I. Answer the questions. There are several kinds of punishment available to court

Text 2. Punishment

There are several kinds of punishment available to court. In civil cases the most common punishment is fine. For criminal offences fines are also often used when the offence is not a very serious one and when the offender has not been in trouble before. Another kind of punishment available in some countries is community service. This requires the offender to certain amount of unpaid work, usually for a social institution such as hospital. For more serious crimes the usual punishment is imprisonment.

Some prison sentences are suspended: the offender is not sent to prison if he keeps out of trouble for a fixed period of time, but if he does offend again both suspended sentence and any new one will be imposed. The lengths of sentences vary from a few days to a lifetime. However, a life sentence may allow the prisoner to be released after a suitably long period if a review (parole) board agrees his detention no longer serves a purpose. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, living conditions in prison are fairly good because it is felt that deprivation of liberty is punishment in itself and should so be reduced that the prisoner deters the possibility of the re-education and reforming himself. In other countries, conditions are rather bad. Britain and the USA are trying to solve the shortage of space by allowing private companies to open prisons.

In some countries there is also corporal punishment (physical). In Saudi Arabia theft and possession of alcohol may be punished by cutting off the offender’s hand or foot. They believe that it deters others from committing such crimes.

The ultimate penalty is death. But many countries have abolished it or ceased to use the death penalty because the innocent people can be executed by mistake.

1. What kinds of punishment are mentioned in the text?

2. What punishment is the most common in civil cases?

3. What does the ‘community service’ require from the offender?

4. What does it mean: ‘some prison sentences are suspended’?

5. Why do some countries have abolished the ultimate penalty death?

II. Are these statements true or false according to the text?

1. Fines are not used for criminal offences.

2. Serious crimes foresee for the offender to be sentenced to death penalty in all countries.

3. Prison sentence can be suspended when the offender does not get in trouble for certain period of time.

4. The length of sentences differs according to the seriousness of the crime.

5. Living conditions in prisons are very bad in all countries.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-10