-husband?

8. If I promise to marry my girlfriend and then change my mind shortly before the wedding, can she take me to court?

9. Can a person suspected of and charged with rape be allowed bail?

19. Interview an American prisoner who is a repeater caught red-handed while hi-jacking a limo for his girl-friend. Use the slang given below to understand the answers of the offender.

Choo-choo – a police van

Gray Bar Hotel – a jail. “I just checked the perp into the Gray Bar Hotel. He won’t be leaving for a while.”

Perp – the alleged perpetrator of a criminal offense

Pinch – an arrest.

Rap sheet – the record of a perp’s crimes, convictions, and arrests.

Short – a car.

Smoker – a stolen car.

Flipper–an accused criminal so eager to cooperate with the police that he offers testimony against his pals in exchange for a lighter sentence.

The vic– the victim of a crime.

Bullet – one year in jail. “Can you believe it? I did two bullets for stealing a damn stereo”.

County – jail with free food and a bed that does not resemble a ratty cardboard box.

Fish – new arrivals.

Joint, pen, big house – prison. Universally agreed by all inmates that a prison is much more better than a jail. “County” jail is bad news. The “pen” is where the easy life is (greater access to education, work, weight rooms, and other programs that can take the edge off incarcerated life).

Man, beat walkers, pig, black-and-white – police.

Nabbed – arrested.

20. Do some library research and write an essay of 350-400 words on one of the given topics:

1. The system of punishment in the USA.

2. Death penalty: pros and cons.

3. The most famous trials in the USA.

Part II. Courts and Trials in the uk topical vocabulary

1. Courts: magistrates’ courts, the Crown Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal (criminal and civil divisions), the House of Lords, county courts, juvenile courts, coroner’s courts, administrative tribunals, district courts, sheriff courts, the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh.

2. Cases: leading case, case for the defence / prosecution, case in point, case file, to dismiss a case,to decide / settle a case, to hear / try a case, to lose a case, to win a case.

3. Offences: poaching, racket, smuggling, spying, white-collarcrime, subornation, suicide, fatal accident, affray, assassination, bigamy, treason, hijacking, pick-pocketing, vandalism, jaywalk, trespassing, bugging, false testimony, summary offences.

3. Participants of the legal procedure: barrister, solicitor, magistrate, a bench of magistrates, Justice of Peace (JP), an impartial judge, to act in a partial manner (about judge), independent citizens chosen at random from the electoral register (about jury), to speak for the client, to speak on behalf of the client, a brief, to be called to the bar, the bar of justice, QC (Queen’s Counsel), a biased/unbiased juror, Law Lords.

4. Legal procedure: to be released on bail pending trail, to be taken / remanded in custody, to live in an approved bail or probation / bail hostel, to be entitled to bail, to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, miscarriages of justice, to secure the conviction and acquittal, the possibility of intimidation of jurors, danger of perverse verdicts, to discharge the accused, to pass the sentence on the accused, to make preliminary inquiries into a more serious case, to draw inferences from the defendant’s refusal to give evidence, hearsay evidence, to declare a mistrial, to quash a conviction, to challenge jurors (on grounds of possible bias), to obtain admissions by oppression, presumption of innocence, to overrrule.

5. Penalties or sentences: to reach a unanimous verdict, to result in acquittal, to acquit the accused, to pass judgment, to impose punishment, a suspended sentence, to discharge (un)conditionally, (un)conditional discharge, compensation to the victim, fine, a heavy fine, community services, to get remission of prison sentence, to comply with the supervising officer, to serve life sentence for smth., capital punishment, death penalty, corporal punishment, eviction, internment, penal servitude, solitary confinement, extradition, to deprive of smb’s property, severe / lenient punishment, disqualification from driving, disciplinary training in a detention centre, to pay the damage.