Death Penalty: USA vs UK

1. Unit 21 The DeathPenalty

2. Learning outcomes of the Unit 21 • Students will be able to: • describethe situation concerningdeath penalty in the USA • explainthe development in the UK concerning death penalty • name the main points from the speech of Lord Kennet and elaborate on them • translate key expressions related to the topic • name institutions and documents in Europe that support the abolition of death penalty • quote the provisions of the Croatian Constitution related to capital punishment

3. INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSIONWhose memoir is thefollowing citation from? In his memoir, "Dreams from My Father," __________ wrote that while the death penalty "does little to deter crime," he supports capital punishment in cases "so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meeting out the ultimate punishment."

4. Asked about today's US Supreme Court ruling that sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional, Obama said he disagreed with such a broad ban. "I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes. I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime," he said, adding that if a state determines the death penalty should apply in such cases, they should be allowed to impose it.

5. Obama has tried to toe a nuanced line on the death penalty, saying it should only be used in extreme cases. In the Illinois legislature, he pushed reforms to the state's capital punishment system to prevent innocent people from being executed. The reforms, after a series of exonerations through DNA and other evidence, included requiring police to videotape interrogations to prevent coerced confessions.Obama also opposed a bill to make it easier to sentence murderers involved in gang activity to get the death penalty. But he supported death sentences for particularly cruel murders of elderly people.

6. Geographical position of Illinois within the USA

7. What a picture of the USA?

8. Pair work Discusswith your neighbour the attitudes of the American President on death penalty and /or the death penalty status in the USA in 2001 (the map) and sum upyour conclusions in 3 – 5 written sentences.

9. Furtherresearch… use thefollowing link:http://uspolitics.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=uspolitics&cdn=newsissues&tm=170&gps=330_234_788_360&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=15&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/CoC.pdf • Have a look at theinformationfromthefollowingdocument

10. Capital punishmentinthe UK • Thedeathpenaltyremainedon the statute bookuntil 1998 • Capital punishmentabolishedfor murderin 1969 in Great Britain(TheMurder, AbolitionofDeathPenalty, Actin 1965 → d.p. suspendedinEngland, Walesand Scotland), unitil 1973 in Northern Ireland

11. Situationinthe UK 1969 - 1998 • Deathpenaltysurvived for othercrimes: • Causingfire or explosionin a naveldodkyard, ship, warehouse (until 1971) • Espionage (until 1981) • Piracywithviolence (until 1998) • Treason (until 1998) • Certainmilitaryofences, e.g. mutiny (until 1998) NO EXECUTIONS WERE CARRIED OUT IN THE UK FOR ANY OF THESE OFENNCES AFTER THE ABOLITION FOR DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER

12. From a speechintheHouseofLordsby Lord Kennet INTRODUCTION: What ought to be done to a convicted murderer? THE MOTIVE FOR THE DISCUSSION: “We have to do something more with him than to punish him...”

13. FIVE verbs = suggestions: Readthetext, textbook, p. 97. Formultethemainidea L. Kennetpresented for eachofthefivesuggestions! • To prevent • To reform / “rehabilitate” • To research • To deter • To avenge

14. Expressions from the Unit 21 • to try / to convict a murderer • to punish  be punished • the punishment for .... is • what ought to be done to a convicted murderer.. • prevent somebody from doing something • the prevention of crime / terrorism • somebody’s release at the end of a life sentence • somebody is likely to do something • the released murderer is no more likely to murder than anybody else • the length of a sentence / of the service of a prisoner

15. Expressions – part II • to help a person with something • the lack of funds • to achieve more / less • to inflict punishment • to conduct research into (causes/motives of crime...) • to commit capital murder in cold blood on purpose • during the prison sentence • measures that would reduce the murder rate • the capital penalty is not an effective deterrent... • abolitionists of  retentionist of the death penalty • the state deals with / handles convicted criminals

16. To be reprieved pomilovati – pomilovanje to reprieve, v. /ripri:v/ A personwaiting to behanged for themurderhasbeenreprieved. Reprieve, n. /ripri:v/ A manawaitingdeathbylethalinjectionhasbeensavedbyalast minute reprieve.

17. Complete the following sentences. • Use precautionary measures to keep something from happening means __ ___________ something. • A sentence of imprisonment for the remaining portion of the convict’s life is ________ ________. • __ _________ means to prevent from acting by fear; to discourage. • People who vote for the abolition of the death penalty are ______________. • A sentence ordering a criminal to be executed is called _____________.

18. KEY: sentences. • Use precautionary measures to keep something from happening means to prevent something. • A sentence of imprisonment for the remaining portion of the convict’s life is life sentence. • To deter means to prevent from acting by fear; to discourage. • People who vote for the abolition of the death penalty are abolitionists. • A sentence ordering a criminal to be executed is called death penalty.

19. Have a look at theadditionalreadinginyourbook, p. 101 - 102 • Whichdocuments are mentioned? • What is theapproacht to thedeathpenaltyin Europe? Explain. • What is thebasis for Croatia’s approach to thedeathpenaltyquestion?