Criminal procedure provide for the participation in the court trial of a prosecutor, a defence counsel, a judge, a court-secretary, witnesses and some experts

Criminal and Civil Procedure

Let’s imagine that the prisoner was accused of “taking and giving bribes”. And here we shall try to give a fairly complete account of the trial where a suspected person has been indicted as a bribe taker. But firstly we are going to give some information about the purpose of the trial.

The task of the trial is speedy and complete disclosure of crimes and guarantee of correct application of the law, so that every offender shall suffer a just punishment, and no innocent person shall be arraigned and punished.

Justice in criminal cases is administered by the court alone. No person may be declared guilty of a crime and subjected to criminal punishment except by sentence of the court. The court, the prosecutor, the investigator, within the limits of their competence, are duty bound to initiate criminal proceeding whenever the elements of a crime are revealed, and to take all measures prescribed by the law to establish circumstances of the crime, the identity of those committing the crime, and also for their punishment.

Thus in our Case the trial has to determine whether a person accused of “taking and giving bribes” in guilty or not guilty. It makes use of the adversary proceedings in which a prosecutor tries to prove guilt and a defence councel attempts to prevent this. Both sides must present testimonial proofs that speak in favour of one side or the other. It is the prosecutor that has to show the defendant guilty beyond question.

The prosecuting counsel begings by telling the court what he intends to prove by evidence. Then he calls witnesses. The defending counsel then is allowed to speak, ask questions, etc., he calls new witness, including the accused man himself. These witnesses may be then cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel.

When all the evidence had been given, and the examination of the witnesses was finished, counsel for both sides made further speeches, i.e. the pleading start.

After the pleading the defendant is given his last plead. Then the judges go out of the court-room to pass the sentence. A verdict has to be unanimous.

Task 2: Answer the following questions using information from the text:

1) Who is involved in a criminal trial?

2) What is the purpose of a trial?

3) What is the task of the defence counsel in the trial?

4) What do the judge do after hearing the last plea?

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

Уголовный процесс, судебный процесс, установить обстоятельства преступления, совершить преступление, состав суда, допрос обвиняемого, признать себя виновным, не признать себя виновным.

Task 4: Find in the text the Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions:

Prosecutor, prosecution, to accuse, to question the accused, the speech of the prosecutor, trial, prisoner, bribe, bribe taker, court trial, offender, innocent person, court-room.

Task 5 :: In the text“Criminal and Civil Procedure”find modal verbs with their equivalents and translate into Russian.

Task 6: Transform the following sentences (Active Voice) into sentences (Passive Voice).

4) England abolished the jury in civil cases in 1933, with some exceptions.

5) Article 4 of the Charter contains the principle of free choice of the forms of organizations of external economic relations.

6) The High Court judges determine issues of Law.

Task 7: Translate the following sentences into Russian and definite the function of the infinitive:

1) To interview a victim is difficult.

2) The offender wanted his advocate to make a statement.

3) The public expected the court to sentence the prisoner to death.

Task 8: Render the following passage into English paying special attention to the words and expressions in bold type:

В некоторых странах смертная казнь считается мерой, без которой невозможно остановить распространение наркотиков, ликвидировать политический терроризм, экономическую коррупцию или искоренить супружескую неверность.

Оправдывая смертную казнь, чаще всего говорят, что она необходима, по крайней мере временно, для блага общества.

Однако имеет ли государство право лишать человека жизни?

Многовековый опыт применения высшей меры наказания не дал убедительных доказательств, что смертная казнь способна эффективно защитить общество от преступности или способствовать правосудию, хотя существует определенный процент судебных ошибок, последствия которых особенно трагичны в случае приведения смертного приговора в исполнение.

Факультет подготовки специалистов для судебной системы на

базе среднего профессионального образования юридического

профиля (заочной формы обучения)

Дата добавления: 2015-06-28