Death Sentences In U.S. At Their Lowest Level Since 1976

 

1) 38 of the 50 American states _____________ for murder and other capital crimes. These are the most serious _______________________.

2) The Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., notes that executions have_______________________.

3) 1976 was the year when the United States Supreme Court _____________ of states to use ____________________________.

4) There are some new restrictions, though. In March the Supreme Court _________________ death sentences for ________________________________.

5) Justice Kennedy said it would be " morally misguided" _______________________ of a young person with those of an _________. He said a young person has ___________________ of reform.

6) Some people would like the United States Supreme Court ____________ all executions. Opponents of the death penalty say capital punishment can be _______________________. For example, they say blacks are _________________________________________________ to death than whites for similar crimes.

7) Opponents say economics play a part. Courts _____________________ if a ___________________ does not have enough money. But the opponents say ____________________________________- may depend on the ability to get a good lawyer.

8) More than 80 percent of these executions have happened in ______________. The highest rates are in the _____________, the lowest are in the______________. Texas has executed more than one-third of those put to death. Last year Texas courts __________________ twenty-three more people.

9) _____________________ say capital punishment costs more than _____________________ for life. The appeals process often continues for years. Opponents also note the risk that innocent people will be _______________ by mistake. And they argue that ____________________ does not stop criminals.

10) The Criminal Justice _______________ in Sacramento, California, supports capital punishment. The organization says its represents the interests of __________ and citizens who _____________. It says murderers sentenced to life in prison ______________. Or they might kill others _________________.

11) The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation says the families of victims ____________ that the killer of their loved one _________________________.

12) About two ___________ people questioned for a Gallup Poll in 2004 _____________

   _________________________________ for murderers.

13) Most executions in the United States take place by _______________ or _________

___________________. The area of prison ____________ where the condemned are kept is called____________.

14) Researchers at Northwestern University have studied death row ____________. They say at least ___________ men and women have been released from death rows in the United States since nineteen seventy three. New ______________ their lives.

15) For many people, the _____________ capital punishment involves religious issues. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has started _____________ the death penalty.

16) Pope _________________ criticized capital punishment. John Paul said it should be used only ___________________ when society could not be defended in any other way

17) The use of capital punishment began ___________________ of American history. But in 1972 ______________________ the Supreme Court effectively banned executions.

18) Four years later the Supreme court ____________________ of states to make new laws ____________________________ death sentences

19) Currently, ______________________ and the District of Columbia do not have capital punishment.

20) But Governor Mitt Romney has proposed to _______________ the death penalty for some crimes. These include _________________ and _________________ involving _____________________ or more than one victim.

                                    

                       Text 3 Where churches stand

Read the following article. How does the religious approach to death compare with the ideas behind assisted suicide?

 

    Although rare, there have been times when patients and families, either through the pain or fear of pain to come, have asked the ministers about the religious rights and wrongs of hastening the death process.

    Almost universally, Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions abhor any means by which death is purposefully hastened. It is a tightrope of sorts for those of faith who must balance several moral issues with myriad medical care available. Which care will comfort? Which, in attempting to comfort, will hasten death? Which would prolong life unnecessarily, creating in the words of one minister, “a tug of war with God.”

    Generally speaking, the major faiths seem to agree doctrinally that “comfort care, ” pain reduction, is not only acceptable, but also vital. And while there are no concrete guidelines, many faith traditions do allow withdrawal of care that could be seen as merely lifeprolonging in hopeless cases.

    In the largest of the Christian denominations, roman Catholicism, for example, the church teaches that while comfort care is to be desired, purposeful use of medical technology to hasten death is morally wrong.

    Like others, Catholic teaching points to “intent” as a guide by which caregivers can judge appropriate care. Intent must never be to purposefully end life, the church says.

    “It is very important to protect, at the moment of death, both the dignity of the human person and the Christian concept of life against the technological attitude that threatens to become an abuse, ” says the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which interprets teaching for the world's Catholic bishops.

    “Thus some people speak of a ‘right to die, ’ which is an expression that does not mean the right to procure death either by one’s own hand or by means of someone else, but rather the right to die peacefully with human and Christian dignity.”

    Says Rabbi Sokoloff, “It’s not our life. It is God’s life. It is a gift. We are here to perfect that gift and bring meaning to it. We do not have any right whatsoever to take a life that doesn’t belong to us.”

    In Islam, “we can alleviate suffering, which is proper, but not with the intent of killing, ” says Dr.Mohammad Rumi, a Batavia internist and former chairman of the Islamic Center of Rochester.

    The Rev. James Evinger believes increased debate over issues such as physician-assisted suicide or other forms of euthanasia are symptoms of a medical system that must re-examine itself in its care of the dying. “The symptoms point to a need to examine in a holistic way the needs of patients - spiritually and physically - in an ever-changing technological climate, ” he says.

    And there is also the issue of how we as a society see death. Episcopal Bishop of Rochester William Burrill says he believes that Americans must come to grips with the whole idea of death.

    “Americans won’t ever say the word, ” the bishop says. “We’re afraid. One reason we are having so much of a problem with how to die and when to die and the right to die is that we haven’t come to terms with what death means. We believe that life is sacred, and it is. But the giving up of life back to God is sacred, too.”

 

DISCUSSION

1. Are you for or against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide?

2. What does “dying with dignity” mean to you?

3. Can a moral distinction be made between actively ending a life and letting a person die by withdrawing or refusing artificial life support?

4. If we support physician-assisted suicide are we devaluing the lives of those who live with severe disabilities?

5. If the ban on assisted suicide is lifted:

- How might the doctor-patient relationship change?

- Would health care providers be less inclined to threat the terminally ill and disabled? Would insurance companies be less inclined as well to pay for their expensive medical care if a “quick-fix” is available?

- Do you think the disabled, elderly or chronically ill would feel pressure to end their lives in order to avoid being a burden on their families?

- What measures can be taken (if any) to ensure that lethal medication be given to terminally ill patients only and not to those who are depressed or tired?

 

TEXT TRANSLATION.

 

               СМЕРТНАЯ КАЗНЬ: ВЕРНУТЬ ИЛИ ОТМЕНИТЬ?

 Конституционный суд России в ближайший вторник может рассмотреть вопрос о применении смертной казни.

Десять лет назад в стране был введен мораторий на эту меру наказания до тех пор, пока на всей территории страны не будет суда присяжных. Единственным субъектом, где не было такой юридической практики, оставалась Чеченская Республика. С нового года присяжные появятся и там, поэтому мораторий теряет конституционную силу.

Под Вологдой в колонии для смертников содержат самых опасных преступников — насильников, серийных убийц, террористов. Здесь сидит приговоренный к смерти за захват школы в Беслане Нурпаши Кулаев. Высшую меру наказания ему заменили на пожизненное заключение согласно постановлению Конституционного суда, по сути, мораторию, действующему до появления судов присяжных на всей территории России. Чеченская республика — последний регион, где с нового года заработает подобная система. И поэтому у Верховного суда возник вопрос: можно ли теперь будет приводить смертные приговоры в исполнение, ведь более десяти лет назад Россия подписала Протокол №6 Европейской конвенции по защите прав человека, согласно которому смертная казнь должна быть отменена полностью.

Советник председателя Конституционного суда Владимир Овчинский в одном из интервью заявил: «Смертная казнь с момента создания суда присяжных в Чечне может применяться по всей территории Российской Федерации». Конечно, есть много оговорок: если не будет изменено законодательство или не появится, например, мораторий президента. Ведь возможность применения высшей меры наказания прописана в Конституции. 1 января 2010 года наступает такой момент, когда судебная система становится полностью готовой для нового шага. «Это не столько вопрос о выполнении Россией своих международных обязательств. Хотя это тоже очень важно. Это вопрос нашей человеческой морали, цивилизованного развития», — уверен Константин Косачев, председатель комитета Госдумы РФ по международным делам, фракция «Единая Россия». Сегодня смертная казнь отменена в большинстве стран мира. Однако остается немало и таких, где смертные приговоры выносятся и исполняются. Самое суровое законодательство — в Китае, где в прошлом году были казнены более полутора тысяч человек. Расстрелять могут даже за коррупцию. В России споры о применении высшей меры идут давно. Какого наказания заслуживают, например, убийцы детей? «Мы говорим в большинстве своем о конченых уродах рода человеческого, — подчеркивает Владимир Плигин, председатель комитета Госдумы РФ по конституционному законодательству, фракция “Единая Россия”. — Но мы должны понимать и другую составляющую — возможность ошибки. А это, мягко говоря, не простая эмоциональная вещь».

О том, что Конституционный суд Российской Федерации должен официально высказать свою позицию, признают многие. И совершенно понятно, что какой бы она ни была, найдутся сторонники и, естественно, противники. Слишком много, как и этических, так и чисто политических разногласий, которые, похоже, все-таки придется решить.

CASE STUDY

Who is the murderer?

1. Read the description of the facts.  

Alec Crabtree was found dead at his desk in his study last night. He had been hit on the head with a blunt object. He had been sitting at the desk with his back to the door, and was in the middle of writing a letter. He was found by his wife, when she went in to bring him his bedtime cocoa at 11.15 p.m., but his watch, which had been smashed in the struggle, had stopped at 11.05 p.m. 

 2. Divide into groups. Analyze the list of suspects:

The suspects are the people who were in the house at the time:  

- Mrs. Crabtree (the dead man’s wife);  

- Daniel Crabtree (the dead man’s brother);  

- Mr. and Mrs. Fairfax (old friends of the Crabtrees);

- Susie (the maid).

 

3. Discuss, make deductions about the identity of the murderer, or his/her probable actions, based on the evidence given on the clue card.

4. Summarize and generalize the case.

Clue-cards

Card 1. A silver vase was missing from the room.

 Card 2. The window was open.

 Card 3. A cigarette-butt was found by the body.

 Card 4. Everybody smokes except Mr. Crabtree and the maid.

 Card 5. A piece of red material was found on the window.

 Card 6. The silver vase (badly dented) was found in a flowerbed.

 Card 7. A note was found in Mrs. Crabtree's handbag. It said: Alec, meet me in the garden at 11 o’clock Alice.

 Card 8. Everyone was playing cards until 11 p.m., except Susie, who was washing-up in the kitchen between 10.30 and 11.15.

Card 9. At 11 o’clock Mr. Crabtree got up and said he had a letter to write. He went into the

study.

 Card 10. Mrs Crabtree's name is not Alice.

 Card 11. Mrs Fairfax went outside at 11 o ’clock, saying she needed fresh air.

 Card 12. In the drawer of the desk was a will. The will left £ 10, 000 to Daniel.

 Card 13. The maid heard footsteps in the hall and the study door opening at just after 11 o’clock. Card

Card 14. Daniel had debts of about £ 9, 000.

 Card 15. At about five past eleven, the maid heard the front door opening and footsteps in the hall. It was Mrs Fairfax, coming in from the garden. She went straight into the living room.

 Card 16. Daniel and Mr Fairfax started to watch a TV programme after the game of cards finished at 11 o'clock. They were still watching it at five past eleven when Alice Fairfax came in and joined them.

 Card 17. Alec Crabtree had been writing a letter. It began: Dear Anne, I don't know how to tell you this, but I am leaving you. Alice and I. Card 18. At about ten past eleven, the maid heard the front door opening again. This time it was Mrs Crabtree, who came into the kitchen and started to make cocoa for herself and her husband.

Card 18. Mrs. Crabtree’s name is Anne.

 

                                                                                                                                                         

VOCABULARY LIST 3.

Crime,

to commit a crime,

criminal

Criminal Law/Civil Law

offence against the law

felony, misdemeanor; petty crime

criminal offence/tort

violent crime: attempted murder, contract murder, premeditated murder, voluntary/ involuntary murder, manslaughter, homicide

robbery

kidnapping/ abduction, to pay ransom

to blackmail, blackmail

property crime:

raid, mugging, smash-and-grab raid, ram-raiding, hold-up

burglary, house-breaking, break-in

theft, thief, larceny

arson, to set fire to the building

car-theft, joyriding, carjacking

pickpocketing, shoplifting

high crime: high treason, treason

sexual crime: harassment, rape, molestation

child abuse

international crime

terrorism, hijacking, hold smb hostage

smuggling, drug trafficking

organized crime

Italian Organized crime, mafia

Eurasian criminal Enterprises

Sports Bribery

white-collar crime:

antitrust laws violation

bankruptcy fraud, mortgage fraud

identity theft

money laundering, to launder money

Computer /cyber crime

copyright infringement, software piracy, warez,

hacking

child grooming, child pornograpy

financial crime: tax evasion/avoidance

embezzlement

fraud, con, scam

forgery, fake

extortion, to blackmail, blackmail

foreign exchange offences

money-laundering, to launder money

 bribe, bribery

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