Английский методичка (Жаровская)

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Role of police force

The police have many functions in the legal process. Though they are mainly concerned with criminal law, they may also be used to enforce judgements made in civil courts. As well as gathering information for offences to be prosecuted in the courts, the police have wide powers to arrest, search and question people suspected of crimes and to control the actions of members of the public during public demonstrations and assemblies. In some countries, the police have judicial functions; for example, they may make a decision as to guilt in a driving offense and impose a fine, without the involvement of a court. In Britain, when someone is found in possession of marijuana, the police may confiscate it and issue a formal warning rather than refer the matter to a court.

The mere presence of the police is a factor in deterring people from committing offences. In Japan, you are rarely more than a ten-minute walk from a small police station. The city of Tokyo has more policemen than the city of New York. Could this be one reason there is less crime in Japan than in the United States? Comparing the crime figures of different countries is a complex matter. It is necessary to consider not only how many crimes are committed, but how many are detected and recorded.

The type of crime is another important factor. Britain has more reported crimes in general than Japan but about the same number of murders. Rich countries tend to have more car thefts than poor ones.

A just legal system needs an independent, honest police force. In countries where the public trusts the police force, they are more likely to report crimes, and it seems that they are also more likely to be law-abiding. Because of their wide powers it would not be difficult for corrupt police forces to falsify evidence against a suspect, to mistreat someone they have arrested, or to accept bribes in return for overlooking offences.

Legal systems usually have codes of conduct for the police, limiting the time and the methods which they can use to question suspects and guaranteeing the suspects access to independent lawyers. In Britain, however, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, and especially the Prevention of Terrorism Act, give the police some powers to delay access to lawyers. The Police Complaints Authority was up in 1984 to supervise the investigation of allegations of police misconduct.

In some countries, police officers are usually armed, whereas in others they only carry guns when engaged in certain kinds of work. Governments may also make use of the army to enforce the law, but this is only done on a regular basis when there is political dissatisfaction with the government, either from a large part of the civilian population (Paraguay), or from a well-armed minority (Northern Ireland).

As with the police, it is important that the public feels the judiciary is independent and unbiased. Americans feel that the best way of ensuring this is to have elected judges. Britons fear this might lead to politicalization of the judiciary and prefer to have judges appointed by the government on the recommendation of the lord chancellor.

Civil and criminal penalties

There are several kinds of punishment available to the courts. In civil cases, the most common punishment is a fine, but specific performance and injunctions may also be ordered. For criminal offenses fines are also often used when the offense is not a very serious one and when the offender has not been in trouble before. Another kind of punishment available in some countries is community service. This requires the offender to do a certain amount of unpaid work, usually for a social institution such as a hospital. For more serious crimes the usual punishment is imprisonment.

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Some prison sentences are suspended: the offender is not sent to prison if he keeps out of trouble for a fixed period of time, but if he does offend again both the suspended sentence and any new one will be imposed. The length of sentences varies from a few days to a lifetime. However, a life sentence may allow the prisoner to be released after a suitable long period if a review (parole) board agrees his detention no longer serves a purpose. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, living conditions in prison are fairly good because it is felt that deprivation of liberty is punishment in itself and should not be so harsh that it reduces the possibility of the criminal re-educating and reforming himself. In other countries, conditions are very bad. Perhaps because of an increase in crime or because of more and longer sentences of imprisonment, some prison cells have to accommodate far more people than they were built to hold and the prisoners are only let out of their cells once a day. Britain and the United States are trying to solve the shortage of space by allowing private companies to open prisons.

In some countries there is also corporal punishment (physical). In Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, among others, courts may sentence offenders to be caned or whipped. In Saudi Arabia theft and possession of alcohol may be punished by cutting off the offender’s hand or foot.

VOCABULARY AND COMPREHENSIVE EXERCISES

Exercise 8. Use the text and logical reasoning to work out the probable meaning of the following words and phrases.

1. make the public aware of what the law is, 2. encourage social support for law and order, 3. to arrest, search and question people suspected of crimes, 4. re-educate and reform people, 5. legal codes, 6. countries with continental systems, 7. the statutes and case judgements of common law countries, 8. involvement of a court, 9. to be found in possession of marijuana, 10. many are detected and recorded, 11. reported crime, 12. a just legal system, 13. code of conduct for the police, 14. to falsify evidence against a suspect, 15. to mistreat a suspect, 16. the investigation of allegations of police misconduct, 17. if he keeps out of trouble for a fixed period of time, 18. the judiciary is independent and unbiased, 19. prison sentences are suspended, 20. community service.

Exercise 9. Answer the questions using necessary legal terms:

1.What methods do governments use to make citizens obey the law?

2.What written records are used in countries with different legal systems to ensure law and

order?

3.Why is ignorance of the law almost never a defence for breaking it?

4.What functions do the police have in the legal process?

5.In what cases do the police have the right to penalize offenders?

6.What negative aspects of police misconduct are detrimental for the society?

7.What kinds of punishment are available to the courts? Are they the same in criminal and civil cases / in different countries?

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Exercise 10. Explain the meaning of the following legal penalties and give their Russian equivalents:

1. community service, 2. imprisonment, 3. suspended sentences, 4. parole, 5. corporal punishment.

Exercise 11. Read the text and get ready to discuss it.Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the box:

felons, offender; beheading; adultery; pillory; punishment; execution; deliberately; condemned; anpient; medieval; guilty; legal; public

From the History of Punishment

For the most history ___________ has been both painful and __________ in order to act as deterrent to others. Physical punishments and public humiliations were social events and carried out in most accessible parts of towns, of,ten on market days when the greater part of the population wer,e present. Justice had to be seen to be done.

One of the most bizarre methods of ____________ was inflicted in ancient Rome on people found ____________ of murdering their fathers. Their punishment was to be put in a sack with a rooster, a viper, and a dog, then drowned along with the three animals.In ____________ Greece the custom of allowing a _________man to end his own life by poison was extended only to f u l l citizens. The philosopher Socrates died in this way. Condemned slaves were beaten to death instead. Stoning was the ancient method of punishment for ____________ among other crimes.

In Turkey if a butcher was found guilty of selling bad meat, he was tied to a post with a piece of stinking meat fixed under his nose, or a baker having sold short weight bread could be nailed to his door by his ear.

One of the most common punishments for petty offences was the ____________, which stood in the main square of towns. The___________was locked by hands and head into the device and made to stand sometimes for days, while crowds jeered and pelted the offender with rotten vegetables or worse.

In ____________ Europe some methods of execution were ____________ drawn out to inflict maximum suffering.__________ were tied to a heavy wheel and rolled around the streets until they were'crushed to death. Others were strangled, very slowly.

One of the most terrible punishments was hanging and quartering. The victim was hanged, beheaded and the body cut into four pieces. It remained a ____________ method of punishment in Britain until 1814. ____________was normally reserved for those of high rank. In England a block and axe was the common method but this was different from France and Germany where the victim kneeled and the head was taken off with a swing of the sword.

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Exercise 12. Answer the following questions:

1.Why did ancient punishment have to be painful?

2.What was the purpose of makmg punishments public?

3.What was the symbolic meaning of the punishment inflicted on the parents’ murderers?

4.What punishments were most common in the East?

5.How did punishments reflect social status?

DISCUSSION

Easy Money

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were struggling to make ends meet and to feed their family of five. They decided that they needed to borrow money to pay their expenses for the month. They considered going to a bank for a loan, but they knew they each had poor credit histories, and they did not want to be paying off interest over a long period of time. They were very interested when they read the following ad in the newspaper: EASY MONEY: Having trouble paying bills? Need a short-term loan just to get you through a rough time? We offer quick loans to anyone regardless of credit background. No interest payments. Just a nominal processing fee. Call today!! 1-555-EZ-MONEY.

The offer sounded too good to be true. The Johnsons were skeptical, but they called anyway. The operator said she would be happy to offer them a no-interest loan of $2,000, repayable in six easy monthly installments. All the Johnsons had to do was pay a one-time fee of $200 to process the paperwork. The Johnsons did not have to meet anybody from the loan company, and nobody bothered them at their home. They scraped together the $200 and sent Easy Money, Inc., a money order. When they had not received their money in three weeks, they began to worry. They again called the number listed in the paper, but the line had been disconnected. Finally, after two more weeks, they realized they were not going to get their loan and would never see the “processing fee” again.

1.Did any unfair or deceptive practices take place in the Johnsons’ story? Explain.

2.What could the Johnsons have done to prevent their loss?

3.What can they do now? Can any state or federal agencies help them?

Part 2. Capital punishment (CP)

VOCABULARY AND READING EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Read the words and practice their pronunciation. Translate the words.

Ancient ['eɪn(t)ʃ(ə)nt], minor ['maɪnə], homicide ['hɔmɪsaɪd], death [deθ], lethal injection ['liːθ(ə)lɪn'ʤekʃ(ə)n], firing squad ['faɪərɪŋskwɔd], execute ['eksɪkjuːt], abolition [ˌæbə'lɪʃ(ə)n], severe [sɪ'vɪə], homosexual [ˌhəuməu'sekʃuəl], homosexuality [ˌhəuməuˌsekʃu'ælətɪ], issue ['ɪʃuː], argument ['ɑːgjəmənt], adultery [ə'dʌltərɪ], murder ['mɜːdə], punishment ['pʌnɪʃmənt], innocent ['ɪnəs(ə)nt], improvement [ɪm'pruːvmənt], forensic science [fə'ren(t)sɪk 'saɪən(t)s], irrespectively

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[ˌɪrɪ'spektɪvlɪ], acquittal [ə'kwɪt(ə)l], parole [pə'rəul], commit [kə'mɪt], cease [siːs], consequences ['kɔn(t)sɪkwən(t)sɪs], Japan [ʤə'pæn], Asia ['eɪʃə], Africa ['æfrɪkə], Latin America ['lætɪn ə'merɪkə].

Vocabulary

1.minor offence – мелкое правонарушение; проступок, правонарушение несовершеннолетнего

2.imprisonment − заключение (в тюрьму) ; лишение свободы

3.life imprisonment — пожизненное заключение

4.(v.) abolish − отменять

5.(v.) retain – сохранять

6.(v.) prescribe − назначать (наказание) syn. impose − налагать

7.criminal homicide − убийство

8.(n.) treason – государственная измена

9.(n.) rape − изнасилование

10.(n.) arson – поджог

11.(n.) victim − жертва

12.swift − быстрый

13.painless − безболезненный

14.lethal injection − смертельная инъекция

15.electrocution − казнь на электрическом стуле

16.lethal gas – смертельный газ

17.firing squad − команда, назначенная для произведения расстрела

18.shooting – расстрел (syn. execution by a firing squad)

19.hanging − смертная казнь через повешение

20.death penalty – смертная казнь

21.wartime offence – военное преступление

22.(v.) carry out − осуществлять

23.(n.) death sentence – смертный приговор

24.(v.) pass a sentence upon smb. – вынести приговор кому-л.

25.(v.) cease − переставать (делать что-л.) , прекращать

26.(v.) be in favor of − быть за (что-л.)

27.Amnesty International – международная неправительственная организация по продвижению прав человека

28.(n.) issue − спорный вопрос

29.(n.) adultery− прелюбодеяние

30.(n.) murder − убийство

31.severe − суровый

32.punishment − наказание

33.innocent − невиновный

34.the forensic science – криминалистика (syn. criminalistics)

35.A death row prisoner – заключенный, ожидающий исполнение смертной казни.

36.(v.) release − освободить

37.irrespectively − безотносительно, независимо

38.(n.) acquittal − оправдание

39.(v.) reconsider the case – пересмотреть дело

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40.parole – временное или досрочное условное освобождение заключённого из тюрьмы

41.(v.) prevent the crime − предотвратить преступление

42.(v.) have a chance to escape – иметь шанс скрыться (также: − сбежать, избежать)

43.the consequences of the crime – последствия преступления

44.instantaneous − мгновенный; немедленный, незамедлительный

45.(v.) suffer for – страдать за

46.by rotting in jail – гноением в тюрьме предварительного заключения (держать в гибельных условиях)

47.(v.) leave (d) to rot in jail — гноить в тюрьме

48.torturous − мучительный

49.inhumane − негуманный; бесчеловечный, жестокий, безжалостный

50.execution – казнь

51.kidnapping – похищение людей с целью выкупа

52.(v.) eliminate − устранять, исключать, уничтожать, ликвидировать, аннулировать

53.pre-marital sex − добрачные сексуальные отношения

54.the value of human life – цена человеческой жизни

55.(v.) brutalize society − доводить общество до звероподобного состояния

56.the sacredness of human life − святость человеческой жизни

57.(v.) deter crime – сдерживать преступность

58.(v.) suspect подозревать

59.criminal activity – преступная деятельность

60.barbaric − варварский

61.the desire to revenge – желание отомстить

62.cruel – жестокий

63.involve physical torture − применять физические пытки

64.(v.) be inflicted upon people – применяться по отношению к людям

65.a defense lawyer – адвокат подсудимого

66.wrongful conviction – ошибочное (неправомерное) осуждение

67.(v.) be found (not) guilty – быть (не) признанным виновным

68.theft кража

69.to (v.) frighten − пугать

70.(v.) detect and catch thieves − обнаружить и поймать воров

Exercise 2. Transcribe the following word, practice their pronunciation and translate them:

tragedy, equal, weight, tragically, human, instantaneous, rotting, jail, torturous, logically, cruel, guilty,innocent, victim, alternative, sanctioned, kidnapping, the Old Testament, death penalty, tolerant, eliminated, pre-marital sex, brutalizes society, deny, sacredness, deter, measures, suspect, desire, revenge, exist, civilized, torture, euphemism, inflict, irreversible, disproportionate, homicide, phenomenon, retrial, inabilities, thieves, revenge, retribution, rehabilitate,

Exercise 3. Find synonymous words and word combinations in the text to the words suggested below:

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1. to	share an opinion, 2. Judicial	3. kind, humanitarian, compassionate, 4. prevent, avert, keep
from,	5. periphrasis, indirectness,	circumlocution,	6. unalterable, irrevocable, 7. petty offences,

8. criminal law, 9. to keep from doing smth, to discourage, 10. to discover, to indentify.

Exercise 4. Read and translate the underlined words, word combinations and expressions. Then read andtranslate the text.

Capital punishment (CP)

CP has been in practice since the ancient times and appeared alongside with the appearance of the first states and became lawful as soon as the first institutions of power appeared. Originally, it was used for a variety of crimes including minor offences or no crimes at all. In the 16-17th centuries imprisonment became widely used and CP is left for the most serious crimes. In the 19-20th a lot of states abolished CP but it’s still practiced in more than 90 countries (Japan, 38 states of the USA, countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America etc). Today CP can be prescribed for criminal homicide, treason, rape or arson followed by the death of the victim. And unlike earlier centuries today the trend is toward relatively swift and painless methods (lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, hanging).

Although most countries still have a death penalty, almost every European nation have abolished it; some retain it only for exceptional crimes such as wartime offences; and others no longer carry out executions even when a death sentence has been passed. In other words, almost half the countries of the world have ceased to use the death penalty. The UN has declared itself in favor of abolition, Amnesty International actively campaigns for abolition, and the issue is now the focus of great debate.

Arguments FOR:

1.The Bible (Old Testament) subscribes to CP for a variety of crimes, including sex before marriage, adultery, homosexual behaviour, murder (killing a human is an offence against God, it requires severe punishment).

2.The possibility of an innocent to be executed is extremely small and continues to decrease with the improvement of the forensic science.

3.A death row prisoner can be released irrespectively whether he’s innocent or not, and this decision of acquittal is final what means that the prosecution cannot appeal to reconsider the case. So, once a criminal is in prison, he has a chance to leave it one day either by early parole or just escape, return to the society and probably continue what he’s been doing before. In this case CP is 100% effective type of punishment as it prevents the crime from being committed ever again: the murderer will never commit another crime once he has been executed.

4.By abolishing CP the state under-punishes criminals not only because they have a chance to escape the consequences of the crime but they also get a better living than those who are homeless and every day have to solve the question where to sleep and what to eat.

5.CP is considered to be more economical than life sentence (save money and time).

6.Even in the tragedy of human death there are degrees. We cannot place equal weight on the tragically lost life of a murder victim and that of a criminal. Victim rights are more important than criminal rights.

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7.Execution is more humane than life imprisonment because it is quick and instantaneous. Making the prisoner suffer by rotting in jail for the rest of his life is more torturous and inhumane than execution.

8.CP cannot be cruel as it is logically impossible to be cruel while punishing a guilty murderer for murdering an innocent victim.

9.Punishments for crimes are decided by a legal system designed by and for the people that it represents. If a person were to hold a death penalty as morally wrong, they would also have to hold the alternative to CP, a jail sentence, as wrong. Is a jail sentence now to be referred to as a state sanctioned kidnapping?

10.It’s the function of penal law to prevent murder by demonstrating to everyone that it’s not in their best interest to murder.

Arguments AGAINST

1.The Bible — Christians are no longer bound by the legal codes of the Old Testament, and death penalty is no longer required. Since the Bible was written we became more tolerant, we eliminated death penalty for pre-marital sex, practicing a different religion, homosexual behaviour, so we should eliminate it for murder.

2.CP lowers the value of human life and brutalizes society.

3.CP denies the sacredness of human life.

4.CP does not deter crime. People who are in the “business” of killing take measures to make sure they are not suspected of criminal activity and do not get caught. A person who gets caught for killing another individual is usually someone who did not plan to murder in the first place.

5.CP is a barbaric form of punishment based on the desire to revenge so it should not exist in the civilized societies.

6.CP is wrong morally because it’s a cruel and inhumane taking of a human life. Methods can involve physical torture. CP is a euphemism for legally killing people and no one, not even the State has the authority to play God.

7.CP can be inflicted upon people who are innocent as defense lawyers are often incompetent and jurors corrupted.

8.CP is irreversible: in case of a mistake, the executed prisoner cannot be given another

chance.

9.Disproportionate infliction on the poor and minorities.

10.More expensive than imprisonment and those who are convicted commonly use the costly process of appealing decisions.

11.In the last 100 years there have been more than 75 cases of wrongful conviction of criminal homicide.

As the debate about capital punishment continues, the phenomenon of death row (people sentenced but still alive) increases. In 1991, no one was executed in Japan, but three people were sentenced to death, bringing the total number on death row to fifty. Sakae Menda lived under sentence of death for thirty three years before obtaining a retrial and being found not guilty. The

debate also involves the question of what punishment is for. Is the main aim to deter? This was certainly the case in the 18th century England when the penalty for theft was supposed to frighten people from stealing and compensate for inabilities to detect and catch thieves. Is it revenge or retribution? Is it to keep criminals out of society? Or is it to reform and rehabilitate them?

VOCABULARY AND COMPREHENSIVE EXERCISES

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Exercise 5. Find in the text synonymous words and word combinations to those suggested below:

1. to share an opinion, 2. judicial, legal (science), 3. kind, humanitarian, compassionate, 4. prevent, avert, keep from, 5. periphrasis, indirectness, circumlocution, 6. unalterable, irrevocable, 7. petty offences, 8. criminal law, 9. to keep from doing smth, to discourage, 10. to discover, to indentify.

Exercise 6. Discuss the pros and cons of CP, work in pairs. Use as many necessary words as possible to be persuasive in upholding your standpoint.

Suffix – fy

Produces verbs meaning to make.

For example: testify.

Exercise 7. Read, translate and find the first form of the following words:

Clarify, justify, simplify, ntensify, prettify, diversify, falsify, calcify, ramify, mummify, mortify,testify, trustify, mystify.

Part 3. Law of Criminal Procedure

VOCABULARY AND READING EXERCCISES

Exercise 1. Read the words and practice their pronunciation:

suspect search seizure seize empower police arrest premises warrant property custody determine sufficient justify['ʤʌstɪfaɪ] abandoned[ə'bændənd] survive[sə'vaɪv] clarify['klærɪfaɪ] preside [prɪ'zaɪd] burden['bɜːdn] advisory[əd'vaɪz(ə)rɪ], Austria ['ɔstrɪə], Belgium ['belʤəm], Norway ['nɔːweɪ], Switzerland ['swɪts(ə)lənd].

1.(v.) commit a crime ‒ совершить преступление

2.length of punishment ‒ срок наказания

3.(n.) conviction ‒ признание виновным, обвинение, осуждение, обвинительный приговор

4.investigatory phase ‒ следственный этап

5.(v.) be responsible for ‒ нести ответственность, отвечать за (что-л.)

6.(v.) arrest ‒ арестовывать, задерживать

7.evidence ‒ улика, свидетельское показание

8.(v.) obtain evidence ‒получать доказательства

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9.(v.) call in evidence — вызывать в суд для дачи показаний

10.(v.) gather evidence — собирать улики

11.(v.) suppress / withhold evidence — утаивать улики

12.conclusive evidence — неопровержимая улика, доказательство

13.searches and seizures ‒ обыск с конфискацией

14.(v.) seize property ‒ конфисковывать имущество

15.(v.) empower ‒ уполномочивать; предоставлять право; оформлять полномочия

16.(v.) be in custody ‒ находиться под арестом (syn. to be held in custody; to be under arrest)

17.a grand jury ‒ большая коллегия присяжных (обычно состоит из 23 человек; решает вопрос о предании обвиняемого суду)

18.petit jury ‒ малая коллегия присяжных (обычно состоит из 12 человек; выносит вердикт обвиняемому на судебном процессе; syn. trial jury )

19.the suspect ‒ подозреваемое лицо

20.(v.) justify further action ‒ оправдывать дальнейшие действия

21.post-conviction stage ‒ этап после вынесения приговора

22.(v.) abandon ‒ отказываться (от чего-л.) , прекращать (что-л. / делать что-л.); передавать страховым компаниям все права на застрахованное имущество (to abandon oneself ‒ предаваться, посвящать себя чему-л.)

23.(v.) survive ‒ выживать, оставаться в живых; surviving ‒ выживание

24.defendant ‒ ответчик по делу в суде, подсудимый, обвиняемый (syn. accused)

25.(v.) arraign a defendant — привлекать обвиняемого к суду

26.(v.) be guilty ‒ быть виновным

27.(v.) clarify the facts ‒ прояснять факты

28.stand ‒ место для дачи показаний; to take the stand — предстать перед судом для дачи показаний; давать показания в суде

29.(v.) take the stand in one's own defence — давать показания в собственную защиту

30.presiding judge ‒ председательствующий судья

31.the burden of proof ‒ бремя доказательств

32.(v.) prove a defence — доказывать версию защиты;

33.(v.) prove alibi — доказывать алиби;

34.(v.) prove guilt — доказывать вину; доказать вину;

35.(v.) prove guilt beyond all reasonable doubt — доказать вину при полном отсутствии обоснованного в том сомнения;

36.(v.) prove guilt beyond any reasonable doubt — доказать вину при отсутствии какого бы то ни было в том сомнения

37.(v.) reach a verdict ‒ прийти к решению

38.an advisory opinion ‒ консультативное заключение (официальное заключение какого-л. органа по рассмотренному вопросу; такого рода постановления не являются обязательными для исполнения)

39.admission of evidence ‒ признание доказательства

40.legality ‒ правомерность, законность, легальность

41.challenge ‒ отвод присяжных

42.challenge for cause — отвод по конкретному основанию

43.(v.) be challenged by an appeal to a higher court ‒ быть оспореным путем подачи апелляции в суд высшей инстанции