Should Capital Punishment Be a Major Deterrent to Crime？

　　

Text Capital Punishment Is the Only Way to Deter Criminals

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 s,pciety 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 puni'shment.

　　The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figures 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 specialise in crime-reporting 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 achievement of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movementg. 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 will'sng to hold liberal views at the expense of others. It' s aiways fashionable to pose as the defender of the under-dog, so iong as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one wonders, in their desire for fair-play, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment？ Hardly. You see, they couldn't, because all the victims were dead.

　　II.Read Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading.

　　1. Can You Turn Him into a Good Guy？

　　“Why don't I give you a lift home if you live on the new estate？” “I'd appreciate that very much,” he replied. I fetched my car from the parking lot and he got in with “Many thanks. ” He said no more till we were well across the heath. Then, all of a sudderi, he turned to me and said, “Okay. Pull up here.” “Here？” I queried. There was not a house in sight, and the weather was shocking. Anyway, I pulled up. The only thing I could remember after that was something thumping down hard on my head. I passed out. When I came to, I was sprawled in the ditch, soaked to the skin, my head pounding, my car gone and my pockets empty.

　　I staggered off and eventually tumbled into the police-station to make a report. There was a light shining on the station wall and there, lit up, was a picture of my assailant. I had walked past it for the last seven days. I knew I had seen the face before. He was wanted by the police for armed robbery. I thanked my lucky stars it was not for murder. I looked at the name underneath the face, the face I will never forget. It was-er-it was-oh, bother！ I can never remember names.

　　2. Murderers Must Be Hanged Murderers are cruel sadistic monsters. They must be hanged. What they do puts them beyond the pale of humanity. They are not humans and therefore they cannot expect to be treated as humans. They must be made to see the error of their ways, and the only way of doing that is by hanging them. British justice is the finest in the world,but by.not imposing the death sentence people will think we are failing to punish crime justly. It is the principle of justice itself that is at stake. How can we claim to be a just nation if people who murder are not themselves executed？ An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the very basis of justice.

　　Some people claim that hanging is cruel, but it is more humane than the other penalties at present imposed. It is quick, and thanks to modern methods, painless. It is only th'e agitators who campaign against the death penalty who say it is cruel. The reality is that it is a kindness to the murderer. Far better to be hanged than to suffer the slow torture of life imprisonment vhich is in any case a burden on the long-suffering taxpayer. There are other objections to life imprisonment. There is the chance that the murderer may escape. He or she would then be free to murder again. Nor is life imprisonment what it says. It is. only a nominal sentence. In no time at all the murderer will be released. How can the ordinary person feel safe knowing that there are murderers on the prowl seeking their next victim？

　　The crux of the matter is that only hanging acts as a deterrent to murderers. In the past, many a would-be murderer must have refrained from committing this heinous crime knowing that such an act would result in certain execution. Put yourself in his or her shoes. You would not commit murder knowing .that the penalty for so doing was death. It is the same with murderers. So-called liberals point to the experience of other European countries where the death penalty has ceased to exist. But what happens in those countries is no guide to what may happen here. It is our safety that is at risk, not theirs. Only the return of the death penalty can ensure that we can sleep safely in our beds.

　　3. Mediation System Helps Deter Crimes Ye Chengmei of Guojiahe Town, Xinzheng County in central China's Henan Province, was beaten by her husband Pan Chenggong over a trifling matter. Ye's brother mobilized 14 young men with wooden sticks and spades to teach his brother-in-law a lesson. Hearing the news, Pan Chenggong organized more than 20 young men to fight back. At this critical moment, 59-year-old Ye Bingyan, a mediator, appeared and persuaded the men to stop the fight and sit down to talk. Under he mediator's persuasion and his discussion of the law, Pan admitted his wrongdoings and went to the home of his wife's parents to make an apology.

　　This is one example of China's people's mediation system which has become a major method of settling civil disputes concerning marriage, family relations, housing, money and property issues. China now has more than 1 million mediation committees with over 6 million mediators. From 1982 to 1988, they settled 50 million civil issues, up to 10 times the number of cases went to court. In Henan Province alone, more than 287, 000 mediators from 53,642 people's mediation committees have dealt with 5,723,657 cases, preventing losses for 51,343 people.

　　The mediators enjoy popular support and respect as they report fhe views, complaints and wishes of the populace to grassroots governments and pass alpng the goveinment principles, poIicies, laws and regulations to the masses. The villagers speak highly of Ye Bingyan's work. They say wherever and whenever disputes happen, Ye will be there. He has prevented 15 gang fights, saved the lives of 14 people threatened with homicide or suicide and also helped five couples reunite. Ye said the key to his work is concern and love for others.