TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS

Be ready with Tasks 1-4 by Thursday, Oct 18, but print out and bring in class ALL 3 pages. (JL)

TASK 1. Match the following headings with the sections of the text below:

  • Rehabilitative programs
  • Psychiatric and case-study methods
  • Bentham approach
  • Neoclassical school
  • Preventive approach

(1)Various correctional approaches developed in the wake of causation theories. The old theological and moralistic theories encouraged punishment asretribution by society for evil. This attitude, indeed, still exists. The 19th-century British jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham tried to make the punishment more precisely fit the crime. Bentham believed that pleasure could be measured against pain in all areas of human choice and conduct and that human happiness could be attained through such hedonic calculus. He argued that criminals would be deterred from crime if they knew, specifically, the suffering they would experience if caught. Bentham therefore urged definite, inflexible penalties for each class of crime; the pain of the penalty would outweigh only slightly the pleasure of success in crime; it would exceed it sufficiently to act as a deterrent, but not so much as to amount to wanton cruelty. This so-called calculus of pleasures and pains was based on psychological postulates no longer accepted.

(2)The Bentham approach was in part superseded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a movement known as theneoclassical school. This school, rejecting fixed punishments, proposed that sentences vary with the particular circumstances of a crime, such as the age, intellectual level, and emotional state of the offender; the motives and other conditions that may have incited to crime; and the offender's past record and chances of rehabilitation. The influence of the neoclassical school led to the development of such concepts as grades of crime and punishment, indeterminate sentences, and the limited responsibility of young or mentally deficient offenders.

(3)At about the same time, the so-called Italian school stressed measures for preventing crime rather than punishing it. Members of this school argued that individuals are shaped by forces beyond their control and therefore cannot be held fully responsible for their crimes. They urged birth control, censorship of pornographic literature, and other actions designed to mitigate the influences contributing to crime. The Italian school has had a lasting influence on the thinking of present-day criminologists.

(4)The modern approach to thetreatment of criminals owes most to psychiatric and case-study methods. Much continues to be learned from offenders who have been placed on probation or parole and whose behavior, both in and out of prison, has been studied intensively. The contemporary scientific attitude is that criminals are individual personalities and that their rehabilitation can be brought about only through individual treatment. Increased juvenile crime has aroused public concern and has stimulated study of the emotional disturbances thatfoster delinquency. This growing understanding of delinquency has contributed to the understanding of criminals of all ages.

(5) During recent years, crime has been under attack from many directions. The treatment and rehabilitation of criminals hasimproved in many areas. The emotional problems of convicts have been studied and efforts have been made to help such offenders. Much, however, remains to be done. Parole boards have engaged persons trained in psychology and social work to help convicts on parole or probation adjust to society. Various states have agencies with programs of reform and rehabilitation for both adultand juvenile offenders.

Many communities have initiated concerted attacks on the conditions that breed crime. Criminologists recognize that both adult and juvenile crime stem chiefly from the breakdown of traditional social norms and controls, resulting from industrialization, urbanization, increasing physical and social mobility, and the effects of economic crises and wars. Most criminologists believe that effective crime prevention requires community agencies and programs to provide the guidance and control performed, ideally and traditionally, by the family and by the force of social custom. Although the crime rate has not drastically diminished as a result of these efforts, it is hoped that the extension and improvement of all valid approaches to prevention of crime eventually will reduce its incidence.

TASK 2. Be ready to provide an adequate translation of the sentences from the text above given in bold type.

TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

  1. бессмысленная жестокость
  2. досрочное освобождение
  3. общественные организации
  4. ограниченная ответственность
  5. освобождение на поруки
  6. порождать преступление
  7. преступления, совершенные несовершеннолетними
  8. привлекать внимание общественности
  9. совет по условно-досрочному освобождению
  10. упадок традиционных общественных норм

TASK 4. Give Russian equivalents for the following general types of punishment. Put them in descending order of severity.

  • Capital punishment
  • Community service
  • Fixed penalty fine
  • Life imprisonment
  • Probation
  • Short-term imprisonment
  • Suspended sentence
  • Long-term imprisonment

TASK 5. Study the following list of offences. Rate them on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 is a minor offence, 10 is a very serious crime). They are in no particular order. You don't have to apply your knowledge of existing laws – your own opinion is necessary:

driving in excess of the speed limit

drinking and driving

malicious wounding (e.g. stabbing someone in a fight)

murdering a child

causing death by dangerous driving

smoking marijuana

selling drugs (such as heroin)

stealing $1,000 from a bank by fraud

stealing $1,000 worth of goods from someone's home

rape

grievous bodily harm (almost killing someone)

shop-lifting

stealing $1,000 from a bank by threatening the staff with a gun

TASK 6. Which of the sentences listed in Task 5 fit the offences in Task 6? Give your reasons.

TASK 7. Study the authentic cases given below. Discuss each case in class and decide the following:

  1. Was justice done?
  2. If you were the judge, what other facts and circumstances would you like to be informed of?
  3. If you were the judge, would you give a different sentence?
  4. How would you have felt if you had been the victim of the crime?
  5. How would you have felt if you had been the defendant?

Crime of Passion

Bernard Lewis, a thirty-six-old man, while preparing dinner became involved in an argument with his drunken wife. In a fit of a rage Lewis, using the kitchen knife with which he had been preparing the meal, stabbed and killed his wife. He immediately called for assistance, and readily confessed when the first patrolman appeared on the scene with the ambulance attendant. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The probation department’s investigation indicated that Lewis was a rigid individual who never drank, worked regularly, and had no previous criminal record. His thirty-year-old deceased wife, and mother of three children, was a”fine girl” when sober but was frequently drunk and on a number of occasions when intoxicated had left their small children unattended. After due consideration of the background of the offence and especially of the plight of the three motherless youngsters, the judge placed Lewis on probation so that he could work, support and take care of the children. On probation Lewis adjusted well, worked regularly, appeared to be devoted to the children, and a few years later was discharged as “improved” from probation.

Murder

In 1952 two Londonyouths decided to rob a dairy. They were Christopher Craig, aged 16, and Derek William Bentley, 19. During the robbery they were disturbed by Sydney Miles, a policeman. Craig produced a gun and killed the policeman. At that time Britain still had the death penalty for certain types of murder, including murder during a robbery. Because Craig was under 18, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Bently who had never touched the gun, was over 18. He was hanged in 1953. The case was quoted by opponents of capital punishment, which was abolished in 1965.

Shop-lifting

In June 2002 Lady Isabel Barnett, a well-known TV personality was convicted of stealing a tin of tuna fish and a carton of cream, total value 87p, from a small shop. The case was given enormous publicity. She was fined 75 pounds and had to pay 200 pounds towards the cost of the case. A few days later she killed herself.

Bank Robbery

Klaus Schmidt, 41, burst into a bank in Berlin, Germany, waved a pistol, and screamed, “Hand over the money!” The staff asked if he wanted a bag, to which he replied, “Damn right it’s a real gun!” Guessing Schmidt was deaf, the manager set off the alarm, saying later, “It was ridiculously loud, but he didn’t seem to notice.” After five minutes, punctuated by Schmidt’s occasionally shouting, “I am a trained killer!” police arrived and arrested him. Schmidt then sued the bank, accusing them of exploiting his disability.

Bizarre Charges

An American woman was treated by a psychiatrist, became romantically involved with him, and subsequently married him. After more than five years of marriage they divorced, at which time the woman sued her ex-husband for psychiatric malpractice and negligence claiming that the romantic or sexual relationship between them started before the formal psychiatric treatment ended. She contended that her ex-husband had breached the standard of care as a psychiatrist by becoming romantically involved with her, and sought punitive damages. The court rejected her claim.

SPEAK UP!

  • An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
  • Judge not least you be judged.
  • Everyone deserves a second chance.
  • Justice is nothing unless it is tempered with mercy.

Prepare your arguments for or against the statements above.

Use the active vocabulary from the Unit.

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