Английский язык (стр. 5 )

"Wherever there is Cosa Nostra, it's the same in every place," he testified.

"I was told we have brothers also on the other side of the ocean," he said, adding that Mafia members in Sicily told of families in the United States.

Mr. Buscetta was arrested in Brazil in 1983 and taken to Italy, where he turned informer and then agreed to be extradited to the United States under an agreement with the U. S. government.

"Well Mr. Buscetta" the prosecutor said, "why did you decide to give such a statement to the Italian authorities?"

"Because the time had come to do so," Mr. Buscetta answered, without mentioning that several of his relatives had been killed recently by rivals in a Mafia war in Sicily.

1. Say in what connection the Second World War and Sicily are mentioned.

2. Find and describe:

1) the trial;

2) the key witness.

ment on:

1.  Cosa Nostra.

2.  "Pizza Connection".

4. Give the inside view of Mafia.

1.  Rules of becoming a member of that ring.

2.  The obligations of the members of Mafia rings.

3.  Street rules and deadly punishment imposed by the secretive crime organization.

4. The Mafia family structure.

5. Talking points.

1.  Mafia as a world problem.

2.  Mafia and mass media.

3.  Mafia in Russia.

4.  Your view on the problem.

Use the following linking words and phrases: first of all, for example, really, that's why, I think that... I'll start by saying; my point is that..., in short.

TEXT 5

ON THE TRAIL OF AMERICA'S “SERIAL KILLERS”

Before you start:

1.  Do you know anything about "serial killers"?

2.  Have you read any books, newspapers on this problem?

3.  Have you seen any films of performances about it?

4.  Is this problem urgent in Russia?

Read the following article. Look through the list of words:

deceptively – обманным путем;

aberration – помрачение, отклонение;

a scuffle – драка, потасовка;

an assailant – зачинщик;

to entice – соблазнитель.

How to stop criminals who murder for no apparent reason? That's the task now facing police in many areas.

At a time when violent crime is dropping, one category of deceptively dangerous men – called serial killers – is causing alarm from coast to coast with seemingly motiveless murders. The growth in this brand of law-breaking is a glaring exception to a trend, confirmed in an April 19 report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, of declining violent crime. Still, nearly 20,000 Americans are murdered each year, and more of the crimes are going unsolved.

One key reason, authorities say, is a surge in the number of men roaming from state to state looking primarily for female and juvenile victims. "They are killing for the sake of killing, and the crimes are very difficult to solve," comments Director Alfred Regnery of the U. S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

One crime spree ended in mid-April when Christopher Wilder wanted for eight murders or disappear cases in eight states was shot to death with his own gun during a scuffle with police in a small New Hampshire town. Investigators said Wilder was just one on a long list-of criminals who are responsible for strings of homicides has been recognized since a man dubbed Jack the Ripper murdered seven London prostitutes in 1888. A few spectacular one-man crime waves have occurred since then in the U. S., but only in recent years have low-enforcement authorities noticed the increase in what the FBI calls murders with "unknown motives."

Each case has its own peculiarities, but interviews by experts with more than 40 persons convicted in multiple-murder cases reveal common trends.

Typically, serial killers have a desire to dominate others. Their targets usually are women and children, whom they can overpower. The murders often are accompanied by sexual assaults; if the defendants are caught, they frequently are found awash in pornography. Some serial criminals are discovered to have set fires and tortured animals as youths, and many had been abused by their parents. "These victims later become victimizers," remarks Justice official Regnery.

What frightens many people about mass murderers is that despite mental aberrations that cause them to kill, they usually look and act normal. "They can deal well with society," says Robert Keppel, an investigator for the Washington State attorney general's office who has worked on 10 such cases. "They are not 'creatures' or 'animals' who can easily be identified." In fact, assailants often befriend their victims. Wilder, a photographer, allegedly enticed many of the women he later killed or assaulted by suggesting that they become fashion-models and offering to take their pictures.

1.  Find:

1) the paragraphs where the weapons of serial killers are mentioned;

2) the paragraph proving the little of the article;

3) the name of an “outstanding” criminal.

2.  Answer the questions:

1.  What kind of crime alarms people?

2.  Who are the victims of, serial killers'?

3.  What facts do their biographies reveal?

4.  Why is it very difficult to find such criminals?

5.  Is the phenomenon of serial killers new?

3.  Talking points.

1.  Serial killing is a part of the problem of violence.

2.  Difficulties in finding such criminals.

3.  The historical background of the problem.

4.  Express your opinion on the problem.

Use the following phrases: firstly, besides, in my opinion, that is, also, that's why, my point is that...

TEXT 6

ABUSING THE ELDERLY

Before you start.

1.  Have you ever heard about this problem?

2.  What may be discussed under such a title?

3.  Is it typical of Russia?

Read the following article. Look through the list of words:

to ensconce – устроиться, укрыться;

vulnerable – уязвимый;

commitment – обязательство;

to impair – повреждать;

abominable – отвратительный;

a compounding loophole – ставящая в тупик лазейка.

When the Austin police Vera Inez Dixon, she was lying in the kitchen of her son's apartment clad only in a ratty old shirt, a vacuum cleaner bag wrapped about her buttocks.

The 68-year-old woman had starved to death within several feet of the only food in the house: two unopened containers of ice cream in the freezer and a near-empty jar of peanut butter perched high atop a kitchen cabinet. It seemed at the very least a clear case of criminal neglect. Yet charges against her son, Air Force S/Sgt. Joe Dixon, 26, were soon dropped. "We had all the elements for murder," declares police Sgt. Dusty Hesskew in discussing a confounding loophole in Texas law. "You can't let your children, your wife or your dog starve to death, but there's nothing in the panel code that says you've got to feed your mother."

Exploited: The shameful tragedy of Vera Inez Dixon comes at a time when the issue of elderly abuse and neglect is growing in importance in the United States. A report this past spring by the House Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care estimates that 1.1 million people over the age of 65 – nearly 4 percent of all elderly Americans – are abused, neglected or exploited each year.

Some experts cast a skeptical eye on the numbers, saying that good data on the subject are hard to find; and there is confusion over what types of abuse are most common. Nevertheless, elderly abuse in America is now firmly ensconced alongside other forms of family violence as a problem to be reckoned with.

By the year 2000,13 percent of the population will be 65 or older – three times the percentage in 1900-and the greatest increase will occur in the physically, mentally and financially vulnerable over-75 group. Most of the needy will be cared for at home by relatives who themselves will be middle-aged or elderly. A Delaware study found the average duration of care giving to be 9.5 years. Stress from this type of long-term commitment, particularly if the elder is mentally or physically impaired, can lead to depression, hostility and anger on the part of the care giver. "The abusers are not horned animals and mean, vicious individuals," explains Edward Ansello, associate director of the University of Maryland's Center on Aging, which recently analyzed 50 major studies on elderly abuse. "The picture that emerges is one of an overburdened and unmarried son or daughter who has taken on the care of an elderly person."

The problem of elderly abuse is not new. In fact, treatment of the elderly may actually be better today than it has ever been. A 1772 New Jersey law required justices of the peace to search docking ships for old people lest they come ashore and become a burden to the community. Colonial neighbors often drove poor widows out, forcing the women to drift from town to town. “Things were absolutely abominable before," concludes Suzanne Steinmetz, a University of Delaware professor of individual and family studies. “Now they're just terrible.”

Look through the statistical data and name:

1) the number of abused and neglected elderly Americans;

2) the increase of elderly population by 2000;

3) the average duration of caregivers;

4) psychological problems.

Answer the questions:

1.  Why did Vera Idez Dixon die?

2.  Was it a case of criminal neglect or a murder?

3.  Is the problem of elderly abuse very serious in the USA?

4.  What do the studies show?

5.  What psychological discomfort do care givers experience?

6.  How is this problem being solved now?

3. Talking points.

1.  Abusing the elderly is a form of family violence.

2.  Psychological aspect of the problem.

3.  Historical background of the problem.

TEXT 7

DRUG ABUSE AND DRUG TRAFFICKING

Before you start:

1.  The problem of drug abuse and trafficking drugs is of great concern all over the world now, isn't it?

2.  Do you know that drug smugglers act very actively?

3.  What is the role of customs officers in hindering their activities?

Read two articles devoted to the problem of drugs

Article № 1

Look through the list of words:

coup [ku:] – удачный ход, удача в делах;

cannabis – конопля;

to thwart – пересекать, прекратить;

forfeiture – конфискация;

illicit – противоправный;

firearms – огнестрельное оружие.

Drug smugglers jailed after brilliant coup by customs

A judge imposed prison sentences totaling 36 years on five smugglers who tried to land cannabis resin worth more than 10 million pounds at a remote creek in Essex.

The illicit cargo of 4.3 tones, packed up off the coast of Lebanon on board the schooner Robert Gordon, would have reached the streets if it had not been for the brilliance of the customs officers who thwarted the enterprise, Judge Greenwood said at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The court was told that the drugs had been loaded on to the Robert Gordon by a squad of at least 16 armed Lebanese in quasimilitary uniforms brandishing rocket-launchers.

It was also told that the principal organizer of the smuggling ring, Mr. Brian Barker, aged 42, a businessman from Brentwood, Essex, had evaded arrest by leaving the country.

His business partner, Terence Guy, aged 46, from Romford, Essex, whom the Crown alleged had organized the British end of the operation, was sent to prison for 10 years after changing his plea to guilty to the smuggling charge during the trial.

The judge ordered the forfeiture of 24,000 pounds intended as part payment to the crew, which was found in his possession when he was arrested.

Keith Jones, aged 37, the skipper of the twin-masted vessel, who ferried the cannabis into the small Essex port of North Fambridge on the river Crouch on October 4 last year, was also sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty.

Jones also received two sentences of two years each on charges of possessing firearms found on the vessel. Jones, who was to have been paid 50,000 pounds for the enterprise, had pleaded not guilty to the firearms offences.

Two crew members, Nikolous Keferakis, aged 26, a fisherman from Rhodes, and Brian Hill, aged 36, from Corringham, Essex, who were to have received 25,000 pounds each in payment, were each given five-year prison sentences. The judge recommended that Keferakis be deported at the end of his sentence.

John Bridger, aged 38, a decorator, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, whom the Crown alleged had organized the transport to pick up the drugs at North Fambridge, was found guilty by the jury and sentenced to six years.

Two other men, David Crighton, aged 23, from Corby, Northamptonshire, and Geoffrey King, aged 41, from Harlow, Essex, were acquitted after a jury retirement lasting six hours 40 minutes.

Judge Greenwood, who ordered the forfeiture of the cannabis, said at the end of the three-week trial: "Were it not for the undoubted brilliance of the Customs and Excise over a very long period of time, each and every one of you in different ways would have been strutting around rich men".

"I have been told, and I accept, that the principal behind all this was a man called Barker and the sooner he is brought to justice the better, but this plan could not have been operated, and so carefully thought out, were it not at any rate in a large part due to the way you, Jones, carried out your part in the Mediterranean on bringing the drugs back to England, and you, Guy, for a very large part. I have no doubt of the organization of the operation in this country."

1. Read the article and choose the paragraph proving the title of the article.

2. Find the information about the following things:

1) what court considered the case;

2) the country that that sent the drugs;

3) the cargo;

4) the place of destination of the drugs.

3. Answer the questions:

1.  What was the aim of the smugglers?

2.  Who caught them?

3.  What court tried the smugglers?

4.  How many smugglers were tried? (were brought to trial?)

5.  Who were the members of the smuggling ring?

6.  What prison sentences did they receive?

Article № 2

DRUG ABUSE, SOARS IN ASIA, STUDY FINDS

Fueled by the ready supply of opiates, heroin addiction and other forms of drug abuse are growing rapidly in six Asian countries traditionally involved in large-scale narcotics trafficking to the West, a US government study has found.

In Pakistan, Thailand, Burma, Nepal, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, more than two million people were reported to be using opium, heroin, hashish, marijuana and other drugs, according to the study sponsored by the US Agency for International Development.

The study covered the countries that produce the bulk of the world's opium and a significant proportion of the hashish and marijuana smuggled internationally Pakistan, the study said, had found itself since 1980 "in the midst of a heroin epidemic", with the number of addicts having grown from an estimate 5,000 to 450,000 in 1986.

It said that Thai authorities had put the number of heroin addicts in that country at as many as 500,000, while in Burma there were 48,000 registered addicts, "suggesting that the actual number of abusers is greater". In both countries, the study said, heroin addiction first became significant in the 1970s and appeared to be leveling off.

The survey warned that heroin addiction in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, although relatively new, was increasing, while the ability to marshal resources to combat the problem was limited.

It said that the governments of the six countries were concerned about preventing drug abuse, but that, with limited resources, they gave priority to economic development, public health and education.

Malaysia was not included in the survey. But at a United Nations conference on drug abuse and trafficking, which ended in Vienna, Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammad of Malaysia estimated that 400,000 of his country's population of 15 million were heroin addicts.

As a measure of the seriousness of the problem, he noted that the Netherlands, with a similar population, had about 20,000 addicts.

The study warned that drag abuse in Asia was affecting mainly young people, aggravating poverty, adversely affecting attitudes toward work and weakening national security.

It said that heroin smugglings from Sri Lanka to Europe; was one of the main means used by the Tamil insurgents to finance their rebellion against the government.

The study said the three countries most heavily afflicted by heroin addiction – Pakistan. Thailand and Burma – had a common characteristic in mat they were big producers of opium, from which heroin is refined, while both. Thailand and Pakistan were major trafficking routes.

“Therefore, there is in each case an abundant supply of opiates,” the study said.

The survey recommended that the United States fund a narcotics education project in Asian countries that would cost $5.5 million over five years. The US government had earmarked more than $20.5 million for drug-related activities in Asia in fiscal year $ 7. But most of this money will be spent on programmes to eradicate opium and marijuana cultivation in Burma, Pakistan and Thailand.

1. Answer the questions:

1.  How is drag abuse growing in the six countries?

2.  What drugs are used in these countries?

3.  What do the figures show?

4.  Are the governments of these countries concerned with this problem?

5.  What is the place of Malaysia in using drugs?

6.  What are the consequences of drug abuse in Asia?

2. Discuss the article. Use the following linking words and phrases:

first, namely, for instance, besides, thus, in fact, it must be admitted that, I'll mainly contrite on...

TEXT 8

TRADERS TURN TO PRIVATE CRIME PATROLS

Before you start:

1.  Do you know anything about crime patrols?

2.  Are there any such groups in Russia?

3.  What do you think are their obligations?

Read the following article. Look through the list of words:

premises – помещение;

to alert – быть наготове;

to assault – нападать;

precincts – окрестности, территория.

A privately owned anticrime patrol, paid for by local traders, is due to begin operations in the streets of Waterlooville, near Portsmouth.

Mr. Richard Watts, a former policeman, will share duties with two other uniformed patrol men until 6 am, keeping an eye on the premises of 30 businesses who have so far subscribed to his "Area Watch Alert".

The patrols will help protect the shops and offices of clients, who are each paying about 500 pounds a year for the service. "The police can't do the job that we do because they are short staffed," Mr. Watts said.

His patrolmen, one of whom is a former commando, will work in cooperation with the local police and will also act to help combat general crime.

Mr. Watts said: "If someone was misbehaving we would alert the necessary authorities via radio to base control, from where a phone call would be made to police headquarters. We have the power of citizen's arrest."

Asked what they would do if they saw someone assaulting an elderly woman, he said: "Detain them until the police arrive."

Mr. Watts and his men will be on general patrol on the streets and in the shopping "precincts of Waterlooville (population 50,000) until the public houses close. Then they will start checking clients' doors, windows and property.

They will wear uniforms of black shoes, black trousers, blue ties and white shirts, with a badge bearing the "Area Watch Alert" logo on their left breast pocket. In colder weather the team will wear navy blue sweaters' and navy waterproof jackets, also with the logo displayed. Each man will have a whistle.

Mr. Watts said that his wife would operate a two-way radio so that the police, ambulance or fire service could be notified quickly if necessary.

One client, Mr. Ricky Lopez, who owns a menswear shop, said: "When I phone the police they come as soon as they can, but if there is anything else on they do take a little while to get here. Whereas if we have someone in the town area on watch patrol they will be here almost immediately."

Mr. Watts, who hopes to extend the service to other local shopping centers, said that he had been approached also by a local residents' association to mount patrols on Friday nights to help to prevent problems with youths at a local disco.

1.  Find the information about:

1)  the duties of the patrols;

2)  places (areas) of their work;

3)  extension of patrol service.

2.  Find and read the paragraphs describing the ways of communicating with their base control.

3.  Describe the uniform of the patrols.

4. Answer the questions.

1.  Where are patrol operations due to begin?

2.  What will the patrols protect?

3.  Why can't the police do their job?

4.  Will the patrols work together with the police or act alone?

5.  How do they realize their connection with the base control?

6.  What will they wear?

5. Talking points.

1.  Private anticrime patrol.

2.  Police and private patrol.

3.  Your attitude to the problem.

Список использованной литературы

1.  Powell, R. Law Today. Longman. G. B., 1993. – 128 p.

2.  Шевелёва, для юристов: учеб. пособие для вузов / ёва; М.: Издательство журнала "Юнити", 2002. – 495 с.

3.  Агабекян, английский для юристов / . – Ростов н/Д: Феникс, 2003. – 416 с.

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ

Введение.............................................................................................	3
Unit 1. Social morality, rules and law..................................................	4
Unit 2. Sources of modern law.............................................................	10
Unit 3. Civil and public law.................................................................	16
Unit 4. Judicial institutions...................................................................	21
Unit 5. Lawyers at work.......................................................................	28
Unit 6. Contracts...................................................................................	34
Unit 7. Land law...................................................................................	40
Unit 8. Trusts........................................................................................	46
Supplementary reading.........................................................................	52
Text 1. Street gangs no longer just a big-city problem.........................	52
Text 2. High teenage delinquency blamed oh friends and family shortcomings.........................................................................................	54
Text 3. Bergenfield’s tragic fusome.....................................................	55
Text 4. Witness gives inside view of mafia..........................................	56
Text 5. On the trail of America’s "serial killers"..................................	59
Text 6. Abusing the elderly...................................................................	60
Text 7. Drug abuse and drug trafficking...............................................	62
Text 8. Traders turn to private crime patrols........................................	66
Список использованной литературы................................................	67