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Because punishment is both painful and guilt producing, its application calls for a justification. In
Western culture, four basic justifications have been given: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and
incapacitation.
Most penal historians note a gradual trend over the last centuries toward more lenient sentences in
Western countries.
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Capital and corporal punishment, widespread in the early 19 century, are seldom invoked by
contemporary society. Indeed, in the United States corporal punishment as such appears to be contrary to the
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8 Amendment’s restrictions on cruel and unusual punishment. Yet the rate of imprisonment in the United
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States appears to be growing. Furthermore, since the middle of the 20 century, popular and professional
sentiment has taken a distinctly punitive turn and now tends to see retribution and incapacitation – rather
than rehabilitation – as goals of criminal punishment.
Criminal sentences ordinarily embrace four basic modes of punishment. In descending order of
severity these are: incarceration, community supervision, fine, and restitution. The death penalty is now
possible only for certain types of atrocious murders and treason.
Punishment is an ancient practice whose presence in modern cultures may appear to be out of place
because it purposefully inflicts pain. In the minds of most people, however, it continues to find justification.

Task 3. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions. Make up your own sentences
with them.
Authority, community supervision, deterrence, fine, incapacitation, incarceration, justification,
rehabilitation, restitution, retribution, sentence, deprivation.

Task 4. Read, translate, write down all the unknown words from the following text.

Capital Punishment: for and against
Perhaps all criminals should be required to carry cards which, read: "Fragile- Handle with Care". It
will never do, these days, to go around referring to criminals as violent thugs. You must refer to them
politely as 'social misfits'. The professional killer who wouldn’t think twice about using his cosh or crowbar
to batter some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her meagre life-savings must never be given
a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of 'hospital treatment'. According to his misguided defenders,
society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evil— or so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of
talk, it makes you wonder why we aren't all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of
the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of
criminal legislation in Britain and a number of other countries has been the suspension of capital
punishment.
The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is
pursued by the press and paid vast sums of money for his 'memoirs'. Newspapers which specialize in
crimereporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publishers of trashy cops and robbers stories or 'murder
mysteries' have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it
makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movement. The hardened
criminal is cuddled and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on
the other. It's no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes.
Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling
the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving
his arsenic cocktail. It prevented unarmed policemen from being mowed down while pursuing their duty by
killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society,
young children, from brutal sex-maniacs. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with
murder. We all know that 'life sentence' does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of 'good conduct',
the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, thank you, on the
proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always
willing to hold liberal views at the expenses of others. It's always fashionable to pose as the defender of the
under-dog, so long as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one wonders, in their
desire for fairplay, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment? Hardly. You see, they
couldn't, because all the victims were dead.

Task 5. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions.
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