English for Law Students

Vocabulary

1. judge [‘ʤʌʤ] n

– судить, выносить приговор

2. violate [‘vaɪəleɪt] v

– нарушать, попирать, преступать

3. grant [grɑːnt] v

– допускать

4. severity [sɪ’verətɪ] n

– строгость, суровость

5. imposition [ˌɪmpə’zɪʃ(ə)n] n

– наложение (запрета, штрафа, наказания)

6. outcome [‘autkʌm] n

– последствие, результат

7. deem [diːm] v

– полагать, считать

8. norm [nɔːm] n

– норма

9. fine [faɪn] n

– штраф

10. penalty [‘pen(ə)ltɪ] n

– наказание

11. confinement [kənʹfaınmənt] n

– тюремное заключение

12. removal [rɪ’muːv(ə)l] n

– устранение

13. denial [dɪ’naɪəl] n

– отказ

14. social setting

– социальные условия

15. consequence [‘kɔn(t)sɪkwən(t)s] n

– (по)следствие, результат

16. penology [piː’nɔləʤɪ] n

– пенология, наука о наказаниях, предотвращении преступлений, тюрьмах и других исправительных учреждениях

17. euphemistically [ˌjuːfə’mɪstɪk(ə)lɪ] adv

– эвфемистически

18. justification [ˌʤʌstɪfɪ’keɪʃ(ə)n] n

– основание

19. retribution [ˌretrɪ’bjuːʃ(ə)n] n

– возмездие, кара, наказание

20. deterrence [dɪ’ter(ə)n(t)s] n

– удержание (от враждебных или преступных действий при помощи устрашения)

21. rehabilitation [ˌriːhəˌbɪlɪ’teɪʃ(ə)n] n

– исправление, перевоспитание преступников

22. incapacitation [͵ınkəpæsıʹteıʃ(ə)n] n

– ограничение прав

23. wrongdoer [‘rɔŋˌduːə] n

– причинитель вреда, правонарушитель, преступник

24. inflict [ɪn’flɪkt] v

– наносить вред

25. revenge [rɪ’venʤ] n

– месть

26. spite [spaɪt] n

– злой умысел

27. sanction [‘sæŋ(k)ʃ(ə)n] n

– правовая санкция

28. reprimand [‘reprɪmɑːnd] n

– выговор, замечание

29. deprivation [ˌdeprɪ’veɪʃ(ə)n] n

– лишение

30. incarceration [ɪnˌkɑːs(ə)’reɪʃ(ə)n] n

– заключение в тюрьму

31. ostracism [‘ɔstrəsɪz(ə)m] n

– остракизм; изгнание, гонение

32. amputation [ˌæmpjə’teɪʃ(ə)n] n

– ампутация

33. death penalty

– смертная казнь

34. corporal punishment

– телесное наказание, порка

35. transgressor [trænz’gresə], [trɑːn-] n

– правонарушитель, нарушитель закона

36. reciprocity [ˌresɪ’prɔsətɪ] n

– взаимность

37. proportionality [prə͵pɔ:ʃəʹnælıtı] n

– соразмерность

38. behaviour [bɪ’heɪvjə], [bə-] n

– поведение

Text

No man can be judged a criminal until he is found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection until it has been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. In the eye of the law, every man is innocent until his crime has been proved. Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment.

Punishment is the authoritative imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, in response to a particular action or behaviour that is deemed unacceptable or threatening to some norm.

The unpleasant imposition may include a fine, penalty, or confinement, or be the removal or denial of something pleasant or desirable. The individual may be a person, or even an animal. The authority may be either a group or a single person, and punishment may be carried out formally under a system of law or informally in other kinds of social settings such as within a family.

Negative consequences that are not authorised or that are administered without a breach of rules are not considered to be punishment as defined here. The study and practice of the punishment of crimes, particularly as it applies to imprisonment, is called penology, or, often in modern texts, corrections; in this context, the punishment process is euphemistically called “correctional process”. Research into punishment often includes similar research into prevention.

Justifications for punishment include retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. The last could include such measures as isolation, in order to prevent the wrongdoer’s having contact with potential victims, or the removal of a hand in order to make theft more difficult. Of the four justifications, only retribution is part of the definition of punishment and none of the other justifications is a guaranteed outcome, aside from obvious exceptions such as an executed man being incapacitated with regard to further crimes.

If only some of the conditions included in the definition of punishment are present, descriptions other than “punishment” may be considered more accurate. Inflicting something negative, or unpleasant, on a person or animal, without authority is considered revenge or spite rather than punishment. In addition, the word “punishment” is used as a metaphor, as when a boxer experiences “punishment” during a fight. In other situations, breaking a rule may be rewarded, and so receiving such a reward naturally does not constitute punishment. Finally the condition of breaking (or breaching) the rules must be satisfied for consequences to be considered punishment.

Punishments differ in their degree of severity, and may include sanctions such as reprimands, deprivations of privileges or liberty, fines, incarcerations, ostracism, the infliction of pain, amputation and the death penalty. Corporal punishment refers to punishments in which physical pain is intended to be inflicted upon the transgressor. Punishments may be judged as fair or unfair in terms of their degree of reciprocity and proportionality. Punishment can be an integral part of socialisation, and punishing unwanted behaviour is often part of a system of pedagogy or behavioral modification which also includes rewards.

Supplementary texts

Possible reasons for punishment

There are many possible reasons that might be given to justify or explain why someone ought to be punished; here follows a broad outline of typical, possibly conflicting, justifications.

Deterrence (prevention)

One reason given to justify punishment is that it is a measure to prevent people from committing an offence – deterring previous offenders from re-offending, and preventing those who may be contemplating an offence they have not committed from actually committing it. This punishment is intended to be sufficient that people would choose not to commit the crime rather than experience the punishment. The aim is to deter everyone in the community from committing offences.

Rehabilitation

Some punishment includes work to reform and rehabilitate the culprit so that they will not commit the offence again. This is distinguished from deterrence, in that the goal here is to change the offender’s attitude to what they have done, and make them come to see that their behavior was wrong.

Incapacitation and societal protection

Incapacitation as a justification of punishment refers to the offender’s ability to commit further offences being removed. Imprisonment separates offenders from the community, removing or reducing their ability to carry out certain crimes. The death penalty does this in a permanent (and irrevocable) way. In some societies, people who stole have been punished by having their hands amputated.

Retribution

Criminal activities typically give a benefit to the offender and a loss to the victim. Punishment has been justified as a measure of retributive justice, in which the goal is to try to rebalance any unjust advantage gained by ensuring that the offender also suffers a loss. Sometimes viewed as a way of “getting even” with a wrongdoer — the suffering of the wrongdoer is seen as a desired goal in itself, even if it has no restorative benefits for the victim. One reason societies have administered punishments is to diminish the perceived need for retaliatory “street justice”, blood feud and vigilantism.

Restoration

For minor offenses, punishment may take the form of the offender “righting the wrong”, or restitution. Community service or compensation orders are examples of this sort of penalty.

Education and denunciation

Punishment can be explained by positive prevention theory to use the criminal justice system to teach people what are the social norms for what is correct, and acts as a reinforcement.

Punishment can serve as a means for society to publicly express denunciation of an action as being criminal. Besides educating people regarding what is not acceptable behavior, it serves the dual function of preventing vigilante justice by acknowledging public anger, while concurrently deterring future criminal activity by stigmatizing the offender. This is sometimes called the “Expressive Theory” of denunciation. The pillory was a method for carrying out public denunciation.

Unified theory

The unified theory of punishment brings together multiple penal purposes — such as retribution, deterrence and rehabilitation — in a single, coherent framework. Instead of punishment requiring we choose between them, unified theorists argue that they work together as part of some wider goal such as the protection of rights.