Vocabulary activities

1. Answer the following questions:

1. What special qualities should a person have to become a successful defence lawyer / an experienced solicitor / a wise judge / a strict and fair prosecutor?

1. What's the difference between circumstantial and decisive evidence?

2. Who can be summoned to appear in court?

3. What is the role of a witness in a court of law?

5. Can a jury make a decision about how a guilty person should be punished?

2. Comment on the meanings of the words written in italics.

1. Helen's attorney suggested her neighbour had killed her husband. 2. A witness, Mrs Black, clinched the jury's verdict. 3. Carol Wesson, called by the defence, exercised her legal right to refuse to answer questions that might incriminate her. 4. The criminal was found guilty. 5. The victim's sister said, "We finally got the justice due to us." 6. The circumstantial evidence was mounting up against the man. 7. The man was sentenced to ten years behind bars, but from the dock he continued to protest his innocence. 8. The woman stood by her testimony. 9. Two psychologists and a psychiatrist testified for the defence. 10. The man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, without a chance of parole. 11. Jack Dobson was still on parole after spend­ing ten years in jail for hijacking. 12. They do not have the death penalty in New York State, so the man will stay in jail for the rest of his life. 13. The prosecutor proved that the young woman took an active part in the killing. 14. Mr James went to the homicide division and begged detectives to investigate the case. 15. The jury decided that there was insufficient evidence to find the man guilty of embezzlement. 16. Mrs Smith agreed to testify on behalf of the prosecution at Ted's pre-sentence hearing. 17. While the suspect was still at the police station, police went to his home armed with a search warrant. 18. Ted was let out on bail while the police investigated. 19. Jackson appealed against the jury's verdict.

3. Comment on the duties of the following people:

A defence lawyer
A prosecutor
A solicitor
A judge
A jury
A witness
A barrister

Prompts: to defend a person who has been accused of something; to argue in a court of law that the charges are not true; to support a person; to speak in the higher courts of law on behalf of either the defence or the prosecution; to prove in a trial that the person who is on trial is guilty; to appear in a court of law to tell what he/she knows about some crime; to give legal advice to clients and prepare legal documents and cases; to make decisions about how the law should be applied to people, how a person who has been found guilty of a crime should be punished; to listen to the facts about a crime and to decide whether the person accused is guilty or not.

4. Match each punishment with its description.

1. capital punishment a) a period of time in jail

2. corporal punishment b) being made to do specially hard work while in prison

3. eviction c) death

4. a heavy fine d) a punishment imposed only if you commit a further crime

5. internment e) a large sum of money to pay

6. penal servitude f) whipping or beating

7. a prison sentence g) regular meetings with a social worker

8. probation h) removing (a person) from a house or land by law

9. solitary confinement i) limiting the freedom of movement especially for political reasons 10. suspended sentence j) being imprisoned completely alone