From the History of Punishment

Myth 7. The death penalty costs less than life in prison without parole.

The death sentence is a greater tax burden then the preventative measures discussed in Myth 6. Dr. Philip cook and Donna Swenson of Duke University released a report in April of 1993 called “The Cost of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina”. It compared the costs of prosecuting murder cases capitally and noncapitally in North Carolina spends approximately 2.16 million dollars per actual execution. The overall costs to the state for having the death sentence are 4 million dollars a year higher than if it only sought life sentences in first degree murder cases.

According to the Duke study, the costs to the tax payers for first degree murder prosecution and conviction that results in execution is $ 165,000 higher than if the same person had been sentenced to life prison. With more than 140 people on North Carolina’s death row this is quite an inordinate additional expense for a penalty that has not been shown to be a deterrent. Speeding up the appeals process was found to have no significant effect on the number of dollars spent.

Task 2. Read & translate the text.

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

One of the most bizarre methods of punishment 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 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 adultery 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 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 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 victim kneeled and the head was taken off with a swing of the sword.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-17