IV. Translate into Russian: reviewing important points

1. Law includes not only the rules of conduct but also the means for enforcing those rules. Any set of rules would be useless without mechanism for enforcement.

2. Civil law is enforced through the courts at the re­quest of the injured party, who is assisted by a pri­vate lawyer. Criminal law is enforced through the courts by the prosecuting attorney, who is aided by the police.

3. In civil actions, the plaintiff brings suit against the defendant. In criminal actions, the prosecution (the state) brings action against the defendant (the ac­cused).

4. A criminal action usually begins with an arraign­ment. The defendant must plead guilty or not guilty to the charges.

5. A civil action is generally begun by the plaintiff fil­ing a complaint. A process server then delivers a sum­mons and copy of the complaint to the defendant. The defendant must answer the complaint or lose the case by default.

6. Members of a trial jury should be impartial, should not be biased or prejudiced, and should vote honestly and fairly in reaching a verdict.

7. Evidence usually consists of testimony, but it may include documents, objects, pictures, etc.

8. Persons who have knowledge of the facts in a case
may be ordered by subpoena to appear in court as witnesses and to give testimony.

9. Most trials are concluded with judgment by the trial
court. However, a judgment may ordinarily be ap­pealed to a higher court. The higher court will either affirm or (if there was a serious error of law in the trial) reverse the decision or send the case back to the court from which it came to have further action tak­en on it there.

TEXT 3C

I. Read and translate the text. Sum up the information you’ve learned from it:

SELECTION OF THE TRIAL JURY

The first step in the selection of the trial jury is the selection of a “ jury panel ”. When you are selected for a jury panel you will be directed to report, along with other panel members, to a courtroom in which a case is to be heard once a jury is selected. The judge assigned to that case will tell you about the case and will introduce the lawyers and the people involved in the case. You will also take an oath, by which toy promise to answer all questions truthfully. Following this explanation of the case and the taking of the oath, the judge and the lawyers will question you and the other members of the panel to find out if you have any personal interest in it, or any feelings that might make it hard for you to be impartial. This process of questioning is called Voir Dire, a phrase meaning “to speak the truth”.

Many of the questions the judge and lawyers ask you during Voir Dire may seem very personal to you, but you should answer them completely and honestly. Remember that the lawyers are not trying to embarrass you, but are trying to make sure that members of the jury do not have opinions or past experiences which might prevent them from making an impartial decision.

During Voir Dire the lawyers may ask the judge to excuse you or another member of the panel from sitting on the jury for this particular case. This is called challenging a juror. There are two types of the challenges. The first is called a challenging for cause, which means that the lawyer has a specific reason for thinking that the juror would not be able to be impartial. For example, the case may involve the theft of a car. If one of the jurors has had a car stolen and still feels angry or upset about it, the lawyer for the person accused of the theft could ask that the juror be excused for that reason. There is no limit on the number of the panel members that the lawyers may have excused for cause.

The second type of the challenge is called a peremptory challenge, which means that the lawyer does not have to state a reason for asking that the juror be excused. Like challenges for cause, peremptory challenges are designed to allow lawyers to do their best to assure that their clients will have a fair trial. Unlike challenges for cause, however, the number of peremptory challenges is limited.

Those jurors who have not been challenged become the jury for the case. Depending on the kind of case, there will be either six or twelve jurors. The judge may also allow selection of one or more alternate jurors, who will serve if one of the jurors is unable to do so because of illness or some other reason.

 

Vocabulary notes:

«jury panel» - состав присяжных заседателей	to excuse – освободить от обязанности
to take an oath –принять присягу	peremptory challenge – немотивированный отвод
impartial – непредвзятый	to assure – удостовериться, убедиться
to embarrass – смутить, запутать	fair trial – справедливое судебное разбирательство
to prevent - мешать	to challenge – давать отвод (присяжным, составу суда)
challenging a juror – отвод присяжного	jury for the case – присяжные, подобранные для судебного рассмотрения дела
challenging for cause – мотивированный отвод	alternate juror– присяжный запасного состава
Voir Dire –говорить правду

 

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the aim of Voir Dire?

2. What does the procedure of Voir Dire consist of?

3. What is a challenging a jury?

4. What are the types of challenge?

5. Why is the number of peremptory challenges limited?

6. What is the number of jurors sitting on a case?

7. Who are alternate jurors?

III. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

1. выбирать в состав присяжных

2. обещать отвечать на все вопросы правдиво

3. прошлый опыт

4. показаться очень личным

5. особая причина

6. непредвзятое решение

7. человек, обвиненный в воровстве

8. выяснить

9. личная заинтересованность

10. опрашивать

11. делать все возможное

12. в зависимости от вида дела

13. устанавливать причину

14. зал судебного заседания

IV. Match the following English expressions with their Russian equivalents:

1. jury – box	a. суд общественного мнения
2. jury of public opinion	b.состав присяжных из другой области или юрисдикции, чем та, где был заявлен иск
3. jury tampering	c.состав присяжных, принимающих участие в слушании дела, в котором стороны не имеют права на суд присяжных
4. jury trial	d. попытка оказать давление на присяжных
5. calling the jury	e. скамья присяжных
6. advisory jury	f.составлять список присяжных
7. foreign jury	g.специальный состав присяжных
8. good jury	h.формирование состава жюри присяжных
9. impanel a jury	i. суд присяжных
10. pack a jury	j.специальный состав присяжных, специальное жюри
11. serve on a jury	k. подбирать пристрастный состав присяжных
12. special jury	l.исполнять обязанности присяжного

UNIT 4

CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES

TEXT 4A

I. Read and translate the text using the words and word combinations after it:

WHAT ARE CRIMES?

It is very important to know which acts are criminal.

Offenses Against Society

The most fundamental characteristic of a crime is that it is a punishable offense against society. Consequently, when a crime occurs, society, acting through such employees as the police and prosecutors, attempts to identify, arrest, prosecute, and punish the criminal. These measures are designed to protect society rather than to aid the victim of the crime. Victims of almost all crimes can sue identified criminals for civil damages, but seldom do because it is costly and difficult to collect from such defendants.

Elements of Crimes

Before anyone can be convicted of a crime, three elements usually must be proved at the trial. They are:

1. a duty to do or not to do a certain thing,

2. a violation of the duty, and

3. criminal intent.

Duty. The duty to do or not to do a certain thing usually is described by statutes which prohibit certain conduct. Generally only conduct that is serious -involving violence or theft of property — is classified as an offense against society and therefore criminal.

Violation of the Duty. The breach of duty must also be proved in a criminal trial. This is the specific conduct by the defendant, which violates the duty. For example, battery is always a crime. Criminal battery is often defined in statutes as «the intentional causing of corporal harm». Corporal harm means bodily harm. A breach of this duty could be established in a trial by the testimony of a witness who swore that she saw the defendant delib­erately punch the victim.

Criminal Intent. The third element, criminal intent, must be proved in most cases. Criminal intent generally means that the defendant intended to commit the act and intended to do evil.

A few crimes do not require criminal intent. These are generally less serious crimes, for which a jail sentence is very unlikely. Traffic offenses fall within this classification. You may not have intended to speed or have intended evil but you have still committed this crime.

Today, statutes of most states fix the age of criminal liability at 18, but the figure ranges from 16 to 19. Statutes often provide that minors as young as 13 or 16 may be tried and punished as adults if they are accused of serious crimes such as murder. Generally, however, what is a crime for adults is juvenile delinquency for minors.

Ignorance or mistake is generally no excuse for violating a law. A person is presumed to know what the law is. To have criminal intent, one must have sufficient mental capacity at the time one commits a crime to know the difference between right and wrong and to be capable of deciding what to do. Accordingly, insane persons are not held liable for their criminal acts.

Normally neither voluntary intoxication nor drug abuse is a good defense against a criminal charge.

 

Vocabulary notes:

punishable offence against society–наказуемое преступление против общества	to do evil – творить зло
victim of the crime – жертва преступления	jail sentence – тюремное заключение
to be convicted of a crime –заставить признаться в преступлении	to commit a crime – совершать преступление
violation of the duty – нарушение обязательства	minor – несовершеннолетний преступник
criminal intent – преступное намерение	to be accused of – обвиняться
statute –статут,законодательный акт	juvenile delinquency – подростковая преступность
breach of duty – нарушение лицом своих обязательств	ignorance – незнание
battery – побои, оскорбление действием	insane person – душевнобольной человек
corporal harm – телесное повреждение	voluntary intoxication – добровольной принятие алкоголя
punch – ударять кулаком	drug abuse – злоупотребление наркотиками

 

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the most fundamental characteristic of a crime?

2. What are the three elements of a crime?

3. What is the age of criminal liability?

4. What is the age of criminal liability for serious crimes?

5. What is the criminal intent?

6. What is the criminal juvenile delinquency?

 

III. The word CRIME has the following meanings in Russian:

Преступление

сrime against humanity - преступление против человечества

Преступность

сrime wave – волна преступности