Vocabulary notes

mugging	нападение на улице (сзади) с целью ограбления
perennial	вечный, зд. убежденный
to hold up at gunpoint	держать на мушке, под прицелом
holdup	вооруженный грабеж
conspiracy	преступный сговор
material witness	главный свидетель по делу
on a bail	под залог
to testify	давать показания
cases pending	дела, ожидающие решения
to tempt	искушать, соблазнять
sexual- assault	нападение сексуального характера
tremendous	огромный
to tune out	зд. отказываться сотрудничать

Task 3. Read the text again and make sure you know all underlined parts of the text. Give their Russian equivalents

Task 4. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the message of this text?

2. Why are people unwilling to cooperate when they have to appear in the court as witnesses?

3. Who is a material witness?

4. Why are California Highway Patrol officers tempted to avoid making less serious arrests?

5. Why would not many private hospitals in the District of Columbia admit sexual- assault victims?

6. What is the typical experience of a witness according to Donald Santarelli?

Task 5. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Agreement or disagreement should be followed by some comment

1. Being a witness is a pleasant and rewarding experience.

2. Many private hospitals would gladly admit sexual- assault victims.

3. There is increasing agreement that the witness is the Forgotten man of our judicial system.

4. Witnesses have to post a bond to assure their appearance at the trial.

5. Police witnesses are required to attend court proceedings on their workdays — and receive some compensation.

6. A witness always comes forward as a witness when he/she should whatever it costs him/her.

7. At the end of a day in court, a witness is likely to feel that he/she is the accused.

Task 6. Ask the questions to which the following statements are the answers:

1. His son-in-law urged him to be a witness.

2. I don't get paid if I show up absent.

3. On August 26, 1971, Mrs. Patricia Finck was held up at gunpoint.

4. She had to go to court 45 times.

5. The store paid me for all the time I was in court.

6. It was a pretty disgusting experience.

7. His family had to go on welfare.

8. The typical experience of a witness is to be abused, ignored, and attacked.

9. Medical personnel were called endlessly to court to testify.

10. He is likely to feel that he is the accused.

Task 7. Explain in English what the words and word combinations mean. Use them in your own sentences

Mugging, to make a monkey out of somebody, cynic, robber, holdup, hang around, a material witness, testimony, defendants, welfare., to testify, abuse, the accused, conspiracy, to be out on bail

Task 8. Practice the speech patterns given below. Make up two sentences of your own on each pattern

1. In fact, things are much worse for him than even Archie, that perennial cynic, suspects. That means it lost much more in my time than the amount originally stolen.

2. It was a pretty disgusting experience. His testimony is pretty important.

3. At the end of a day in court, he is likely to feel that he is the accused. He is likely to be found guilty. The policeman is likely to tell the witness nothing informative. But certain capture is unlikely to deter hardened crimi­nals.

4. Until quite recently, many private hospitals in the District of Columbia would not admit sexual- assault victims. He would not come forward as a witness when he should.

5. For once Archie has a lot of company among both liberals and conservatives. The testimony was both funny and shocking. American crime is both violent and irrational.

6. A California Highway Patrol study showed that 60 percent of its officers' time in court is spent waiting to testify. None of us likes to be held up for a long time making a credit-card purchase or cashing a check

Task 9. Make the summary of the text. Use the key words and word combinations

Text 2

Task 1. Answer the questions:

1. Why do you think there are delays in court proceedings?

2. What is the work of a defense counsel?

3. Are people paid any money if they appear in court as witnesses?

Task 2. Read the text to get the main idea paying special attention to the underlined parts of the text (key words and word combinations)

Not long ago, the leaa (Law Enforcement Assistance Administration) checked some 3000 District of Columbia cases dropped because of various weaknesses in the evidence. Close to half had to be dropped because witnesses had failed to cooperate; just how witnesses are abused, discouraged and penalized was spelled out for me in interviews around the country:

1. Delays: "We have cases where witnesses have to come back 10 to 15 times," Deputy District Attorney Michael Ash told me in Milwaukee. "Recently, when we did a survey of 294 witnesses, nearly 40 percent of them said they would be less cooperative in the future."

Why are there so many delays? A1970 study of criminal justice hammered at the main cause: "It is standard procedure for the defense counsel to employ every means at his disposal to frustrate efforts to bring the case to trial. The objective is to wear out the state's witnesses. Cooperative victims and witnesses become hostile, refuse to appear and, if summoned, become unwilling to provide the testimony needed for conviction."

While most defense lawyers consider delay their most important weapon few are as frank as William Coffey, a prominent Milwaukee defense attorney. Coffey told a local bar association in 1970: "Your job as a criminal lawyer is to see that your client never gets to trial. If he does, there is too much chance that he is going to get convicted.”

2. Witness Fees: A 1972 survey of state laws on witness fees showed that 44 states pay from nothing to $6 a day. The Constitution says that private property may not be taken for public use without just compensation, points out Michael Ash. That isn’t that what we’re doing when we make a man who earns $30-$40 a day come to court again and again as a witness, and we pay him some miserable sum like $5 a day?”

One witness, the father of six children, lost $574 in wages because his employer refused to pay for time lost during many court appearances. Several men, interviewed during Detroit, Milwaukee and District of Colombia surveys, told of losing jobs because of repeated calls to court. A citizen has no legal protection against such summary firing.