Capital punishment is a legal infliction of the death penalty; in modern law, corporal punishment in its most severe form. The usual alternative to the death penalty is long-term or life imprisonment.
The earliest historical records contain evidence of capital punishment. The Bible prescribed death as the penalty for more than 30 different crimes, ranging from murder to fornication.
The abolition of capital punishment in England in November 1965 was welcomed by most people with humane and progressive ideas. To them it seemed a departure from feudalism, from the cruel pre-Christian spirit of revenge: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Many of these people think differently now. Since the abolition of capital punishment crime — and especially murder — has been on increase throughout Britain. Today, therefore, public opinion in Britain has changed. People who before, also in Parliament, stated that capital punishment was not a deterrent to murder — for there have always been murders in all countries with or without the law of execution — now feel that killing the assassin is the lesser of two evils. Capital punishment, they think, may not be the ideal answer, but it is better than nothing, especially when, as in England, a sentence of life imprisonment only lasts eight or nine years.
The fundamental questions raised by the death penalty are whether it is an effective deterrent to violent crime, and whether it is more effective than the alternative of long-term imprisonment. DEFENDERS of the death penalty insist that because taking an offender’s life is a more severe punishment than any prison term, it must be the better deterrent. SUPPORTERS also argue that no adequate deterrent in life imprisonment is effective for those already serving a life term who commit murder while being in prison, and for revolutionaries, terrorists, traitors, and spies.
In the U.S. those who argue against the death penalty as a deterrent to crime cite the following: (1) Adjacent states, in which one has the death penalty and the other does not, show no significant differences in the murder rate; (2) states that use the death penalty seem to have a higher number of homicides than states that do not use it; (3) states that abolish and then reintroduce the death penalty do not seem to show any significant change in the murder rate; (4) no change in the rate of homicides in a given city or state seems to occur following an expository execution.
In the early 1970s, some published reports showed that each execution in the U.S. deterred eight or more homicides, but subsequent research has discredited this finding. The current prevailing view among criminologists is that no conclusive evidence exists to show that the death penalty is a more effective deterrent to violent crime than long-term imprisonment.
The classic moral arguments in favour of the death penalty have been biblical and call for retribution. “Whosoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” has usually been interpreted as a divine warrant for putting the murderer to death. “Let the punishment fit the crime’’ is its secular counterpart; both statements imply that the murderer deserves to die. DEFENDERS of capital punishment have also claimed that society has the right to kill in defence of its members, just as the individual may kill in self-defence. The analogy to self-defence, however, is somewhat doubtful, as long as the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crimes has not been proved.
The chief objection to capital punishment has been that it is always used unfairly, in at least three major ways. First, women are rarely sentenced to death and executed, even though 20 per cent of all homicides in recent years have been committed by women. Second, a disproportionate number of non-whites are sentenced to death and executed. Third, poor and friendless defendants, those with inexperienced or court-appointed attorney, are most likely to be sentenced to death and executed. DEFENDERS of the death penalty, however, have insisted that, because none of the laws of capital punishment causes sexist, racist, or class bias in its use, these kinds of discrimination are not a sufficient reason for abolishing the death penalty. OPPONENTS have replied that the death penalty can be the result of a mistake in practice and that it is impossible to administer fairly.
Vocabulary
abolition n отмена, упразднение
administer v отправлять (правосудие); исполнять
assassin n убийца (по политическим мотивам или по найму)
bias n дискриминация; предубеждение; v оказывать влияние
capital punishment n смертная казнь; syn. death penalty
corporal punishment n телесное наказание
counterpart n противная сторона
departure n отступление; отход (от прежней правовой нормы)
divine adj божественный
execution n 1 исполнение; 2 приведение в исполнение приговора к смертной казни
expository execution показательная казнь
fornication n блуд
homicide n убийство; лишение человека жизни
infliction of death penalty назначение смертной казни
life imprisonment n пожизненное заключение
long-term imprisonment n долгосрочное тюремное заключение
revenge n месть, возмездие syn. retribution
secular adj светский
sentence to death v приговаривать к смерти
sexist adj женоненавистнический
warrant n свидетельство
Reading Tasks
Answer these questions.
1 Why was capital punishment imposed so frequently in ancient societies?
2 What is the usual alternative to the death penalty?
3 How have the attitudes towards capital punishment changed in Britain since the abolition of death penalty in 1965?
4 Is imprisonment effective for revolutionaries and terrorists? Why?
5 How have Americans treated the problem of death penalty?
6 What factors may hamper the fair administration of justice in capital
cases?
Vocabulary tasks
A Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and expressions related to punishment.
1 возмездие
2 долгосрочное тюремное заключение
3 отбывать срок в тюрьме
4 отмена смертной казни
5 пожизненное тюремное заключение
6 показательная казнь
7 приговаривать к смерти
8 телесные наказания
B Write an appropriate question for each answer below.
1 No, capital punishment is not only a retribution for the offence committed but also a form of prevention of crimes.
2 No, capital punishment is not yet prohibited in Russia.
3 A form of capital punishment depends on the gravity of the crime committed and the personality of a criminal.
4 A penalty must be imposed by the court.
5 The rights of the convicted persons are restricted.
6 There are some supplementary penalties that may be imposed on the convicted persons.
7 Capital punishment is permitted only in exceptional cases.
8 The list of crimes which can be punished by a sentence of death is defined by law.
C Continue the table below with the following words and expressions describing polar views. The first few are done for you.
| for | against |
| proponent to argue in favour of smth. | opponent to argue against smth. |
- con
- objection to smth.
- defender
- pro
- supporter
- to accept smth.
- to admit smth.
- to agree to/with smth.
- to confirm smth.
- to consent to smth.
- to contradict to smth.
- to deny smth.
- to disagree with smth.
- to object to smth.
- to oppose smth.
- to reject smth.
D What is your personal understanding of the following famous statements? Make a list of examples from history to illustrate these statements. Use the words and expressions from C to support the following opposite points of view:
| FOR | AGAINST |
| 1. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!” — We should admit this Biblical principle. It is eternal!… 2. “Let the punishment fit the crime.” –Those who steal should be deprived of their property, … those who kill should be deprived of their own lives’!... 3. “The pain of the penalty should outweigh only slightly the pleasure of success in crime.” J. Bentham 4. 5. “The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is to redress the disorder caused by the offence.” Pope John Paul II 6. 7. “Whosoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” | 1. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!”- This is a cruel pre-Christian spirit of revenge. We are civilized now – let’s give it up and be humane!... 2. “Let the punishment fit the crime.” – We can not accept fixed punishments for crimes. Circumstances should be taken into account. 3. 4. “It is much more prudent to acquit two persons, though actually guilty, than to pass sentence of condemnation on one that is virtuous and innocent.” Voltaire 5. 6. “An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation.” C.S.King 7. |
E Describe the current attitudes to the following problems using the expressions from C. Make up no fewer than 5 sentences.
- International terrorism
- Environment
- Artificial intelligence
- Drugs
- Political correctness
Text B