From the History of Punishment

felons; offender; beheading; adultery; pillory; punishment; execution; deliberately; condemned; ancient; medieval; guilty; legal; public

For the most history ______ has been both painful and ______ 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 ______ was inflicted in ancient Rome on people found ______ 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 ______ Greece the custom of allowing a ______ man to end his own life by poison was extended only to full citizens. The philosopher Socrates died in this way. Condemned slaves were beaten to death instead. Stoning was the ancient method of punishment for ______ among other 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 ______, which stood in the main square of towns. The ______ 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 ______ Europe some methods of execution were ______ drawn out to inflict maximum suffering. ______ 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 cut into four pieces. It remained a ______ method of punishment in Britain until 1814. ______ 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 victim kneeled and the head was taken off with a swing of the sword.

Ex.7. Read and memorize the following words:

1. felon(s) – кримінальний злочин

2. beheading – обезглавлення

3. adultery – подружня зрада

4. pillory – стовп ганьби

5. deliberately – зважено, навмисно

6. condemned – засуджувати

7. medieval – середньовічний

8. humiliation – приниження

9. accessible – доступний

10. bizarre – дивний

11. inflict – накладати, спричиняти біль

12. a rooster – півень

13. a viper – гадюка

14. drowned (along) – тягнути

15. stinking meat – смердюче м’ясо

16. petty – дрібний

17. jeer(ed) – насміхатися

18. pett(ed) – закиданий камінням

19. strangl (ed) – задушити

20. axe – сокира

21. swing of the sword – помах шаблі

22. draw out – волочіння

Ex. 8. This is a list of punishments for crimes available in the United Kingdom criminal justice system:

• capital punishment

• probation

• life imprisonment

• community service order

• fine

• suspended sentence

• corporal punishment

• imprisonment

a) translate them, giving the Ukrainian equivalents. Use them in your own sentences;

b) draw a word ladder starting with the least serious punishment and ending with the most serious.

Ex. 9. A. Here are seven paragraphs in the article. They are not in the right order. Write down the correct question for each paragraph and put them in correct order.

_____________ Many also believe that it deters other from committing such crimes.

_____________ The ultimate penalty is death (capital punishment). It is carried out by hanging (Kenya, for example); electrocution, gassing or lethal injection (U.S.); beheading or stoning (Saudi Arabia ); or shooting (China). Most countries still have a death penalty, 35 (including almost every European nation) have abolished it; 18 retain it only for exceptional crimes such as wartime offences; and 27 no longer carry out executions even when a death sentence has been passed.

_____________ A further argument is that, should a mistake be made it is too late to ractify it once the execution has taken place. In 1987, two academics published a study showing that 23 innocent people had been executed in the USA.

_____________ Opponents argue that execution is cruel and civilized. Capital punishment involved not only the pain of dying but also the mental anguish of waiting, sometimes for years, to know if and when the sentence will be carried out .

_____________ As the debate about capital punishment continues, the phenomenon of death row increases. In 1991, no one was executed in Japan, but three people were sentenced to death, brining the total number in death to row to fifty. Sakea Menda lived under sentence of death for 33 years before obtaining a retrial and being found not guilty.

_____________ Research has shown that capital punishment is used inconsistently. For example, in South America, black murderers are far more likely to be sentenced to death than whites.

_____________ Supporters of capital punishment believe that death is a just punishment for certain serious crimes.

B. Answer the following questions:

1. What methods is capital punishment carried out?

2. What arguments do opponents of death penalty present?

3. What arguments do proponents of death penalty present?

4. What is death row?

Ex. 10. Match each punishment with its description:

1. capital punishment a) a period of time in jail

2. corporal punishment b) being made to do special

hard work while in prison

3. eviction c) death

4. a heavy fine d) punishment imposed only if you

commit a further crime

5. internment e) a large sum of money to pay

6. penal servitude f) whipping or beating

7. a prison sentence g) regular meetings with social worker

8. probation h) removing a person from a house or land by law

9. solitary confinement i) limiting the freedom of movement

esp. for political reason

10. a suspended sentence j) being imprisoned completely along

Ex. 11. Put each of the following words and phrases in its correct place below.