Topic 4. Punishment

Vocabulary

deprivation	[͵depr'veʃən]	лишение
accusation	[͵ækju'zeʃən]	обвинение
proof	[pru:f]	доказательство
to impose a sentence	[m'pouz ə 'sentəns]	вынести приговор
guilt	[glt]	вина
justification	[͵ʤʌstf'keʃən]	оправдание
retribution	[͵retr'bju:ʃən]	возмездие
deterrent	[də'terənt]	устрашение
incapacitation	['nkə ͵pæs'teʃən]	лишение прав
lenient	['li:njənt]	мягкий, нестрогий
capital punishment	['kæpitl 'pʌnʃmənt]	смертная казнь
corporal punishment	['kɔ:pərəl]	телесное наказание
amendment	[ə'mendmənt]	поправка
restriction	[r'strkʃən]	ограничение
punitive	['pju:ntv]	карательный
goal	[goul]	цель
mode	[moud]	способ
incarceration	[n͵ka:sə'reʃən]	заключение в тюрьму
community supervision	[kə'mju:nt ͵su:pə'vƷən]	наблюдение общественностью
restitution	[͵rest'tju:ʃən]	восстановление, возмещение
atrocious	[a'trouʃəs]	жестокий
to inflict pain	[n'flkt pen]	причинять боль
humiliation	['hju:͵ml'eʃən]	унижение
bizarre	[b'za:]	странный, необычный
to find smb guilty of a crime	[fand glt əvə'kram]	обвинить кого-то в преступлении
condemned	[kən'demd]	приговорённый
adultery	[ə'dʌltər]	супружеская неверность, измена
a petty offence	[ə'petə'fens]	мелкое преступление
pillory	['plər]	позорный столб
medieval	[mi:d'i:vəl]	средневековый
felon	['felən]	уголовный преступник
to strangle	[stræŋl]	задушить
to hang	[hæŋ]	повесить
to quarter	['kwɔ:tə]	четвертовать
to behead	[b'hed]	обезглавить
to stone	[stoun]	забросать камнями
block and axe	['blɔk ənd 'æks]	плаха и топор

Punishment describes the imposition by some authority of a deprivation – usually painful – on a person who has violated a law, a rule, or other norm. When the violation is of the criminal law of society there is a formal process of accusation and proof followed by imposition of a sentence by a designated official, usually a judge. Informally, any organized group – most typically the family, may punish perceived wrongdoers.

Because punishment is both painful and guilt producing, its application calls for justification. In Western culture, four basic justifications have been given: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation.

Most penal historians note a gradual trend over the last centuries toward more lenient sentences in Western counties. Capital and corporal punishment, widespread in the early 19^th century, are seldom invoked by contemporary society. Indeed, in the United States corporal punishment as such appears to be contrary to the 8^th Amendment's restrictions on cruel and unusual punishment. Yet the rate of imprisonment in the United States appears to be growing. Furthermore, since the mid-1970s, popular and professional sentiment has taken a distinctly punitive turn and now tends to see retribution and incapacitation – rather than rehabilitation – as the goals of criminal punishment.

Criminal sentences ordinarily embrace four basic modes of punishment. In descending order of severity these are: incarceration, community supervision, fine, and restitution. The death penalty is now possible only for certain types of atrocious murders and treason.

Punishment is an ancient practice whose presence in modern cultures may appear to be out of place because it purposefully inflicts pain. In the minds of most people, however, it continues to find justification.

For the most history punishment has been both painful and public in order to act as deterrent to others. Physical punishments and public humiliations were social events and carried out in most accessible parts of towns, often on market days when the greater part of the population were present. Justice had to be seen to be done.

One of the most bizarre methods of execution was inflicted in ancient Rome on people found guilty of murdering their fathers. Their punishment was to be put in a sack with a rooster, a viper , and a dog, then drowned along with the three animals. In ancient Greece the custom of allowing a condemned man to end his own life by poison extended only to full citizens. The philosopher Socrates died in this way. Condemned slaves were beaten to death instead. Stoning was ancient method of punishment for adultery among the crimes.

In Turkey if a butcher was found guilty of selling bad meat, he was tied to a post with a piece of stinking meat fixed under his nose, or a baker having sold short weight bread could be nailed to his door by his ear.

One of the most common punishments for petty offences was the pillory, which stood in the main square of towns. The offender was locked by hands and head into the device and made to stand sometimes for days, while crowds jeered and pelted the offender with rotten vegetables or worse.

In medieval Europe some methods of execution were deliberately drawn out to inflict maximum suffering. Felons were tied to a heavy wheel and rolled around the streets until they were crushed to death. Others were strangled, very slowly. One of the most terrible punishments was hanging and quartering. The victim was hanged, beheaded and the body was cut into four pieces. It remained a legal method of punishment in Britain until 1814. Beheading was normally reserved for those of high rank. In England a block and axe was the common method but this was different from France and Germany where the victims kneeled and the head was taken off with a swing of the sword.

Ex. 1. Read the international words and guess their meaning:

formal	method
official	community
group	practice
rehabilitation	restitution
historian	execution
popular	philosopher

Ex. 2. Try to memorize the following pairs of words:

to accuse – accusation

to impose – imposition

to sentence – sentence

to deprive – deprivation

to apply – application

to justify – justification

to rehabilitate – rehabilitation

to punish – punishment

to violate – violation

to restrict – restriction

to supervise – supervision

to execute – execution

to suffer – suffering

Ex. 3. Form the adjectives for the following nouns:

pain – …

guilt – …

penalty – …

profession – …

access – …

terror – …

law – …

Ex. 4. Match the English expressions from the text with their Russian equivalents:

the imposition of a deprivation	вызывающий вину
designated official	постепенная тенденция
guilt producing	в убывающем порядке строгости
gradual trend	включать в себя, охватывать
embrace	назначенное должностное лицо
in descending order of severity	смертная казнь
to be out of place	обращаться к
death penalty	наложение лишения
call for	призываться обществом
to be invoked by society	быть неуместным

Ex. 5. Fill in the blanks with the words given in the list:

guilty, restitution, condemned, justification, corporal, adultery, pillory, victims.

1. Stoning was the ancient method of punishment for …

2. He was found … of shoplifting.

3. The application of punishment calls for …

4. The death penalty is now possible for very … murders.

5. … is one of the four basic modes of punishment.

6. … punishment is considered cruel and unusual.

7. In ancient Greece a … man was allowed to end his life by poisoning.

8. In medieval Europe … were hanged, beheaded or cut into four pieces.

9. The offender was locked by hands and head into the …

Ex. 6. Mark the following statements as true or false:

1. When a person has violated a criminal law of society he is punished.

2. Formally a wrongdoer is punished by a designated authority, usually a judge.

3. In Western countries punishment is becoming more cruel.

4. In the United States capital and corporal punishment is widespread now.

5. The goals of criminal punishment are retribution incapacitation but not rehabilitation.

6. Restitution is the most severe punishment.

7. People try to justify the imposition of punishment.

8. In old times punishment was carried out in presence of very few people.

9. Beheading was abolished in Great Britain as a legal method of punishment about 200 years ago.

Ex. 7. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following Russian expressions.

1. назначенное должностное лицо;

2. формальный процесс обвинения;

3. широко распространённый;

4. современное общество;

5. является противоречащим;

6. более того;

7. приобрести карательное направление;

8. предательство;

9. преднамеренно причиняет боль;

10. находить оправдание.

Ex. 8. Answer the following questions:

1. What is punishment?

2. Who can impose punishment?

3. Why does application of punishment call for justification?

4. What are the four justifications of punishment?

5. How has the attitude to punishment changed in Western countries?

6. What are the four basic modes of punishment?

7. Why did ancient punishment have to be painful?

8. What was the purpose of making punishment public?

9. What forms of punishment were most common in medieval time?

10. How did punishment reflect social status?

11. How are criminals punished in your country?

Ex. 9. Make a summary of the text.