Unit 10. Treatment of criminals

TASK 1. Match the following headings -with the sections of the text below:

• Rehabilitative programs

• Psychiatric and case-study methods

• Bentham approach

• Neoclassical school

• Preventive approach

(1) Various correctional approaches developed in the wake of causation theories. The old theological and moralistic theories encouraged punishment as retribution b society for evil. This attitude, indeed, still exists. The 19 ^th -century British jurist an philosopher Jeremy Bentham tried to make the punishment more precisely fit the crime. Bentham believed that pleasure could be measured against pain in all areas of human choice and conduct and that human happiness could be attained through such hedonic calculus. He argued that criminals would be deterred from crime if they knew specifically, the suffering they would experience if caught. Bentham therefore urge definite, inflexible penalties for each class of crime; the pain of the penalty would outweigh only slightly the pleasure of success in crime; it would exceed it sufficiently t act as a deterrent, but not so much as to amount to wanton cruelty. This so-called calculus of pleasures and pains was based on psychological postulates no longer accepted

(2) The Bentham approach was in part superseded in the late 19^th and early 20¹ centuries by a movement known as the neoclassical school. This school, rejecting fixed punishments, proposed that sentences vary with the particular circumstances of a crime, such as the age, intellectual level, and emotional state of the offender; the motives and other conditions that may have incited to crime; and the offender's past record and chances of rehabilitation. The influence of the neoclassical school led to the development of such concepts as grades of crime and punishment, indeterminate sentences, and the limited responsibility of young or mentally deficient offenders.

(3) At about the same time, the so-called Italian school stressed measures for preventing crime rather than punishing it. Members of this school argued that individuals are shaped by forces beyond their control and therefore cannot be held fully responsible for their crimes. They urged birth control, censorship of pornographic literature, and other action designed to mitigate the influences contributing to crime. The Italian school has had lasting influence on the thinking of present-day criminologists.

(4) The modern approach to the treatment of criminals owes most to psychiatric and case study methods. Much continues to be learned from offenders who have been placed o probation or parole and whose behavior, both in and out of prison, has been studied intensively. The contemporary scientific attitude is that criminals are individual personalities and that their rehabilitation can be brought about only through individual treatment. Increased juvenile crime has aroused public concern and hasstimulated study of the emotional disturbances that foster delinquency. This growing understanding of delinquency has contributed to the understanding of criminals of all ages.

(5) During recent years, crime has been under attack from many directions. The treatment and rehabilitation of criminals has improved in many areas. The emotional problems of convicts have been studied and efforts have been made to help such offenders. Much, however, remains to be done. Parole boards have engaged persons trained in psychology and social work to help convicts on parole or probation adjusts to society. Various U S states have agencies with programs of reform and rehabilitation for both adult and juvenile offenders.

Many communities have initiated concerted attacks on the conditions that breed crime. Criminologists recognize that both adult and juvenile crime stem chiefly from the breakdowm of traditional social norms and controls resulting from industrialization, urbanization, increasing physical and social mobility, and the effects of economic crises and wars. Most criminologists believe that effective crime prevention requires community agencies and programs to provide the guidance and control performed, ideally and traditionally, by the family and by the force of social custom. Although the crime rate has not drastically diminished as a result of these efforts, it is hoped that the extension and improvement of all valid approaches to improvement of crime eventually will reduce its incidence.

TASK 2. Write down the translation of the sentences from the text above given in bold type.

TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents/or the following words and expressions:

1. бессмысленная жестокость

2. особые обстоятельства

3. обращение с преступниками

4. совет по условному освобождению

5. общественные организации

6. порождать преступление

7. преступления, совершенные несовершеннолетними

8. упадок общественных норм

 

 

TASK 4. Give Russian equivalents/or the following general types of punishment. Put them in descending order of severity.

· Capital punishment

· Community service

· Disciplinary training in a detention centre

· Fixed, penalty fine

· Life imprisonment

· Probation

· Short-term imprisonment

· Suspended sentence

· Long-term imprisonment

TASK 5. Study the following list offences. Rate them on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 is a minor offence, 10 is a very serious crime). They are in no particular order. You don’t have to apply your knowledge of existing laws – your own opinion is necessary:

 

o driving in excess of the speed limit

o common assault (e.g. a fight in a disco-club)

o drinking and driving

o malicious wounding (e.g. stabbing someone in a fight)

o murdering a policeman during a robbery

o murdering a child

o causing death by dangerous driving

o smoking marihuana

o sealing £1,000 from a bank by fraud

o sealing £1,000 worth of goods from someone's home

o rape

o grievous bodily harm (almost killing someone)

o shop-lifting

o stealing £1,000 from a bank by threatening someone with a gun

o possession of a gun without a licence

TASK 6. Which of the sentences listed in Task 4 fit the offences in Task 5? Give your reason.

 

Supplementary Reading

 

TASK 7. Study the authentic cases given below. Discuss each case in class and decide the following:

1. Was justice done?

2. If you were the judge, what other facts and circumstances would you like to know?

3. If you were the judge, would you give a different sentence?

4. Would you choose a lighter sentence, or a more severe one?

5. How would you have felt if you had been the victim of the crime?

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

Manslaughter

In 1981 Marianne Bachmeir, from Lubeck, West Germany was in court watching the trial of Klaus Grabowski, who had murdered her 7 y ear-old daughter. Grabowski had 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 of millions of Germans that she should have been freed, calling her 'the avenging mother'.

Crime of Passion

Bernard Lewis, a thirty-six-old man, while preparing dinner became involved in a argument with his drunken wife. In a fit of a rage Lewis, using the kitchen knife with which he had been preparing the meal, stabbed and killed his wife. He immediately called for assistance, and readily confessed when the first patrolman appeared on the scene with the ambulance attendant. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The probation department investigation indicated that Lewis was a rigid individual who never drank, worked regularly, and had no previous criminal record. His thirty-year-old deceased wife, and mother of three children, was a 'fine girl' when sober but was frequently drunk and on a number of occasions

 

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 Sydney 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. Bently 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 pounds.

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 pounds and had to pay 200 pounds 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 pounds on his life. The policy was due to expire at 3 o'clock on certain day. The man was in serious financial difficulties, and at 2.30 on the expire 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.

 

 

Proverbs and Sayings

 

 

An eye for a eye, tooth for a tooth.

Judge not least you be judged

Everyone deserves a second chance

Justice is nothing unless it is tempered with mercy.

 

 

Grammar

 

The infinitive

1. Инфинитив – это не личная форма глагола

Инфинитив имеет формы трех грамматический категорий глагола: временной coотнесенности (Perfect, Non-Prefect), залога (Active, Passive), вида (Continuous, Non-Continuous).

ПРИМЕЧАНИЕ: Непереходные глаголы не имеют формы Passive Voice.

2. Форма Non-Perfect употребляется:

а)для обозначения действия, происходящего одновременно с действиями, выраженным сказуемым.

I am glad to see you. Я рад вас видеть.

б) для обозначения действия безотносительно ко времени его совершения.

To swim is pleasant. Плавать очень приятно.