criminal law
most legal system find it necessary to divide crimes into categories for various purposes connected with the procedure of the courts-determining, for instance, which king of court may deal with which kind of offence. the common law originally divided crimes into two categories: 1) felonies (the graver crimes, generally punishable with death); 2) misdemeanours (for which the common law provided fines or imprisonment). the felony is a major crime, as murder, arson, rape, etc. and provides a greater punishment than for a misdemeanour. misdemeanour is any minor offence. murder. the abolition of capital punishment in england in november 1965 was welcomed by most people with humane and progressive ideas. to them it seemed a departure from feudalism, from the cruel pre-christian spirit of revenge: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. many of these people think different now. three unarmed policemen have been killed in london by bandits who shot them down in cold blood. this crime has drawn attention to the fact that since the abolition of capital punishment crime – and especially murder – has been on increase throughout britain. today, therefore, public opinion in britain has changed. people who before, also in parliament, stated that capital punishment was not a deterrent to murder – now feel that killing the assassin is the lesser of two evils. capital punishment, they think, may not be the ideal answer, but it is better than nothing, especially when, as in england, a sentence of “lifelong” imprisonment only lasts eight or nine years. the important thing in the prevention of murder is to eliminate as far as possible the weapons and instruments, the guns and knives, with which these crimes are committed, and to stop the dangerous influence of violence in books, films, television and other mass media, from which so many criminals derive their “inspiration”.
task 2: find in the text the english equivalents for the following words and expressions: грабить на улице, угрожать силой, совершить тяжкое преступление, уголовный кодекс, поджог, убийство, штраф, тюремное заключение.
task 2.1: find in the text the russian equivalents for the following words and expressions: felony, misdemeanour, legal systems, graver crimes, arson, rape, murder, fine, to provide a punishment, capital punishment, cold blood, lifelong imprisonment.