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Crime and Punishment About 90 per cent of all crimes in Great Britain are dealt with by Magistrates’ courts which can impose fines or prison sentences of up to six months. More serious cases go to a Crown Court. The most severe punishment is life imprisonment. Capital punishment was abolished in England in November 1965. Today public opinion in Britain has changed. Some people think that death penalty may not be the ideal answer, but it is better than nothing. In England there are no minimum sentences, except for murder, which carries a penalty of life imprisonment, but life sentences are rarely more than 14 years, because they can be reduced for good behavior, often by one third or more. But the problem of how to prevent murders remains. Some murders are committed by criminals evading arrest, by insane or mentally disturbed people, by cold-blooded sadists completely devoid of all human feelings. The important thing in the prevention of murder is to eliminate the weapons and instruments with which these crimes are committed, and to stop the dangerous influence of violence in books, films, and other mass media, from which some criminals derive their “inspiration”. What is the purpose of punishment? One purpose is to correct the offender’s moral attitudes and anti-social behavior and to assist the offender to return to normal life. Punishment can also be seen as a reform because it warns other people of what will happen if they tempt to break the law. The third purpose lies in society’s desire for retribution. In any case, we should try to understand why a person commits a crime and how society failed to enable him to live a respectable life.

 

 Ответьте на вопросы к тексту. 1. Do the English support the abolition of capital punishment? Why? 2. Who commits crimes? 3. What influences on the wrongdoers? 4. What purpose of punishment, in your opinion, is the most important? Why?