Warm-up | For or Against? Prepare your arguments.

• VIctims should have more input in determining -- and significantly influence -- sentencing decisions.
• First-time offenders should systematically receive lighter sentences, preferably a warning.
• Prison sentences should be designed with programs, linked to behaviour and psychological state, allowing offenders to graduate at different levels and transition to different levels of freedom.
• Imprisonment should be reserved only for those who pose an actual physical danger.
• Prison labor should pay market wages, with earnings being used to pay off state fines or to compensate victims.
• Whatever the crime, once rehabilitation is complete, criminal records should be disappeared.
• If justice professionals (from detectives to judges) falsely imprison innocent individuals, they themselves should face criminal charges. This would ensure cases be airtight.

Warm-up | For or Against? (2) Prepare your arguments.

• All court proceedings should be livestreamed to the public for complete transparency.
• Individuals convicted of white-collar crimes (fraud, embezzlement, etc.) should receive harsher sentences than those convicted of petty theft.
• Juvenile offenders should not be spared prison sentences on the grounds of diminished responsibility; they must know that they are not above the law.
• Private security companies should have the same legal powers as police officers, and communities may choose to hire public sector police to work privately to offer enhanced security, as is possible with healthcare.
• All prisoners should be required to learn a trade, complete education programmes, or have a job lined up before being eligible for release.
• Criminal records should be deleted within the 3 years of time being paid for a crime.
• Citizens should be legally required to report crimes they witness and testify in court. That is to say, if they are later found to have witnessed a crime but hadn't made an initial statement, they themselves will automatically face prison time.
• Police departments should be required to have the same racial background as the communities they serve.

Pre-Listening | Miscarriages of Justice

• Do you know of any cases of miscarriage of justice in your country or worldwide?
  • ​What were the people accused of? What happened to them?
  • Did they receive any compensation for damages?  Assistance in returning to employment or to society?
    
     
• BBC Radio 5 Live "Eye of the Storm"
  extract with ex-prisoner Anthony Ray
  Hinton.
  • What was he accused of?
  • What was he sentenced to?
  • Why was it clearly a miscarriage of
    justice?

Pre-Listening | Strong Accents and "Correcting" Non-Standard Grammar

Listening | Listening Part 1

Listening | Part 2

Reaction | Leaving Prison

• What impresses you most about Anthony's story?
  • What about his personality made him able to come through the experience?
• What other aspects of the modern world might surprise someone leaving prison after 30 years?

Vocabulary | Punishment

Vocabulary | Punishment

Pre-Reading | Why do we care?

• Are you familiar with any of these books, films or TV series? Have you seen them? Did you enjoy them?

Reading 1 | Why do we care?

• What makes Moonstone and The Bridge different from typical  crime fiction?

Reading 2 | Why do we care?

• Matching the sentences to the gaps