Crime and Punishment

Reading and Speaking 1

UNIT 5. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Read the following article, look up the words in bold type, say in which of their meanings they are used in this context. Translate the sentences that contain these words.

In many countries around the world, policy towards crime is turning harsh er. The reason is not hard to see. Popular fear of crime, and especially of violent crime, has grown in recent years (faster in many places than crime itself). Politicians are responding to demands that something, preferably something bold, be done about it. In itself, this is nothing new: periodic shifts in attitudes to crime and to policy on crime are familiar enough. But the extent of the current shift, reflecting the scale of the perceived problem, seems greater than before.

It is striking, for instance, that so many left-of-centre politicians have fallen into line. They might once have cautioned against "brutal" and considered punitive measures (as they would have called them). Now, many favour "get-tough" policies with a zeal at least equal to that of right-wingers. In America, a Democratic president has supported "three strikes" laws, now adopted in many states and for federal cases, which impose mandatory sentences of 25 years to life on criminals convicted of a third felony. In Britain, where the Tories have proposed a less drastic form of mandatory sentencing for violent criminals, and claim with great fervour that "prison works". Labour has responded with cautious quibbles rather than outright hostility - and this week unveiled a proposal (echoing another American initiative) to introduce curfews for children, just now, left-of-centre politicians regard it as political suicide to seem "soft on crime".

This makes it harder than ever to conduct an intelligent debate on crime and punishment. The traditional quarrel between the two rival camps - "liberals" emphasising rehabilitation, the social roots of crime and the rights of the accused, and "conservatives" emphasising deterrence, retribution and the rights of victims - never shed much light, it is true. But even an uncomprehending exchange of views is better than no exchange of views. Instead of debate, there is a growing, unexamined consensus among politicians that the popular demand for greater severity, for sending more people to prison for longer, must be appeased. Yet the evidence suggests that such an approach will fail, may even make matters worse - and all at great expense.

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