Text b Capital Punishment: For and Against

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?