NORTH STAR (Unit 2): Reading Comprehension 1: Crimebusting: What works? Methods of Punishing.”
Task 1: Read the text and complete the following table with the information from it.
|
TYPE OF PROGRAM |
ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THE PROGRAM |
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE PROGRAM |
|
1. Teen Court (Specify what punishments can be/can’t be handed down by a teen court)
|
|
|
|
2. Teen Curfew (Define the notion of ‘curfew’)
|
|
|
|
3. Parental Laws (Make a list of punishments that parents may receive for their children’s crimes)
|
|
|
Task 2: Render the following English word combinations into Russian and provide the context for all of them.
-
crimebusting (to bust up a gun smuggling operation; smb. has been busted for drug trafficking)
-
to come up with some unusual solutions to juvenile crime
-
to pass judgement on smb.
-
to admit (to) shoplifting smth. from a department-store counter
-
to diss the jury
-
teen courts operate in 24 states
-
to plead guilty in exchange for the penalty set by a jury of one’s peers
-
to sentence offenders to perform community service
-
smb’s record is wiped clean
-
a mock trial = a Mickey Mouse trial
-
to learn one’s lesson the hard way
-
to hand down harsh punishments = to yield harsh punishments
-
to attend an anti-theft class
-
to serve on a teen-court jury
-
to help smb. out of trouble
-
to help ease the burden on the overloaded juvenile justice system
-
to have a track record of success
-
to dangle the option of a teen jury before teenagers facing an adult judge
-
overzealous verdicts
-
to disrupt the court procedure
-
to warrant a different legal process
-
to spray gunfire
-
to be chockfull of stolen goods
-
to adopt curfew to get teenagers off the street
-
to round up teens for violating curfew
-
to overturn curfew laws
-
to be taken to detention centre
-
to be handed a citation and escorted home
-
law-abiding teens
-
to violate the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly
-
to hassle juveniles
-
to get off scot-free/ to go unpunished
-
not to set ones’ foot near the scene of the crime
-
to fail to supervise one’s child
-
to pass a law holding parents responsible fro their kids’ wrongdoings
-
to be forced to step in and police one’s kids
-
to graduate from petty thievery to armed robbery
-
to smack of totalitarism
-
government intrusion into familes’ lives
Reading Comprehension (2): Michael Fay’s Caning
Make sure you know the meaning of all these words and word combinations.
-
to receive a canning; a cane; to cane
Discipline is still enforced by the cane in some school.
the headmaster caned the boys for disobedience
-
to spray-paint graffiti on a wall/on cars
-
a lash; to lash
He was given ten lashes for stealing.
He was lashing the horse mercilessly.
The play has been lashed by the critics.
-
to do smth. (in)voluntarily
-
to break the law blatantly
-
a decree; to decree
Fate decreed that they would not meet again.
The government decreed a day of mourning.
-
corporal punishment
-
smth. is deemed unacceptable
-
to deter crime; to deter smb. from doing smth.; a deterrent
-
to be incongruous with modern society; the apparent incongruity of a scientist with a strong religious faith
-
to set a precedent
-
to learn the twisted idea that the ends justify the means
NORTH STAR (Unit 2): Listening Comprehension
Pre-listening task: Read the newspaper editorial and fill in the gaps with the suitable prepositions and conjunctions.
Increase in Juvenile Arrests
Ronnie has an innocent face, which makes hum look younger than his fourteen years. Yet instead …….playing ……..friends …… the schoolyard, he is ……court, ……trial …..attacking another boy ………a knife.
Ronnie is one …..the thousands …….boys and girls who have been arrested ………serious, violent crimes ….recent years. The trend is disturbing: ………..the overall crime rate is decreasing, the number …..crimes committed ……. juveniles is rising. Not only are more juveniles committing crimes, ………the crimes they are committing are more violent. …….a result, the arrest rate ……juveniles has gone ……..dramatically …….the past fifteen years.
What is the cause ………this drastic rise? It may be the high level ……violence …...the streets, …..movies, and …….television; the easy availability …..guns and drugs; and an increase ……...single-parent families and families that live …..poverty.
Whatever the causes, the justice system is now overwhelmed ……young criminals. How should juvenile criminals be punished? It is clear that our current system is not working. One alternative …..prison is correctional boot camps. Instead …..being locked ……… ……… a jail, young criminals ……..boot camps are forced to attend classes and undergo training similar …….training ……the military. Their strict routine includes many …….. the features ……army training: double-time marching, push-ups, sit-ups, shaved heads, and insults ………those who don’t obey quickly. Instead ……sitting ……..jail, kids like Ronnie ae given a second chance …….become useful members ……society.
Listening Comprehension (1): Do the Crime, Serve the Time
Task 1: Study the following words and word combinations before listening to the text.
-
to exert; an exertion
-
anecdotal evidence
-
to reduce recidivism/overcrowding
-
in the long/short run
-
to run short of jail cells
-
that’s part of the way it’s sold; it sells especially well among politicians/to the public
-
solid/hard/conclusive evidence
-
to appeal to people’s instincts for a quick retribution/to appeal to people on a very visceral level
-
to stand to attention
-
to initiate a programme
-
to read the evidence on the effectiveness of boot camps
-
to be under way
-
on the basis of preliminary findings
-
resourceful criminals
-
rigor; rigorous
Task 2: You will hear a radio interview from the program Newsweek on Air. Host David Alpern discusses correctional boot camps in the USA with Newsweek’s Miami correspondent, David Gonzalez and Dale Parent, the author of a report on boot camps. Listen to the reports and mark the following statements T (for true) or F (for false).
-
David Gonzalez and Dale Parent both reported on boot camps.
-
There are about fifty boot camps in nine states.
-
Military drill, physical training, and drug counseling are all components of boot camp programs.
-
Boot camps try to make young people think differently about their responsibility to their communities.
-
Boot camps have helped some young offenders.
-
There are not enough jail cells in the United States.
-
There is hard evidence that boot camps reduce recidivism and that teenagers who go to boot camps do not commit more crimes.
-
Some people like watching young offenders do push-ups.
-
Politicians and correction officials agree on the effectiveness of boot camps.
-
Evaluations of boot camps are under way in several states.
-
We have enough conclusive evidence about boot camps right now.
-
Some people think that boot camps may teach young offenders to be more effective criminals.
-
Deterring people by using extreme discipline is a good idea.
-
People commit crimes because they don’t care about others.
-
Many young offenders are also drug dependent.
Listening Comprehension (2):
Listen to the interview with Thomas Adair, a documentary filmmaker, who has closely observed the operation of boot camps. Write down the English equivalents for the following Russian word combinations.
-
нарушить закон
-
дать детям второй шанс
-
рецидивист
-
человек, судимый в первый раз
-
сажать молодых людей в тюрьмы
-
автоматически повторяющийся цикл (процесс), «зацикливание»
-
Обычно я не верю в суровое наказание.
-
не иметь упорядоченности и руководства в жизни
-
Статистика преступлений продолжает расти.
-
В нашем обществе сложилась чрезвычайная (критическая) ситуация.
-
считать своим долгом помочь им сать порядочными взрослыми
-
начать новую жизнь, исправиться
-
захлопнуть дверь перед кем-либо
-
шаг в правильном направлении
(NORTH STAR, HIGH-INTERMEDIATE, 1st edition – Unit 2) – Crime and Punishment
Text 1: Crimebusting: What Works? Methods of Punishing (By John M. DiConsiglio, James Anderson, and Patricia Smith – from “Scholastic Update”)
(1)Round up every teen on the street after sundown? Send shoplifters to courts where the judge, lawyers, and jury are all teenagers? Punish parents if their kid gets caught with a beer? Cities and towns across the country [the United States] have come up with some unusual solutions to juvenile crime. Here’s your chance to pass judgement on three of them.
TEEN COURT
(2)The 16-year-old defendant hasn’t got a prayer. It’s not a question of whether or not she committed a crime. She’s already admitted shoplifting a tube of lipstick from a department-store counter. Slouching in the witness-stand, absent-mindedly twirling her hair, she looks as if her day in court is boring her. And in teen court – where the judge, lawyers, and jury are all teenagers – bad attitude is a serious offence.
(3)“She didn’t show the court any respect,” says Philip Dela Rosa, the director of the Family YMCA Teen Court in Houston, Texas. “Here, dissing the jury is a very big mistake.”
(4)Nationally, however, teen courts are gaining respect and attention, with at least 185 operating in 24 states. At most of these courts, teens charged with misdemeanors – minor crimes ranging from traffic violations to attempted burglary – plead guilty in exchange for having their penalty set by a jury of their peers.
(5)Although teen juries usually cannot order fines or jail time, they can sentence offenders to perform community service, offer apologies, write essays, and return to teen court as jurors. Once a sentence is completed the teen’s record is wiped clean, as though he or she never committed a crime.
(6)“This is not mock trial – there are no Mickey Mouse courts,” says Dela Rosa, who has helped create more than 50 teen courts around the country. “The teens take this court very seriously. And if they don’t, they learn their lesson the hard way.”
(7)In fact, many teen juries hand down harsher penalties than the standard courts do. The lipstick thief had to perform 48 hours of community service, attend an anti-theft class, write a 1, 000-word essay, and serve on a teen-court jury.
(8)But do teen courts really help kids out of trouble? Supporters say the courts are an effective way to reach delinquent teens before they become serious criminals. The courts help ease the burden on the already overloaded juvenile justice system. And they have a track record of success. Nationally, 40 to 50 percent of teen offenders commit crimes again. But of those who go through teen courts, less than 10 percent get arrested again.
(9)Critics say such numbers are deceiving. Since most defendants are first-time offenders charged with minor crimes, few are likely to become repeat offenders anyway. “For the young people involved, teen court is an invaluable learning experience,” says Hunt Hurst, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh. “But as for changing behavior, the evidence is not there at all.”
(10)Legal experts also question whether teen courts are really fair to defendants. Dangling the option of a teen jury before teenagers facing an adult judge may pressure them to plead guilty, even if they are not. And while teen-court jurors receive weeks of training and must pass a law test, critics say even the most highly trained teen is not mature enough for jury duty.
(11)Sometimes inexperience leads to overzealous verdicts. Bad attitude, although not a crime, can yield harsh punishment, as the Houston shoplifter found out. A jury in Los Angeles ordered one offender to perform 750 hours of community service. And some teen courts have seen their proceedings disrupted by participants who have dozed off, broken into laughter, or arrived unprepared to try a case.
(12)“If young people are sufficiently different from adults to warrant a different legal process, are they capable of running a court?” asks Hurst. “Is that what we want?”