Специальность 030501.65 «Юриспруденция», квалификация «юрист»

СЕВЕРО-ЗАПАДНЫЙ (г. САНКТ- ПЕТЕРБУРГ) ФИЛИАЛ

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОГО УЧРЕЖДЕНИЯ

ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«РОССИЙСКАЯ ПРАВАВАЯ АКАДЕМИЯ
МИНИСТЕРСТВА ЮСТИЦИИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ»

(СЗФ РПА МИРЮСТА РОССИИ)

____________________________________________________________________________

КАФЕДРА ГУМАНИТАРНЫХ И СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИХ ДИСЦИПЛИН

 

 

В. Д. ДОРОДНЫХ

CRIME AND CRIMINALS

Английский язык для юристов

Учебное пособие

 

 

Санкт-Петербург

 

 

СЕВЕРО-ЗАПАДНЫЙ (г. САНКТ- ПЕТЕРБУРГ) ФИЛИАЛ

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОГО УЧРЕЖДЕНИЯ

ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«РОССИЙСКАЯ ПРАВАВАЯ АКАДЕМИЯ
МИНИСТЕРСТВА ЮСТИЦИИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ»

(СЗФ РПА МИРЮСТА РОССИИ)

____________________________________________________________________________

КАФЕДРА ГУМАНИТАРНЫХ И СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИХ ДИСЦИПЛИН

Специальность 030501.65 «Юриспруденция», квалификация «юрист»

 

 

В. Д. ДОРОДНЫХ

CRIME AND CRIMINALS

Английский язык для юристов

Учебное пособие

 

 

Санкт-Петербург

 

 

Рецензент:

Игнатьева И.М.

Старший преподаватель кафедры гуманитарных

и социально-экономических дисциплин СЗФ РПА Минюста России

 

 

Дородных В.Д.

Crime and criminals. Английский язык для юристов: учебное пособие. – СПб.: СЗФ РПА

Минюста России, 2011. - с.

 

Пособие “Crime and criminals” предназначено для студентов-юристов и может быть использовано как на аудиторных занятиях, так и для самостоятельной работы студентов.

Пособие состоит из четырех разделов и помимо текстов для чтения содержит систему упражнений и заданий, нацеленных на развитие навыков профессионально-ориентированной устной речи. В конце пособия дан краткий англо-русский словарь юридических терминов.

 

 

Учебное пособие обсуждено и одобрено

Кафедрой гуманитарных и социально-экономических дисциплин

(протокол № от 22. 02. 2011 г.)

и рекомендовано Методическим советом

Северо-Западного (г. Санкт-Петербург) филиала

Российской правовой академии Минюста России

(протокол № от).

 

СЗФ РПА Минюста России, 2011

 

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ

 

Введение ……………………………………………………………………………………

 

Unit 1. Deviance, crime and types of crime ……………………………………………….

 

 

Unit 2. Ways of solving crimes …………………………………………………………….

 

 

Unit 3. Controlling crime …………………………………………………………………..

 

 

Unit 4. Crime and drugs ……………………………………………………………………

 

 

Glossary …………………………………………………………………………………….

 

 

 

ВВЕДЕНИЕ

 

Учебное пособие состоит из четырех разделов, каждый из которых содержит ряд текстов и послетекстовые задания. Задания построены по принципу проверки понимания прочитанного, отработки лексики по тематике разделов и употребление ее в ситуациях общения.

Пособие рассчитано на студентов, которые уже освоили основы грамматики английского языка, владеют определенным лексическим минимумом и умеют пользоваться словарем. Цель пособия – формирование у студентов навыков самостоятельного чтения оригинальной литературы по специальности и умения быстро извлекать необходимую информацию. Разнообразный характер послетекстовых заданий способствует развитию навыков ведения дискуссии и профессионально-ориентированной устной речи.

 

Unit 1. Deviance, crime and types of crime.

Read and translate the text. Do the tasks that follow it.

Deviance and crime.

In all societies, some behaviors conform to what is expected while other behaviors are thought of as deviant – that is they are considered to be unacceptable, or outside the norms for that society.

There are, of course, degrees of deviance and not every member of a society will agree on what is deviant behavior and what is normal behavior. For example, while many people believe that prostitution is deviant, others see it as a legitimate way for people to earn a living. Also, what is seen as deviant behavior will change over time and vary from place to place. Drinking alcohol, for example, has been regarded as deviant or as acceptable in the United States at different times in the past. In fact, in the 1920s, alcohol was considered to be so unacceptable in the U.S. that it was illegal to sell, buy, or consume it. Now drinking in moderation is accepted by the majority of the population as normal social behavior for adults.

What is considered to be deviant may also vary from culture to culture. In most countries, but certainly not in all, it is regarded as deviant for a man to have more than one wife at the same time. However, there are some religious groups and cultures where polygamy is an accepted practice.

Some acts of deviance may simply result in a person being regarded as odd or unusual, while other deviant behaviors actually break the law. These behaviors are seen as crimes. Crimes can be grouped into different categories. One category is violent crime. This includes murder, rape, robbery, and assault. Another is property crime, such as theft, arson, or burglary. There is also a category of victimless crime, so-called because such crimes do not involve harm to people other than the criminals themselves. Examples of victimless crimes include gambling, prostitution, and drug abuse. Another category is white-collar crime, which includes tax evasion and embezzlement.

In 2009, there were 10.6 million reported crimes (excluding traffic offences) in the United States. According to a report by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), in 2009 the following crimes occurred at the rates shown:

 

Robbery: 46.6 per hour

Burglary: 251 per hour

Violent crime: 150 per hour

Rape: 10.2 per hour

Murder: 1.7 per hour

Vehicle theft: 91 per hour

 

It should be noted, however, that these figures are based only on crimes that are reported. Actual crime rates may be two or three times higher than the official figures. Murder, or homicide, is the most serious crime, and reports on crime show that it is also mostly a personal crime. That is, homicide is far more likely to be committed against acquaintances, friends or relatives than against strangers. It also occurs most frequently during weekend evenings, particularly Saturday night. As a crime of passion, homicide is usually carried out under overwhelming pressure and uncontrollable rage.

While the public perception may be that the crime rate, especially for violent crime, is continuing to rise, there has in fact been a decline over the past decade. In 2001, there were 1.4 million violent crimes reported in the United States. By 2009, this figure had dropped to 1.3 million. Murder rates in the same period dropped from 16,037 to 15,241.

 

Task 1. Match the crimes on the left with the definitions on the right and then classify each crime as violent (V) or non-violent (NV).

 

d, V 1. assault a. forcing someone to have sex by using violence

2. drug dealing b. a generic term for the killing of another person

3. money laundering c. any instance in which one party deceives or takes

unfair advantage of another

4. battery d. attempt to use illegal force on another person

5. hijacking e. spying

6. homicide f. driving a vehicle in excess of the permitted limit

7. rape g. attempt to transform illegally acquired money into

apparently legitimate money

8. manslaughter h. possession of and/or trading in illegal substances

9. fraud i. forcing someone to give you control of a vehicle

10. murder j. leaving one’s vehicle in an area or for a duration in

contravention of the law

11. armed robbery k. taking the property of another without right or permis- sion

12. arson l. the actual use of illegal force on another person

13. espionage m. the crime of breaking into a private home with the

intention of committing a felony

14. burglary n. the unlawful killing of a person with intent

15. theft o. the unlawful killing of a person without malicious intent

and therefore without premeditation

16. parking p. the unlawful taking of another’s person property using a

dangerous weapon

17. speeding q. the deliberate burning of property

 

 

Task 2. Study the percentage of selected crimes reported to the police. Discuss the questions below basing your answers on the figures and your own ideas.

 

Motor vehicle theft – 88%

Robbery – 58%

Burglary – 45%

Rape – 25%

Theft less than $50 – 12%

 

1. Which crimes get reported most frequently?

2. Which crimes are reported less frequently?

3. How do you explain the fact that people report some crimes less than others?

4. According to official statistics, it is estimated that less than half of all crimes are reported to the police. Why do you think this is true?

 

Task 3. The following questions are not answered directly in the text. Work with a partner to figure out the answers.

1. Why is burglary a more frequently occurring crime than robbery?

2. Where does the term “white-collar crime” come from?

3. Why is Saturday night the most likely time for homicides to occur?

 

Task 4. Discuss these questions with your classmates:

1. What are the most frequent types of crime in your city?

2. How safe do you feel in your city?

3. What is the most dangerous city in your country?

 

Task 5. Choose a word or words from the list below to complete the following sentences. Some words are used more than once.

(1) offender (2) fine (3) assault (4) grievous bodily harm (5) citizen (6) guilty

(7) juvenile (8) punishment (9) actual bodily harm

a) Under the British Nationality Act 1981 a person may become a British __________ by being born in the UK to a parent who is British.

b) The law can punish criminals in many different ways, but most people would agree that the worst __________ a court can give is the death sentence.

c) A person who commits a criminal offence is called a criminal, or __________.

d) If you attack another person illegally in Britain you will be tried for unlawful __________.

e) If you physically hurt or injure the person you attack, you will be tried for unlawful _________ occasioning (causing) __________.

f) If the injury you cause in the attack is very serious it is called __________.

g) At the beginning of his or her trial the accused person must state whether s/he has committed the offence or not: whether s/he is __________ or not __________.

h) To punish a minor offence the court may order the criminal to pay a sum of money called a __________.

i) Young people who are accused of crimes are tried by a special court called the ________court.

Task 6. Put the offences below in personal order of seriousness, starting with the least serious and ending with the most serious.

a parking offence assault

rape indecency

armed robbery murder

bribery and corruption kidnapping

theft drunken driving

arson assault occasioning actual or grievous bodily harm

 

Task 7. Read the two case histories below and decide which offences Jack and Annette have committed:

 

Jack Thatcher Like his father, Jack Thatcher is a jailbird – at the age of 40 he has spent most of his life in prison for various offences of violence and theft. He comes from a broken home, has had no real education and has never had a job. The only way he knows how to make money is by stealing it. When he came out of prison last week, he decided to rob a village post office. During the robbery, the postmaster tried to ring the alarm, so Jack hit him on the head with his gun. At that moment a customer came into the post office. She screamed. In panic, Jack shouted at her to keep quiet. When she continued to scream, he shot her. Jack thought quickly. He took a box of matches from his pocket and set fire to the building, then escaped with the money.

 

Annette Forbes Annette Forbes is head of the marketing division of GMC, the computer company. She went to university, has a good job and enjoys a happy family life. She has always been a ‘law-abiding citizen’. One day she arrived a little late for work, and had to park her car in a no-parking zone. She took a client out for a business lunch and drank a gin and tonic, half a bottle of wine and a liqueur to celebrate an important new contract. When driving back to work, she was stopped by a policeman, who tested her breath for alcohol. He told her she had drunk too much and would be disqualified from driving for a year. Annette (who needs her car for her job) suggested he might ‘forget’ about the offence in return for a brand new GMC home computer. That afternoon, Annette remembered that she had no more writing-paper at home. As usual, she took a new packet of paper from the office and a box of six pencils.

 

Task 8. In your opinion, what is the most suitable punishment for Jack and Annette? Choose from the list of punishments for crimes available in the UK: capital punishment, life imprisonment, community service order, fine, probation, suspended sentence, imprisonment

 

Crime prevention.

(1 ___) Crime, as we all are aware, has been a growing problem all over the world in the last 30 years. But we are not powerless against crime. Much is being done – and can be done – to reverse the trend. You can play a part in it.

 

(2 ___) The first step towards preventing crime is understanding its nature. Most crime is against property, not people. And most is not carried out by professionals; nor is it carefully planned. Property crimes thrive on the easy opportunity. They are often committed by adolescents and young men, the majority of whom stop offending as they grow older – the peak ages for offending are 15-18. Also, and not surprisingly, the risk of crime varies greatly depending on where you live.

 

(3 ___) The reliance by criminals on the easy opportunity is the key to much crime prevention. Motor cars, for example, are a sitting target for the criminal. Expensive, attractive, and mobile, they are often left out on the streets for long periods at a time. The police estimate that 70-90 per cent of car crime results from easy opportunities. Surveys have shown that approximately one in five drivers do not always bother to secure their cars by locking all the doors and shutting all the windows. It’s the same story with our homes. In approximately 30 per cent of domestic burglaries, the burglar simply walks in without needing to use force; the householder has left a door unlocked or window open.

 

(4___) If opportunities like these did not exist, criminals would have a much harder time. The chances are that many crimes would not be committed at all, which would in turn release more police time for tackling serious crime. Of course, the primary responsibility for coping with crime rests with the police and the courts. But there are many ways that you can help reverse the trend.

 

Task 1. Choose the sentences from the list A-E which best summarize each part of the text 1-4. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

A We make it easy for them.

B What to do to make your house safer.

C Let’s work together against crime.

D How to reduce the number of crimes.

E Who steals what.

 

Task 2. Put the correct derivatives of the following verbs into each of these sentences (steal, rob, burgle, offend, mug, murder, forge, shoplift, kidnap).

1. The police are looking for a gang which got away with £20,000 in a bank __________.

2. She came home to find her house had been __________ and her car __________.

3. A __________ broke into the school at night and took two video players.

4. Police are very concerned about the increase in __________ from parked cars.

5. The __________ knocked him to the ground and ran off with his briefcase.

6. I shouted “Stop! __________!” as the man ran off down the street with my bag.

7. Big stores in the city centre have reported a 25% increase in __________ this winter.

8. The bank checks all notes in a machine which can detect __________.

9. She had committed a number of minor __________ before robbing the post office.

10. When the bank __________ was arrested by the police, they found a shotgun in the back of his car.

 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Exam practice.

Read and retell the text.

Methods of crime detection.

There are many methods of crime detection. Detection methods include the study of handwriting to find out who was the author of an incriminating document and the use of a lie detector test that indicates whether suspects are telling the truth by measuring their breathing and pulse and skin movements. Detectives can even use insects to help solve a murder case! By knowing how long it would take certain insects to break down body tissue, scientists can estimate the time of death. Insects can also be used to solve drug crimes. Insects are often found in illegal shipments of drugs. Detectives can use knowledge about where the insects come from to trace the drugs back to a particular location in the world.

One of the most important and reliable kinds of evidence that can be used in solving crimes is still the fingerprint. A person’s fingerprints are the swirled patterns of ridges and valleys in the skin on the tips of the fingers. These patterns are unique, that is, no two people have identical patterns, and the patterns do not change over time. Criminal investigation agencies all over the world have large collections of fingerprints to use in crime detection and these are now computerized to make it easier to search for matching prints. If fingerprints are found at a crime scene, they may be entered into a computer bank to search for a match with the prints of a suspected criminal

Fingerprints are made when someone touches a surface. Sweat and amino acids from the body transfer to the surface and leave an impression. Sometimes it is only a partial impression, but that can be sufficient. Many prints are invisible under normal circumstances, but the can be made visible using a variety of techniques, such as dusting powders and chemicals. The prints are then photographed and lifted with a tape. Today prints are often examined in darkness using high-powered lasers, and they can be retrieved from almost any surface – even plastic bags or human skin.

Of course, some crime scenes may contain no fingerprints. When the New York City police arrested a murder suspect in June 1998, they had no physical evidence tying him to the killing. Only days later they were able to link him to that homicide, plus two other homicides – and it all came down to a cup of coffee. The man, who had been arrested on a petty theft charge, was given coffee by detectives while they were questioning him. After the suspect left the room, detectives used the saliva he left on the cup to obtain his DNA. Testing then showed that his DNA matched not only the DNA found at the crime scene, but DNA associated with other crimes as well. Another case involved a DNA sample from a popsicle. Detectives who had been following the suspect picked up the popsicle from a trash bin. In this case, however, the suspect was found not to be connected to the crime.

DNA analysis is based on the fact that every person (except an identical twin) has certain elements in his or her DNA that are unique. A sample of DNA can be taken from a person and matched to a sample of DNA taken from a crime scene – from a drop of blood or a strand of hair, for example. New methods of DNA testing mean that it is now a much faster and cheaper process, and large banks of DNA test results can be stored in computers, just as fingerprints are. When DNA is collected from a crime scene, the computers can search for a test result that matches the sample. Now, in New York City, detectives are being instructed to pick up such discarded items as gum, tissues, Band-Aids, and, in some cases, the spit of suspects, in order to get samples of their DNA. If detectives can match the DNA to DNA recovered from the crime scene, chances for a guilty plea or conviction are higher: if there is no match, suspects can be eliminated.

The analysis of DNA is another example of how science and technology are transforming crime fighting. However, there are some difficulties with this method. While some see it as a positive technological advancement – a tool that helps police to find and charge the guilty and to free the innocent – others see it as a serious invasion of privacy, suggesting it is like a police search of a person or place without permission. United States law regards DNA like other “property” that someone has abandoned. If a suspect leaves saliva on a glass in a restaurant, or a cigarette butt on a sidewalk, or in some other public place, this is abandoned property. If someone drinks from a glass in a restaurant and then leaves the restaurant, he or she is, in legal terms, “abandoning” the DNA left on the glass.

There is also the issue that DNA can be used to reveal much information about a person’s genetic code. It show, for example, whether the person has genes that relate to particular illnesses or to particular kind of behavior. For reasons of privacy, therefore, it is important that DNA testing be strictly limited to simply identifying the person, and not used for other purposes without the person’s permission. Special legislation may be needed to protect this genetic information

 

Table 1. Determining DNA. The specimen amounts needed and the estimated likelihood of finding usable cells in them in order to determine a person’s DNA profile.
Specimen	Source or amount needed	Likelihood of usable cells
Blood stain	Size of a dime	More than 95%
Hair	Single hair with root and follicle Single hair without root	More than 90% Less than 20%
Saliva	On used gum or cigarette butt On used soda can or ground	50-70% Less than 50%
Mucus	On used tissue paper	Less than 50%
Skin cells	From socks, gloves, or other clothing used repeatedly From doorknob From handle of knife or pistol found at crime scene	30-60%   Less than 20% Less than 10%

Task 1. Complete the following sentences, using information from Table 1.

1. The most useful source of DNA is a blood stain the size of a dime or larger.

2. Saliva on _____________ or _____________ is more useful than that found on _____________ or _____________.

3. The least useful source of DNA is _____________.

4. Mucus on used tissue paper is not as useful as, for example, _____________.

 

 

Task 2. Write another three sentences of your own using information in the table.

 

 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Exam practice.

Read and retell the text.

Unit 3. Controlling crime.

Finally/ last but not least

· Some people are born with more aggressive tendencies than others.

· White-collar crime is more serious than blue-collar crime.

· Men are more likely to commit crime than women.

· Violence on TV leads to violence in society.

· The main reason for juvenile crime today is the decline of the traditional family.

· Crime is the most serious problem in society today.

 

 

The death penalty.

Many Americans believe that the death penalty is effective in deterring people from committing murder. However, others disagree, and many criminologists argue that the evidence does not support this view. The evidence they provide includes the following:

 

a. The United States is the only industrialized nation that still executes murderers and yet it has the highest murder rate in the industrialized world.

 

b. In states of the United States that have retained the capital punishment, the homicide rates are generally much higher than in states that have abolished it, and the gap has grown since 1990. For example, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, which still use the death penalty, have considerably higher murder rates than Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, which have abolished capital punishment. This suggests that the death penalty does not deter murder.

 

c. In states that have abolished the death penalty, homicide rates generally did not go up after the death penalty was abolished. Moreover, where capital punishment was restored in states that had earlier abolished it, it did not lead to any significant decrease in homicides.

 

d. If the death penalty has a deterrent effect, then the execution of convicted murderers should scare potential killers and discourage them from killing. The number of homicides in the area should therefore decline. This may sound logical but the reality contradicts it. In Philadelphia during the 1930s, for example, the number of homicide remained about the same in the period from sixty days before to sixty days after a widely publicized execution of five murderers. This finding, among others, suggests that the death penalty apparently does not frighten potential killers and prevent them from killing.

 

e. A cross-national study of the impact of the death penalty conducted by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty concludes, “If capital punishment is a more effective deterrent than the alternative punishment of long imprisonment, its abolition ought to be followed by homicide rate increases. The evidence examined here fails to support and in fact repeatedly contradicts this proposition. In this cross-national sample, abolition was followed more often than not by absolute decreases in homicide rates, not by the increases. In other words, when the death penalty was abolished, the majority of countries experienced a decline in homicide rates.

 

Some of this evidence is questionable. For example, regarding point b, the existence or not of capital punishment may not be the only difference between the states mentioned. Other differences, such as poverty levels or other population features, may account for the variation in murder rates.

Nevertheless, there is still considerable evidence to suggest that the death penalty does not deter murder, or, more accurately, it is no more effective than life imprisonment in deterring murder. One reason is that murder is a crime of passion, most often carried out under overwhelming pressure of an explosive emotion and uncontrollable rage. People in that condition usually cannot stop and think calmly about the death penalty. Another reason is that other factors, which may lead people to commit murder, such as having been brutally abused in childhood, are simply too powerful to be overcome by the threat of capital punishment.

While capital punishment may not deter people from committing murder; it can be effective for other purposes. It is obviously effective in preventing the murderer who is executed from doing harm to others again. It also succeeds in satisfying the emotion of outrage against the crime. Many Americans seem to advocate the death penalty for these reasons. As public opinion polls have shown, more than half of the U.S. adult population would still favor capital punishment even if they knew that it did not deter murder (Gallup 2010). This public support is reflected in the increasing number of executions up to 1999, as represented in the figures provided in Figure 1. However, the reduction in numbers since 1999 may reflect a shift in public opinion.

 

 

 

Task 1. This text presents detailed evidence to support the position that the existence of the death penalty does not deter people from committing murder. Complete the following statements of evidence.

 

1. In states that have abolished capital punishment, the murder rates _____________________

 

2. When some states returned to using the death penalty, ______________________________

 

3. After widely publicized executions of criminals in Philadelphia in the 1930s, ____________

 

4. The evidence from other countries ______________________________________________

 

Task 2. Find a synonym for each word from the text given below. If you don’t find a synonym in the text, try to think of one. Write your synonym next to each word.

 

death penalty _____________ accurately _____________

 

homicide _____________ powerful _____________

 

deter _____________ preventing _____________

 

go up _____________ outrage _____________

 

decline _____________ advocate _____________

 

Task 3. Look at the graph below and answer the following questions.

 

 

 

 

1. According to the police chiefs, what is the most effective way to reduce violent crime? What

is the least effective?

2. Do you agree with the police chiefs? Why or why not?

 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Exam practice.

A miscarriage of justice can be defined in several different ways. Most commonly, it refers to the conviction of a person in a court of law, for a crime of which he or she is later proven innocent. A miscarriage of justice can also apply in the reverse manner, that of a guilty person being set free when there is overwhelming evidence, or later proof, that he or she was actually guilty of the crime of which they were accused. The phrase is not solely restricted to crimes against persons or property, for it can also apply to civil cases where punishment consists largely of financial compensation. In short, a miscarriage of justice is any situation where an individual is somehow incarcerated, executed, or punished due to the error of the legal system.

Miscarriages of justice are frighteningly common. Since the 1990s – when the science of identifying DNA evidence was perfected to an acceptable degree of reliability – many convicted murderers and rapists have been declared innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted. The use of DNA evidence has become a major argument for those who oppose the penalty. In many cases, blood or fluid evidence which originally led to a proclamation of guilt – prior to the creation of DNA science – can now be used to prove an individual’s innocence.

Miscarriages of justice can come about for reasons other than tainted evidence or judicial mistakes. Under some scenarios, police have coerced confessions from innocent parties, or withheld critical evidence from defense attorneys. Miscarriages of justice have also taken place due to bias – preconceived opinions of guilt – due to race, color, lifestyle, or even appearance. In totalitarian countries numerous individuals have been convicted in show trials, with confessions of guilt arising via the use of torture. In this latter instance, the “conviction” is frequently used as a tool to imprison or kill political dissidents.

Those who are the victims of miscarriage of justice may serve decades in prison or even be executed. Some countries, most notably the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, provide compensation to those who have been improperly incarcerated. Such payments, pardons, or acquittals are of small solace to those who have spent many years behind bars, and are of even less value to those who are acquitted posthumously. The United States pays compensation to the wrongly convicted on a case-by-case basis. Overturning a wrongful conviction is extremely difficult, as courts and judges usually display a marked tendency to avoid the impression that a judicial system is imperfect.

Famous examples of miscarriages of justice include Joan of Arc, who was accused of heresy in 1431 and posthumously acquitted in 1456. She was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1920. In America, in 1954, Dr. Sam Sheppard was accused and convicted of killing his wife. Sheppard served ten years in prison before the United States Supreme Court permitted the new trial that led to his acquittal. His case went on to become the inspiration for the long-running TV series, and feature film, known as The Fugitive.

 

 

Read and retell the text.

Pensioner crimewave marks rise of the ‘Saga lout’.

It is being dubbed the “grey crimewave” or the rise of the “Saga lout”. New statistics reveal that ever higher numbers of pensioners are being arrested and ending up in Britain’s jails.

The prison system already struggling to cope with the demands of its own ageing population of lifers and long-term inmates, is struggling to cope with a new wave of elderly crooks. But experts are divided over whether or not the growing trend is due to people on low pensions turning to crime through necessity, or simply a tougher attitude by the courts to the elderly in the dock.

In England and Wales, the rate of prisoners aged over 60 has risen 185 per cent in ten years. Prisoners aged over 60 are the fastest growing age group in prison. According to Bill Tupman, a criminologist at Exeter University, the increase in the elderly prison population is due to harsher sentencing policies which has resulted in the courts sending a larger proportion of criminals aged over 60 to prison to serve longer sentences. Police and courts are now “less likely to take pity on poor old granddad in the deck”.

Over-60s are now the fastest-growing section of prison population. There currently almost 2,500 people of this age group in British prisons, making up 3% of the total, up from 2% in 2003. Kingston prison in Portsmouth has become the first in the country to provide a special “elderly wing” with stairlifts and other adaptations.

The “grey crime’ trend appears to be an international one. The number of Japanese prisoners aged 60 or older has doubled over the past decade. The rate of crimes by elderly people is 12,3% and it is so far the highest among industrialized countries (USA: 5.4%, Germany: 3%, and South Korea: 3.5%). The crimes most often done by these people are 65% theft and 3.7% violence. There is one prison in Japan that has special facilities for the elderly: Onomichi prison in Hiroshima prefecture. Here staircases, baths and other parts of the prison are set up to make life easier for older inmates.

In the Netherlands, where the same steep rise in offending pensioners has been monitored, along with the same pattern of offences, researchers found that a startlingly high percentage of over-60s appearing in court had undiagnosed dementia. It was only recently that the growth of criminal behavior among Dutch elderly people drew the attention of the media. Some newspaper articles of the past year: 86-year-old man with no previous record is caught shoplifting; an elderly couple, never having had anything to do with the law2, sells weed to the youngsters of their village; 78-year-old man suspected of cocaine smuggling; senior citizen (84) confesses to several cases of arson.

With a steep increase in criminals aged over 65, Germany is planning to build them a special prison. Plans for the jail in Lower Saxony come at a time when elderly criminals have been in the news. Just weeks ago, police busted a fairly successful gang of bank robbers who had taken in?400,000 ($541,000) in the last five years. The three men, who demonstrated their seriousness to bank employees with pistols, sledge hammers and hand grenades, were aged 63, 72 and 74. In Berlin, police seized a 75-year-old grandmother who specialised in sticking-up savings banks and in Dusseldorf, a 70-year-old woman was caught after four bank robberies. One female pensioner in western Germany has decided to fill the autumn of her life with something other than baking pies or watching the sunset from the warmth of her back porch. She is out gathering some cold, hard cash by robbing banks, at least four in the last four years. From the images captured on security cameras, "pistol granny," as she's been christened by tabloids, has passed her 70th birthday already.

Since 1995, the number of criminals aged over 60 in the German criminal justice system has risen by 28 per cent. Lower Saxony alone has 8000 pending court cases in which the accused are over 60. This means that the "Opa Gefaengnis" - the grandpa jail, as the media has dubbed it - must cater to inmates less interested in rehabilitation and more concerned with arthritis treatments and incontinence.

Japan, France and Israel have all commissioned research into the rise of the pensioner-criminal. In August, a report by the French Centre d’Analyse Stratégique said the country’s criminal system would need to be overhauled to handle the growth in older criminals; police would require specific training on how to track “grey crime”, and jails would have to be modified to cater for inmates with Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses.

“The ageing of the population is going to lead to an almost automatic rise in crime by senior citizens”, the report concluded.

 

 

Unit 4. Crime and drugs.

The war on drugs.

Over the last few decades, the drug problem in the United States (and in many other industrialized countries) has become considerably worse. In 1981, there were about 3 million drug addicts in the United States; today there are around 6 million. The number of drug overdose deaths and drug-related homicides has also increased. This is in spite of the fact that the government has spent more and more money in trying to solve the drug problem. The fight against drugs is often referred to as a “war” or “battle”, and most experts now believe the battle against drugs has been a failure. They say it has failed because the government has focused on controlling the problem through laws and punishments, rather than through drug education and treatment.

The failure of the law-enforcement approach has led to calls for other approaches to solving the problem, including the decriminalization and the legalization of drugs. Advocates of decriminalization think the drug users should no longer be labeled as serious criminals and that the punishments for drug use should be significantly reduced. Advocates for legalization believe there should be no restriction on drug use at all, and that individuals should be able to buy drugs the same way they buy cigarettes and alcohol today.

Those who are in favour of legalization argue that the current drug laws do more harm than good. They argue that the current laws waste police time because while police officers are busy arresting people for smoking marijuana, they are not doing work of arresting robbers and murderers. Further, they argue that the high cost of illegal drugs and the enormous amounts of money to be made from drug dealing encourage more serious crimes. For example, many drug users turn to stealing to support their habit and police can sometimes be bribed to “look the other way”. Finally, those who support legalization believe that if drugs were legalized, the huge amounts of money currently spent on law enforcement could be used for drug treatment and education, which would drastically reduce drug use.

Those who oppose legalization respond that, if drugs are legalized, drug use and addiction will skyrocket. They point to the experience with alcohol, which was prohibited in the United States in the 1920s. At the end of this period, called Prohibition, the consumption of alcohol apparently soared by 350 percent. Others feel that the use of drugs is a stepping stone to other crimes – that, for example, the use of marijuana leads to the use of heroin and cocaine, and on to more serious crime. If drug use is stopped, this trend will be prevented.

Another aspect on the debate on whether or not drugs should be legalized involves the question of individual rights. Some people call for legalization because they feel they have the right to take drugs – that it is none of the government’s business. They think that laws governing this behavior are an invasion of individual rights. On the other hand, others argue that the government should try to protect us from harming ourselves.

Finally, there are those who believe that the problem of widespread drug abuse and crime can only be solved when the government attacks the root causes of the problem: poverty, racism and inequality. They propose that the government should deal with the factors that cause the problem by providing employment for all, increasing the minimum wage, improving health care for the poor, offering paid family leave, and providing affordable housing.

 

Task 1. Look back at the text and find the verbs listed below. Notice how the writer has used different words to provide variety.

 

· Verbs used to express opinion:

Cause encourage lead to

Task 2. Fill in the blanks in the text below with one of the words given above, in the appropriate form. Vary the verbs you use.

 

Many drug experts now (1) __________ the legalization of drugs. They (2) __________ that making drug use illegal only (3) __________ other social problems. They (4) __________ that it can, for example, (5) __________ police corruption, and (6) __________ more crime. Some people also (7) __________ that the money spent on fighting drug abuse would be better spent on fighting other crimes. Others (8) __________ that drug use is a question of individual rights. However, some people (9) __________ tough drug laws because they (10) __________ that drug use is morally wrong or because they (11) __________ drug use will (12) _________ people to commit other crimes. Others (13) __________ fighting the underlying factors of poverty and unemployment, which (14) __________ the problem of drug use.

 

 

Who commits crime?

 

Reports on crime can’t give us a complete picture of who commits crimes because not all crimes are reported. However, available statistics on reported crimes can give us information about people who commits crimes. If we consider all categories of crime together, the most likely people to commit crimes are young men from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Young people have the highest rates of arrest for reported crime. Almost half of all people arrested are under the age of 25. In 2009, individuals under the age of 25 accounted for 48.9 percent of all arrests for murder, 65.2 percent of arrests for robbery and 60.3 percent of arrests for burglary.

Recent figures show a worrying increase in violent crime and homicide among youngsters under age 18. In 2007, 3,042 children and teens died from gun-related injuries, and a recent study revealed that U.S. children are fifteen times more likely to die from guns than their counterparts in the twenty-five other major industrialized countries combined. Youth homicide - teens killing teens – has become a very serious problem. Disagreements between people that would have been settled with a fist fight a generation ago are now gunfights. Clearly, guns are only a part of the problem. Poverty, gangs and drugs are directly related to much of the crime.

One of the primary reasons that juveniles become involved in delinquent behavior and illegal conduct rests in drug abuse. In fact, teens who use drugs are almost twice as likely to engage in violent behavior, steal, abuse other drugs, and join gangs, as compared to teens who do not use drugs. Drug use and abuse accelerates juvenile delinquency in two primary ways. First, drug abuse increases the incidence of juvenile delinquency because young people undertake unlawful acts in order to obtain illicit drugs. These youths commit a variety of crimes in order to get money to buy drugs, or to obtain drugs directly. Second, many juveniles commit crimes while "high" on these substances. These young people commit crimes to get drugs and engage in illegal conduct while using drugs.

According to FBI reports “Crime in the United States 2000 – 2009”, nearly 75 percent of the persons arrested in the Nation during 2009 were males. Males are also responsible for about 81 percent of violent crime and 62 percent of all property crime. Females are arrested for criminal behavior in about 25 percent of all arrests. Although women commit all types of crime they are most likely to be involved in prostitution, petty theft, shoplifting, passing bad checks, domestic theft, and welfare fraud. They are less likely to be involved in the more profitable crimes of burglary, robbery, embezzlement, and business fraud.

Why is it that figures for males and females are so different? Sociologists suggest that it is more socially acceptable for males to be deviant and involved in crime than it is for females. Women are under a greater social pressure to conform than men are. If they do not conform to the expected social roles of wife and mother, they are more likely to be assigned extremely negative labels. However, over the past decade, many young females seeking protection from threatening environments and abusive homes have transcended the auxiliary roles they once played in male-dominated gangs and have gained more power through engaging in more violent crime or forming all-girl gangs. A comparison of data for 2009 and 2000 showed that the number of males arrested for violent and property crimes declined, but arrests of females for these crimes increased. The number of females arrested for property crimes rose 33.2 percent.

 

Task 1. State the comparisons below in a different way. Change the underlined words to their opposite meaning and change other information as necessary.

 

Older less younger

1. Younger people are more likely to be involved in crime than older people.

2. Young people have fewer relationships that encourage them to follow conventional behavior than older people do.

3. Women are less likely to be involved in the more profitable crimes of burglary and robbery than men are.

4. It is more socially acceptable for males to be involved in crime.

5. Women are under greater social pressure to conform than men.

6. The rich are far less likely than the poor to be arrested.

 

 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Exam practice.

Teen crime statistics.

Crime statistics show that approximately one-third of all victims of violent crime are teenagers, between the ages of 12 and 19. Today, homicide is the second-leading cause of death for young adults, after car accidents. Each year, more than 1,500 murder victims are children and teens. While many people think that crime doesn't regularly befall children, as it's part of living in a "grown up" world, the statistics show that this is clearly not the case.

Teens are not only the victims of violent crime, but sometimes the perpetrators, too. Almost half of all violent crimes are committed by perpetrators under 25 years old. In 2006, 15% of all arrests were made on people under the age of 18, while more than 1,100 homicide suspects were under the age of 18. Children and teens regularly become both the victims and the perpetrators of violent crimes. When watching the nightly news, it's not uncommon to hear about the shooting death of a teen, or of a group of teens who are accused of assault.

Those who watch the news every night or read the daily newspaper front to back might notice that teens who choose to do positive things for the community almost never ends up as the leading story or on the front page news. Such news simply does not sell.

Many news shows, not to mention politicians, are obsessed with the teen crime rate. We hear in the news daily how crime is increasing dramatically in this age group. While these statistics may certainly be shocking, in actuality they have not changed dramatically over the past decades. In fact, crime statistics show that in reality, the youth of today are not any more criminally inclined than the generations before them. In fact, some crime statistics show that today's youth are even less likely to commit certain crimes, although the FBI statistics show that the teen crime rate is rising across some categories.

With that being said, the statistics certainly do show that all too often, teens are the perpetrators of both violent and non-violent crimes. Psychologists know that adolescents' brains are undeveloped, and too often, unsupervised kids are left to their own devices and make poor choices. Most teens' risky behavior, including not only criminal behaviors but also drinking, smoking, and other poor choices, tends to peak between the hours of 3:00 and 8:00pm. With no supervision or constructive activities during this time, the U.S. Attorney's General's Office says, "we reap a massive dose of juvenile crime."

What can you do about the potential for teen crime? If you're the parent of a teen or preteen, practice "defensive parenting" by taking an approach that is both preventative and proactive. Keep teens occupied after school, and model good behavior. At the same time, recognize that they may also become the victim of a violent crime. Prepare them with pepper spray, personal alarms, and other devices, especially if you know they'll be out without adult supervision, such as at the mall or the skate park.

 

Read and retell the text.

Glossary

accomplice – соучастник, сообщник

She’s serving life for acting as an accomplice to murder.

accuse – обвинять, предъявлять обвинение

accuse sb. of sth. - обвинять кого-л. в чем-л

She claims that her employers accused her of theft.

accuse sb. of doing sth. - обвинять кого-л. в совершении чего-л.

the accused (pl) – обвиняемые (в зале суда)

acquit – (usually passive)оправдать, признать невиновным

action – действие, поведение, деяние, поступок; иск, судебное дело

admit – допускать, признавать

admit guilt – признавать вину

admit (to) doing sth.- признаваться в чем-л.

Davis admitted causing death by careless driving.

In court he admitted to lying about the accident.

alibi – алиби

establish alibi - представить алиби

allege – заявлять, утверждать (особ. без оснований)

The defence alleges that he was beaten up while in police custody.

allegation – заявление, утверждение

allegedly – по утверждению; якобы, будто бы

The second incident occurred in the spring of 2008.

appeal – апелляция; подавать апелляцию

appeal against – апелляция на решение суда

An appeal against his conviction is being considered.

Green’s family say they will appeal against the verdict.

lodge an appeal against – подавать апелляцию

An appeal has been lodged against the court’s decision.

appear – являться в суд, представать перед судом

He is due to appear in court today.

Mr Smith will appear before magistrates next month.

appear for the defendant/plaintiff – выступать в суде в

качестве адвоката подсудимого, ответчика/истца

appear for the prosecution – выступать от лица обвинения,

поддерживать обвинение

arson - поджог

arsonist - поджигатель

assassinate – совершить убийство по политическим мотивам

assassination – политическое убийство

assassin – убийца пол. или общ. деятеля; наемный убийца

assault – нападение, нападать; грозить физическим насилием

assault and battery – оскорбление действием

attorney – (амер)юрист, адвокат

Attorney General – (амер.) министр юстиции

attorney general – главный прокурор штата

district attorney – окружной прокурор

bail – залог, поручительство

be released/freed on bail - освободить под залог

set bail – определить сумму залога

There is a hearing today to set bail.

ban -(usually passive) налагать запрет, запрещать; запрещение

He was banned for three months for driving with no insurance.

ban sb. from doing sth.- запрещать кому-л. делать что-л.

Students were banned from using local bars after the incident.

bar – (the bar) адвокатура, коллегия адвокатов

behind the bars – за решеткой

barrister- адвокат, имеющий право выступать в высших судах

bill -законопроект

blackmail – шантаж; шантажировать

Barrett was in court, facing a charge of blackmail.

Someone was trying to blackmail him with pictures of him and

his mistress.

blame - вина, ответственность; считать виновным

break – нарушать (право, закон)

break the law – нарушать закон

break into – взлом

A house in Brecon Place was broken into last night.

be broken – разориться, обанкротиться

bribe – взятка, подкуп; предлагать, давать взятку

The were found guilty of trying to bribe officials.

bug – подслушивающее устройство; прослушивать

Detectives had planted (put) a bug in his hotel room.

He was convinced that his office was bugged.

burgle – заниматься кражами со взломом

burglar – грабитель, взломщик

burglary – ограбление, кража со взломом

Burglaries are on the increase in the area.

bust – (амер.) арестовывать

case -судебное дело; материалы дела

case law – прецедентное право

case against – дело, возбужденное против кого-л.

He was confident that the case against him would be dropped.

a murder case – дело по убийству

bring a case before the court– возбуждать судебное дело,

подавать в суд

She is bringing a case of unfair dismissal against the company.

dismiss/drop - закрыть дело производством

The case was dismissed because of lack of evidence.

hear a case – слушать дело

initiate a case – возбудить дело

lose/win a case – проиграть/выиграть дело

submit a case for reconsideration - передать дело на новое

рассмотрение

settle a case (out of court) - уладить дело вне суда, прийти к

мирному соглашению

The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

try/consider a case – рассматривать дело

the case for the prosecution/defence - верс