Habitual offenders
Criminals who have frequently been apprehended and convicted, who have manifested a settled practice in crime, and who are presumed to be a danger to the society in which they live are referred to as habitual offenders. Studies of the yearly intake of prisons, reformatories, and jails in the United States and Europe show that from one-half to two-thirds of those imprisoned have served previous sentences in the same or in other institutions. The conclusion is that the criminal population is made up largely of those for whom criminal behaviour has become habitual; moreover, penal institutions appear to do little to change their basic behaviour patterns. Though the percentage of recidivists runs high for all offenders, it is greatest among those convicted of such minor charges as vagrancy, drunkenness, prostitution, and disturbing the peace. These are more likely than serious criminal charges to result from an entire way of life. Accordingly, their root causes are rarely susceptible to cure by jailing. Life-sentence prisoners Since capital punishment has been abolished in Britain, the severest penalty for the most atrocious crimes, such as murder, is life imprisonment. Those serving life sentences for the murder rrf police and prison officers, terrorist murders, murder by firearms in the cause of robbery and the sexual or sadistic murder of children are normally detained for at least twenty years. Life sentences for offences other than murder can be reduced up to nine years. On release, all life-sentence prisoners remain on licencc for the rest of their lives and are subject to recall should their behaviour suggest that they might again be a danger to the public. TASK 5. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions: r L исправительное заведение для малолетних правонарушителей 2. исправление и перевоспитание заключённых 3. рецидивист (2) 4. бродяжничество нарушение общественного порядка 6. сотрудник исправительного учреждения 7. отбывать наказание (в тюрьме) TASK 6, Answer the following questions: 1. What is the status of 'unconvicted prisoners'? What are their privileges? 2. What are the purposes of reformatories? 3. What is the most famous facility for young offenders? 4. What special programmes are established for women prisoners? 5. What additional rights do women prisoners have? 6. What are habitual offenders? 7. What are the most typical crimes committed by recidivists? 8. What is the severest penalty for the most atrocious crimes? 9. What kinds of lifers' are sentenced to the longest term of imprisonment? 10. How is life sentence typically reduced in Britain? 11. How are 'lifers' supervised when released? TASK 7. The word BAIL has the following meanings in legal Russian: 1) поручительство civil bail — поручительство в гражданском процессе 2) передача на поруки; брать на поруки; передавать на поруки to free on bail — освободить на поруки 3) поручитель; поручители to be /to go bail — стать поручителем 4) залог при передаче на поруки excessive bail — чрезмерная сумма залога Match the following English expressions with their Russian equivalents:
TASK S. Read the article below and write down the criminal record of the convict: A Lifer Keen on Canaries Robert Franklin is an American criminal, a convicted murderer who became a self-taught ornithologist during his 54 years in prison, forty-two of them in solitary confinement He became known for his contribution to the study of birds. At the age of 13 Franklin ran away from home and, by the age of 18, was in Alaska, working as a pimp and living with a dance- hall girl. An argument over the girl led to his fighting and killing a man. Pleading guilty to manslaughter in 1909, he was sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison. After stabbing a fellow prisoner and proving generally troublesome, he was transferred to Kansas, where he continued to be a loner but began to educate himself, taking university extension courses. In 1916 he stabbed and killed a guard and was tried, convictcd and sentenced to hanging, but in 1920 President Woodrow Wilson commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Thereafter, mostly in solitary confinement, he hegan raising canaries and other birds, collecting laboratory equipment, and studying the diseases of birds and their breeding and care- Some of his research writings were smuggled out of prison and published in 1943. Later, however, he was allowed to continue his research but denied further right of publication. His research was considered an important work in the field of ornithology. DISCUSSION Using the vocabulary and facts from the Unit discuss the following: 9 There are groups of inmates who should have additional rights. • Kids brought up in prison are likely to become criminals. • Penal institutions appear to do little to cure a habitual offender by jailing. UNIT 3. PRISON LIFE TASK 1. Read the following text and write down Russian equivalents for sentences given in bold type: Among the 'pains of imprisonment' that both male and female inmates face are, in the first place, the deprivation of liberty and the loneliness and boredom of imprisonment Second, prisoners are deprived of all goods and services from the outside world. Stripped of possessions, they often equate their material lasses with personal inadequacy. The third deprivation for the majority is the absence of heterosexual relationships. Fourth, prisoners are subjected to vast body of institutional regulations designed to control every aspect of behaviour. In part this control forms the deprivation of freedom that is the essence of imprisonment, and in part it is necessary adjunct as a means of maintaining security, controlling the introduction of weapons, contraband substances and preventing escapes. Most prisons limit the number of visits that a prisoner may receive from his family or friends. Visits normally take place within the sight of an officer, and in some cases within his hearing. In many prisons, visits are conducted with the prisoner sitting on one side of the table and his visitor on the other, with a wire mesh partition between them; the visitor may be searched for contraband. Prisoners may write and receive letters and may make telephone calls. Correspondence of prisoners is usually subject to censorship by the prison authorities, and prisoners may not write more than one letter each week. Privileges include a personal radio, books, periodicals and newspapers. They also have an opportunity to watch television (in many prisons each prisoner has a TV-set), and to make purchases from the prison shop with money earned in prison. Control of the prison is maintained by a number of disciplinary sanctions, which may include forfeiture of privileges, confinement within a punishment block or cell, or the loss of remission or good time (time deducted from the sentence as a reward for good behaviour). Typically, the prohibited offences include mutiny and violence to officers; escaping, or being absent from a place where the prisoner is required to be and possessing unauthorised articles. TASK 2. Explain the meaning of the following wards and expressions and reproduce the context in which they were used: * body of institutional regulations * contraband substance «forfeiture of privileges a personal inadequacy «to be stripped of possessions «to control the introduction of weapons e to possess unauthorised articles TASK 3. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the. following words and expressions: 1. лишение свободы
2. бунт» мятеж 3. заключённый 4, обыск, досмотр 5- подлежать цензуре TASK 4. Answer the following questions: 1. What deprivations do prisoners suffer? 2. What is the aim of controlling every aspect of prisoner's life? 3. What are the institutional regulations lor visits that prisoners may receive? 4. What rights do prisoners have? 5. What disciplinary sanctions are imposed to maintain security in prison? TASK 5. Read the text and answer the fotlowing questions. Write. down Russian equivalents for sentences given in bold type. L What rights do prisoners enjoy in Europe and the United States? 2. What have you learned about Habeas Corpus and mandamus? 3, Why are the courts now willing to limit prisoners' access to the federal courts in the United States? Prisoners' Rights The idea that a prisoner has rights that may be protected by actions in the courts has been developed in Europe and the United States. In England, in the absence of a written constitution, prisoners resorting to the courts have relied on the general principles of administrative law, which require fair procedures by disciplinary bodies. Although many actions brought by prisoners have been unsuccessful, prison disciplinary procedures have been improved as a result of such litigation.
In the U.S. actions brought under the provisions of the U.S. Constitution (notably the Eighth and the Fourteenth amendments) establish that prisoners are entitled to the protection of the Constitution. Early U.S. court decisions ruled that prisoners had forfeited all of the rights enjoyed by free citizens. Eventually, the courts recognised certain rights and legal remedies available to a command issue by a court directing a. prison administrator to carry out a legal responsibility — to provide a sick prisoner with medical care, for example — or to restore to the prisoner rights that have been illegally denied. Prisoners have sought remedies for many problems, including relief from unreasonable searches, release from solitary confinement, and the procuring of withheld mail. Recent decisions have indicated, however, that the courts are now willing to limit legal writs by prisoners in deference to the security requirements of the prison. TASK 6. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions: 1. судебный процесс, судебное дело 2. предписание Хабеас Корпус 3. судебный приказ нижестоящему суду или должностному лицу 4. тюремное заключение 5. необоснованный обыск 6. предъявить иск; возбудить судебное дело (2) 7. восстанавливать в правах 8. добиваться судебной защиты TASK 7. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions:
«to resort to the court «to forfeit a right. & release from solitary confinement о0 procuring of withheld mail e prison security requirements TASK Read the articles below and point out the opposite views on prison facilities: Criticism of Jail TV
The UK Government has been accused of going "soft on crime" for considering a proposal to allow thousands of prisoners to have televisions in their cells. The Home Office has asked the Prison Service to investigate the issue to try to defuse tensions in Britain's overcrowded jails. Prison Service officials said no decisions had been made and said it was weighing up the 'pros and cons' of the scheme. Home Affairs spokesman, James Clappison, saidt "We think prison conditions should be decent arid austere and prisons should be a punishment. We think televisions in cells are not consistent with that. We think it's soft on criminals." The former Home Secretary, Michael Howard, said; "Televisions in ceils could provide a calming influence and a powerful incentive to good conduct. It could also be used for educational and communication purposes." Deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, Nick Flyan, said: "It's a delicate matter and it shouldn't be used for prisoners to sit around to watch football. But it could be a useful tool for the Prison Service to give information to prisoners/'
A Manicure for Jack the Kipper at the Killers' Health Club
Some of Britain's most notorious killers and rapists are being offered the luxury ot beauty therapy. They can enjoy facials, manicures and pedicures at Ash worth maximum security hospital's new Health and Beauty Center club. The 650 male and female patients can also enjoy £ sauna, solarium and massage ares, at the mental hospital near Liverpool, These inmates have avoided prison because the courts decided th&y are either mentally ill or criminally insane, Hospital authorities said that the facilities available to inmates ''especially benefited those with low self-esteem or who found it difficult to relax." Among the 'clients of the Club is a knifeman who attacked 10 people and is now pleading for access to a fully equipped gym, and a sadistic rapist undergoing aromatherapy treatment. ~ " " ~ DISCUSSION Using the vocabulary and facts from the articles abotie discuss the following; » Prison conditions should be decent and austere and prisons should be a punishment л Frison facilities provide a calming influence and a powerful incentive to good conduct TASK 9, Read the text below and write down a list of problems that prison inmates face: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights declares that "all persons deprived of their liberty; shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person". However, in reality all over the world, hundreds of thousands of people are being held in prisons that are: squalid, overcrowded, dilapidated, insanitary, inhumane, unjust, very expensive and ineffective in tackling crime. In many countries, conditions are so bad that prisoners die from malnutrition, diseases, attacks from other prisoners or prison staff, or suicide. Under extremely overcrowded and insanitary conditions, diseases such as tuberculosis and dysentery spread very rapidly, and without medical treatment they may easily be fatal. At the same time there is a small number of people who present such a danger to the community or to themselves that they need to be detained. However, for most offences, imprisonment is not an effective penalty. Many countries which may have very high prison populations have very high crime rates. This shows that prison is probably not deterring many people from crime. Whilst in prison, the attitudes of minor offenders may harden as they mix with those convicted of more serious crimes. This often leads to minor offenders committing more serious crime after they are released from prison. Large amounts of money are spent on locking people up, even when prison staff are poorly paid, buildings are not maintained and prisoners are treated inadequately. In many countries, prison populations have been increasing substantially over recent years. Most prisoners are young, poor, urban men. Locking up this section of the general population for substantial periods has a destabilising effect on the whole ut society in the longer term. TASK 10, Find in the text above the English equivalent!! far tlw following words and expressions: 1. высокий уровень преступности 2. лицо, совершившее малозначительное правонарушение 3. эффективная мера наказания 4. удержать от совершении преступления 5. посадить, 'упрятать' в тюрьму 6. освободить из тюрьмы TASK 11. Complete the text using the words from the box: ( — _ Л restraint; release date; recidivism; rehabilitate; preventive i i Criticism of the present prison system of punishment has focused mainly on its rehabilitative and _______ functions- Critics point out that _______ — the commission of another crime after the offender has served a sentence for the first time — is high. Thus the system seems ineffective as a cure for, or a ___________ upon, those factors in offenders which may lead to criminal acts. Furthermore* because there is no way to predict the future behaviour of individuals, the length of sentence and the ____________ may have no relationship to the prison time necessary to effect a cure hi, ur _ __ an ufferider. Many eriminuluyisls insist that there is no adequate body to demonstrate that any punishment, capital punishment included, has a restraining effect on potential criminal behaviour. CREATIVE WRITING Write doum a list of measures necessary to improve the present prison st/stem/Consider the information from the texts above.
^ DEB А ТЕ Prisons: A Solution to Crime? Using the vocabulary and facts from the Unit, discuss the following: • Hundreds of thousands of people are imprisoned in inhumane conditions. • Many countries with very high prison populations have very high crime rates. • There are people who present such a danger to the community that they need to be detained. • Prison does not deter many people from crime. • Whilst in prison, the attitudes of minor offenders harden as they mix with those convicted of more serious crimes. • All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. \__________ / UNIT 4. ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON TASK 1. Read the following text and write down Russian equivalents for sentences given in bold type: Prison Improvements and Alternatives In most criminal justice systems the majority of offenders are dealt with by means other than custody — by fines and other financial penalties, by probation or supervision, or by orders to make reparation in some practical form to the community. Fine The most common penalty, fine, avoids the disadvantages of many other forms of sentence; it is inexpensive to administer and does not normally have the side effects, such as social stigma and loss of job that may follow imprisonment. However, there arc dangers that the imposition of financial penalties may result in more affluent offenders receiving penalties that they can easily discharge, while less affluent offenders are placed under burdens that they cannot sustain. Restitution Related to the fine is an order to pay restitution (in some countries termed compensation). The principle of restitution is popular in some countries as an alternative to punitive sentencing, but there are some drawbacks. One is the possibility, as in the case of the fine, that the more affluent offender' may receive favourable treatment from the court because he is able to pay restitution. The second drawback is that such schemes do not help all victims of crime. Only those who are the victims of crimes for which the offender is caught and convicted and has the funds to pay restitution are likely to be recompensed Victims of crimes of violence in some countries — such as England and Canada — are entitled to restitution from public funds, whether or not the offender is detected or has the resources necessary to compensate him. Probation There are many ways of dealing with offenders that do not involve the payment of money. One is probation, a system that takes many different forms in different jurisdictions. However, that essentially involves the suspension of sentence on the offender subject to the condition that he is supervised while living in the community by a probation officer and possibly agrees to comply with such other requirements as the court may think appropriate. Usually, if the offender complies with the probation order and commits no further offence while it is in force, no other penalty is imposed If he breaks the requirement of the order or commits another offence, he can be brought back before the court and punished for the original offence as well as for the later one.
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