Set Work

I. Render the above article into English and comment on its headline.

II. Think of the best English variants of:

разбирать ч-либо дело, двухлетний условный срок, приговор, потерпевшая, судебный парик, вызвать общее возмущение, передать дело на рассмотрение в Апелляционный суд, судебная ошибка, отменить приговор, мягкий приговор, обязать подсудимого выплатить жертве деньги в виде компенсации, назначить судью, суд высшей инстанции, занести в черный список, завести досье на к-либо, мировой судья, сексуальное надругательство, юрист.

III. State the difference between:

lawyer – barrister – solicitor – counsel – attorney.

IV. What types of courts are mentioned in the article? Say what you know about them.

V. Points for discussion.

1. Do you think it’s time for the British to overhaul the old-age system of appointing judges?

2. What kind of changes should be made?

3. Are British judges really turning into “a club of the elderly”?

JUSTICE?

‘The punishment should fit the crime.’

National and local newspapers regularly print accounts of legal cases, and quite often the stories they choose are ones in which the punishment does not appear to fit the crime. It is easy to read a paragraph about a criminal case and to become outraged at the sentence passed by a judge. We have to remember that the short paragraph sums up a complicated legal case which might have taken hours, days or even weeks of court time, and that the judge knew a lot more about the case than the casual newspaper reader. However, sentences and penalties vary widely from one court to another. As every football fan knows, referees make mistakes, and the referee is much more likely to be mistaken when his decision goes against one’s own team.

Here are some examples of crimes, and the penalties chosen by particular judges. Read through them and try to answer these questions.

Was justice done?

If you had been the judge, would you have given a different sentence?

Would you have chosen a lighter sentence, or a more severe one?

How would you have felt if you had been the defendant?

If you had been the judges, what other facts and circumstances would you have wanted to know?

Manslaughter

(the act of killing someone, unlawfully, but not intentionally)

In 1981 Marianne Bachmeir, from Lubeck, West Germany, was in court watching the trial of Klaus Grabowski, who had murdered her 7-year-old daughter. Grabowski had a history of attacking children. During the trial, Frau Bachmeir pulled a Beretta 22 pistol from her handbag and fired eight bullets, six of which hit Grabowski, killing him. The defence said she had bought the pistol with the intention of committing suicide, but when she saw Grabowski in court she drew the pistol and pulled the trigger. She was found not guilty of murder, but was given six years imprisonment for manslaughter. West German newspapers reflected the opinion f millions of Germans that she should have been freed, calling her ‘the avenging mother’.

Murder

In 1952 two youths in Mitcham, London decided to rob a dairy. They were Christopher Craig, aged 16 and Derek William Bentley, 19. During the robbery they were disturbed by Sidney Miles, a policeman. Craig produced a gun and killed the policeman. At that time Britain still had the death penalty for certain types of murder, including murder during a robbery. Because Craig was under 18, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Bentley who had never touched the gun, was over 18. He was hanged in 1953. The case was quoted by opponents of capital punishment, which was abolished in 1965.

Assault

In 1976 a drunk walked into a supermarket. When the manager asked him to leave, the drunk assaulted him, knocking out a tooth. A policeman who arrived and tried to stop the fight had his jaw broken. The drunk was fined £10.

Shop-lifting

In June 1980 Lady Isabel Barnett, a well-known TV personality was convicted of stealing a tin of tuna fish and a carton of cream, total value 87p, from a small shop. The case was given enormous publicity. She was fined £75 and had to pay £200 towards the cost of the case. A few days later she killed herself.

Fraud

This is an example of a civil case rather than a criminal one. A man had taken out an insurance policy of £100,000 on his life. The policy was due to expire at 3 o’clock on a certain day. The man was in serious financial difficulties, and at 2.30 on the expiry day he consulted his solicitor. He then went out and called a taxi. He asked the driver to make a note of the time, 2.50. He then shot himself. Suicide used not to cancel an insurance policy automatically. (It does nowadays.) The company refused to pay the man’s wife, and the courts supported them.