Vocabulary. capital punishment – высшая мера наказания, смертная казнь

capital punishment – высшая мера наказания, смертная казнь

by hanging – через повешение

electrocution – казнь на электрическом стуле

lethal injection – смертельная инъекция

to behead – обезглавливать

to abolish – отменять

abolition – отмена

to retain – сохранять

execution – приведение в исполнение (приговора, решения суда)

to execute – приводить в исполнение

sentence – приговор

to pass sentence — выносить приговор

to sentence – приговаривать

to deter (from) – отпугивать, удерживать

to commit a crime – совершать преступление

imprisonment – лишение свободы, заключение

innocent – невиновный

revenge – месть

to revenge – мстить

retribution – возмездие, кара

to reform – исправлять

 

Task 3. Paraphrase the following words and expressions from Task 2:

· the ultimate penalty;

· electrocution;

· exceptional crimes;

· a wartime offence;

· the mental anguish of waiting;

· to rectify a mistake;

· to execute;

· inconsistently;

· juvenile detention centres;

· death row;

· retribution;

· to rehabilitate criminals.

 

Task 4. Read the text again and decide which sentences are true and which ones are false.

1. Many European countries support the idea of capital punishment abolition.

2. 18 countries of the world have abolished capital punishment.

3. Every year a lot of criminals are executed in Japan.

4. Opponents are sure that capital punishment diminishes the percent of violent crimes.

5. In many countries young offenders are sent to prison.

 

Task 5. Read the article again and complete the sentences.

1) In... capital punishment is carried out by hanging.

A. The USA

B. China

C. Kenya

2) The UN supported....

A. the abolition of capital punishment.

B. the death penalty.

C. execution by lethal injection.

3) In 1987 the American study showed that... innocent people we executed in the USA.

a) 23

b) 18

c) 27

4) In Nigeria,..., Iraq, Bangladesh, Barbados, the United States children under 18 have been legally put to death.

a) Russia

b) Iran

c) Great Britain

5) In … the aim of the penalty for theft was to frighten people from stealing.

a) modern England

b) the 18^th-century England

c) the 18^th-century Wales

 

Task 6. Match the countries with the ways of execution they practise.

1. Kenya 2. China 3. the USA 4. Saudi Arabia

a) beheading b) shooting c) lethal injection d) hanging

 

Task 7. Match the verbs (on the left) with the nouns (on the right). Use a dictionary if necessary. Then make up sentences with the phrases you've got.

commit carry out make publish put to do (smth) in reform pass

a criminal death a sentence a crime a mistake an execution a study revenge

 

Task 8. Give the English equivalents of the following:

§ смертная казнь через повешение;

§ отменить казнь на электрическом стуле;

§ лишение свободы сроком на 2 года;

§ привести приговор в исполнение;

§ удерживать от совершения кражи;

§ перевоспитывать преступников;

§ возмездие за убийство;

§ из мести;

§ вынести смертный приговор;

§ отмена смертельных инъекций и обезглавливания;

§ оправдать невиновного;

§ сохранить смертную казнь только для особо тяжких преступ­лений.

 

Task 9. Sentences 1-5 below are incomplete. Choose one of the words in brackets, that best completes the sentence.

1. How would you (punish / punishment) somebody for stealing?

2. They support the idea of capital punishment (abolish / abolition) in their country.

3. I don't believe that the death penalty deters from (commit / committing) violent crimes.

4. The criminal was sentenced to one year's (imprisonment / imprison).

5. Some countries don't carry out (executions / execute).

 

Task 10. The abolition of capital punishment is a debatable question. This is an opinion of an experienced policeman, who supports the idea of death penalty. Translate it into English.

Я уверен, высшая мера наказания — это не месть и не акт возмез­дия. Конечно, смертная казнь никого не удерживает от совершения преступлений. Но она является показателем силы закона, справедливости, в которую всё ещё верят люди. Я не хочу показаться вам жестоким человеком. Я не смог бы приводить приговоры в исполнение: обезглавить безоружного человека или сделать ему смертельную инъекцию, даже если это убийца. Тем не менее, я никогда не поддержу идею отмены высшей меры наказания. Видите ли, каждый день, почти каждый день, сталкиваюсь с преступниками, которые однажды уже сидели в тюрьме. И что, думаете, тюремное заключение их исправляет? Ничего подобного. Закон нужно ужесточать, не ослаблять. Вынесение смертного приговора — ответственная и сложная процедура: не должны пострадать невиновные люди. Я считаю, что смертная казнь должна быть сохранена, хотя бы как мера наказания за особо тяжкие преступления.

 

Task 11. Read the text for obtaining information and answer the question: "What does the law system of your country prescribe the death penalty for?

Capital punishment is the infliction of death by an authorized public authority as a punishment. It was recognized by ancient legal system. Ancient Hebrew law prescribed death for homicide and for some religious and sexual offences, including bearing false witness, kidnapping, sexual immorality, witchcraft, idolatry, blasphemy, and sacrilege. Greek law generally regarded homicide, treason, and sacrilege as capital. Roman law rec­ognized the death penalty but regarded hard labor and banishment as lesser capital punishments, as banishment involved serious loss of civil status.

In republican times death was mainly imposed for military crimes. Under the dominate and the empire it became more common as the pen­alty for a wider range of offences.

In Anglo-Saxon England murder was punishable by a fine of which part went to the King and part to the relatives.

In early modern English law, the law imposed the death penalty for a wide range of offences, some quite petty, and a major change effected in the nineteenth century was to restrict it to treason and murder. In 1957 the United Kingdom restricted it to treason and capital murder.

Various methods of inflicting the death penalty have been utilized.

The Greek might allow a free man to take poison but a slave would be beaten to death. In medieval and early modern Europe hanging and be­heading were the usual ways; burning at the stake was used for religious heretics. In modern times in the U.K. only hanging was used, though the punishment for treason is hanging, or, if the Crown thinks fit, beheading. In some states of the U.K. the electric chair or the gas chamber have been used.

From: Oxford Companion to Law