Perhaps all criminals should be required to carry cards which read:
“Fragile: Handle with Care”. It will never do, these days, to go around referring to criminals as violent thugs. You must refer to them politely as ‘social misfits’. The professional killer who wouldn’t think twice about using his cosh or crowbar to batter some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her meagre life-savings must never be given a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of ‘hospital treatment’. According to his misguided defenders, society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evil — or so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of talk, it makes you wonder why we aren’t all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of criminal legislation in Britain and a number of other countries has been the suspension of capital punishment.
The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is pursued by — the press and paid vast sums of money for his ‘memoirs’. Newspapers which specialize in crime-reporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publishers of trashy cops and robbers stories or ‘murder mysteries’ have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movement. The hardened criminal is cuddled and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on the other. It’s no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes.
Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving his arsenic cocktail. It prevented unarmed policemen from being mowed down while pursuing their duty by killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society, young children, from brutal sex-maniacs. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. We all know that ‘life sentence’ does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of ‘good conduct’, the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, thank you, on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always willing to hold liberal views at the expence of others. It’s always fashionable to pose as the defender of the underdog, so long as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one wonders, in their desire for fair-play, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment? Hardly. You see, they couldn’t, because all the victims were dead.
Vocabulary
arsenic n мышьяк
batter v избить
breed v порождать
cosh n дубинка
cosset v баловать
crowbar n лом
cuddle v обнимать
evil n зло
get away with избежать; уйти от
hardened criminal n закоренелый преступник syn. desperate criminal
harsh adj суровый
literally adv буквально
meagre adj скудный
misfit n неудачник
misguided adj заблуждающийся
ponder v размышлять; обдумывать
suspension n приостановление
thug n бандит, головорез, хулиган
trashy adj низкопробный, дрянной
treatment n обращение
underdog n побеждённая сторона; неудачник
villain n злодей, негодяй, тяжкий преступник
vulnerable adj уязвимый; беззащитный
wicked adj 1 порочный; 2 злобный, злой
Reading tasks
Answer these questions.
1 What is your opinion concerning the phrase ‘A wicked society breeds evil’?
2 Do you think that the suspension of capital punishment is the most senseless piece of criminal legislation?
3 What is the goal of capital punishment?
4 Is capital punishment a form of prevention of crimes?
5 Why is there a great controversy over the death penalty?
6 Do you think capital punishment should be used in a democratic state?
Vocabulary tasks
A Match the terms from the left column with their synonyms from the right column.
1 meagre a stoppage
2 thug b desperate criminal
3 misfit c severe
4 wicked d poor
5 harsh e defenceless
6 suspension f bandit
7 senseless g failure
8 treatment h malicious
9 vulnerable i foolish
10 hardened criminal j handling
B Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions.
- a brutal sex-maniac - to breed evil
- a cold-blooded poisoner - to cosset
- a desperate villain - to cuddle
- a hardened criminal - to deter criminals
- a professional killer - to do away with
- ‘a social misfit’ - to get away with murder
- a train robber - to go on committing offences
- a violent criminal - to mow down
- a violent robber - to pull the trigger
- a violent thug - to rob
- to batter - to think twice
C Study the following key phrases from the text above. Reproduce the text using these key phrases.
1 Criminals should carry cards: ”Fragile: Handle with Care”.
2 We mustn’t refer to them as thugs, but as ‘social misfits’.
3 Killer who murders old lady for savings needs ‘hospital treatment’.
4 “Society is to blame” argument – why aren’t we all criminals?
5 We have done away with absurdly harsh laws: that’s enough.
6 Suspension of capital punishment: senseless.
7 Violent criminal: a hero figure.
8 Glorified on screen and by press.
9 Great demand for crime stories.
10 Train robbers: a glorious resistance movement?
11 Cuddled by sociologists, adored by masses, the criminal is a privileged
person.
12 He expects and receives VIP treatment.
13 Capital punishment was once a major deterrent.
14 It protected unarmed policemen, young children.
15 Now the criminal can get away with murder.
16 ‘Life sentence’: ten years ‘good conduct’ and then freedom to live on the
proceeds of crime.
17 People hold liberal views at the expence of others.
18 Were victims consulted before suspension of capital punishment? No:
they were dead.
D Follow the statements given in task C. Provide counter-arguments to each statement. Compare your list with those of other students.
Study the following facts and arguments:
Financial Costs
The death penalty is not now, nor has it ever been, a more economical alternative to life imprisonment. A murder trial normally takes much longer when the death penalty is at issue than when it is not. Litigation costs — including the time of judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and court reporters, and the high costs of briefs — are all borne by the taxpayer.
Inevitability of Error
In 1975, only a year before the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment, two African-American men in Florida were released from prison after twelve years awaiting execution for the murder of two white men. Their convictions were the result of coerced confessions, erroneous testimony of an alleged eyewitness, and incompetent defense counsel. Though a white man eventually admitted his guilt, a nine-year legal battle was required before the governor would grant them a pardon. Had their execution not been stayed while the constitutional status of the death penalty was argued in the courts, these two innocent men probably would not be alive today.
Barbarity
The latest mode of inflicting the death penalty, enacted into law by nearly two dozen American states, is lethal injection, first used in Texas in 1982. It is easy to overstate the humaneness and efficacy of this method. There is no way of knowing that it is really painless. As the U.S. Court of Appeals observed, there is “substantial and uncontroverted evidence… that execution by lethal injection poses a serious risk of cruel, protracted death.... Even a slight error in dosage or administration can leave a prisoner conscious but paralyzed while dying, a sentient witness of his or her own asphyxiation.”
Futility
Gangland killings, air piracy, drive-by shootings, and kidnapping for ransom are among the graver felonies that continue to be committed because some individuals think they are too clever to get caught. Political terrorism is usually committed in the name of an ideology that honors its martyrs; trying to cope with it by threatening terrorists with death penalty is futile.
E Using the information and vocabulary from the Unit write an essay on one of the following statements.
- Relaxation of harsh laws has never led to increase in crime.
- Those in favour of capital punishment are motivated only by desire for revenge and retaliation.
- Hanging, electric chairs, garroting, etc., are barbaric practices, unworthy of human beings.
- Suspension of capital punishment is enlightened and civilized.
- Capital punishment creates, it does not solve, problems.
- Crime can only be drastically reduced by the elimination of social injustices.
Debate