- •«Political Systems of different countries»
- •Us legislative branch of power
- •Exercises
- •1. Give equivalents of the following:
- •2. Find as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English:
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •Uk Legislative Branch of Power: Law-making in theory and practice
- •Exercises
- •1. Find the equivalents for the following:
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English:
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •Listen, read and discuss Exercises
- •Describe the procedure of legislating in the British Parliament.
- •Listen to the text and consider this particular case.Say what other factors should be taken into consideration for a bill to become a law. Listening I.
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •David Steel attacks Nick Clegg's reform of the House of Lords
- •Disscussion Point 1
- •Executive Branch of Power of the usa
- •Exercises
- •1. Give the equivalents to the following:
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English:
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •The British Government: The Structure of Her Majesty's Government
- •Exercises
- •1. Read the text and complete these sentences:
- •2. Speak about these appointments and their responsibilities. Translate the names of the titles into Russian.
- •3. What is the difference between Ministers of State, Junior Ministers and Non-Departmental Ministers? The Cabinet
- •1. Find equivalents of the following:
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •Listen, read and discuss
- •Speak about Presidential powers and the ones of a Prime Minister.
- •Listen to the text and consider this particular case. Say what powers are exercised by the Monarch and by the British Prime Minister. Listening II
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •Us legal system
- •Exercises
- •1. Find equivalents of the following.
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can.
- •3. Translate into English
- •4. Translate the underlined passage. Lesson 10. Uk legal system
- •Exercises
- •1. Answer the following questions.
- •Speak about criminals which should be sentenced to death penalty. Do you think there have been more or less hard criminals recently?
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •Miscarriages of justice are slipping off the public radar
- •Judicial systems of different countries
- •Elections in the usa
- •1. Find equivalents of the following:
- •2. Continue the following phrase as you wish:
- •3. Translate into English
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •General elections in the United Kingdom
- •Polling Day
- •Exercises
- •Speak about Barack Obama’s electoral campaign. Which party does he represent? Who were his main rivals? What do you know about their political careers?
- •Listen to the text and answer the following questions. Listening IV.
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •Analysis: European elections can bring a cash bonanza for the far Right
Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
a) check if you are ready to answer the following questions:
What are the main reason of miscarriages of justice?
How can a miscarriage of justice change one’s life?
b) translate the words given in bold letters
Miscarriages of justice are slipping off the public radar
Maslen Merchant, a Birmingham-based legal executive who specialises in criminal appeals, recalls a recent conversation with a solicitor outside Birmingham crown court before a manslaughter case. Maslen was saying that he was struggling to get an order for disclosure. "She said: 'I don't know why you're bothering. There's never anything in it,'" he recounts. The lawyer, who has spent two decades investigating miscarriages of justice, is still incredulous. /../
Indeed. Earlier this year was the 20th anniversary of an event that sent shockwaves through our criminal justice system. Paddy Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker were released after 16 years inside, having had their convictions overturned for the murder of 21 people in two Birmingham pubs. Such was the damage inflicted upon the public confidence in the judiciary that their release led to the creation of an independent body, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), to investigate such cases./…/
It was recently argued in Justice on Trial that it was time to "acknowledge that [the commission] is an experiment that has failed" and claimed that it could only take credit for taking seven "major cases" to appeal since 2005. The CCRC wasn't happy with the charge. Since 2005, there have been 202 referrals to the appeal courts, including 33 murders and 28 rapes.
There is a range of opinion. Michael Mansfield QC, like many others, believes that the commission needs to be "supported and expanded". Mansfield, who has been associated with the overturning of numerous notorious miscarriages from the Birmingham Sixto Barry George, urges campaigners not to play into the hands of "a strong reactionary lobby which embraces the doctrine 'prison works' and regards prisoners as almost sub-human meriting few facilities and heaven forbid the right to vote".
It's clearly not credible to dismiss the issue of wrongful conviction as a problem solved since we stopped banging up Irishmen for crimes they didn't commit. Gareth Peirce, the veteran campaigning lawyer who represented the Birmingham Six, recently wrote about the treatment of young Muslims and the creation of "a new suspect community". The CCRC receives close to 1,000 new applications every year, mainly from prisoners claiming to be serving time for crimes they didn't commit. There is legitimate concern not only about the CCRC, its funding and its capacity to investigate cases, but also about the court of appeal's lack of willingness to hear them.
Two decades after the Birmingham Six, "miscarriages of justice" appear to have dropped off the radar of public awareness. Of course, there are other concerns. Maslen Merchant's contribution to the Justice Gap collection is a powerful reminder that bad defence work is at the heart of many miscarriages and, in his view, an increasing concern. The freeze in legal aid rates, the process-driven bureaucracy that suffocates legal aid practices and the pressure to deliver greater efficiencies through "economies of scale" all conspire against vulnerable clients, occasionally with catastrophic results.
Since the Birmingham Six, the culture of the defence lawyer has changed. "Twenty years ago while waiting at court or at prison you would hear lawyers discussing the cases," recalls Merchant. "Their interest was in the job, how they could find that elusive legal argument to derail the whole prosecution or what unrevealed evidence might be lost down the back of the police filing cabinet. Now, all one hears is lawyers discussing page counts and how to challenge the latest LSC8 decision to cut their fees."
Abridged from http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jun/06/commission-miscarriage-justice-scrutiny
Disscussion Point 3
What can be done to prevent miscarriages of justice? Do you think that death penalty should be abolished? How may the abolition of death penalty affect the crime rate? |
Lesson 12.
POWER-POINT PRESENTATIONS: