Worksheet Week 4: Former Texas Governor Rethinks Death Penalty

What I see in retrospect is that our system is not as foolproof as I think it should be in ... information about someone or something which is stored by the police. Parole ... 5) Find in the text the 7 adjectives in their comparative or superlative forms.
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Worksheet Week 4: Former Texas Governor Rethinks Death Penalty MELISSA BLOCK, host: A former Texas governor is making news by raising doubts about the death penalty. Democrat Mark White was governor from 1983 to '87, then a strong death penalty supporter who oversaw 19 executions. Now he's rethinking capital punishment and he joins us from Houston to explain why. Governor White, welcome to the program. 5 Governor MARK WHITE (Former Governor, Texas): Thank you. It's good to be with you. BLOCK: I'm going to play for you part of a campaign ad from back in 1990 when you ran again. You lost in the Democratic primary, and the ad shows you walking along the portraits of people who were executed while you were governor. Let's take a listen. (Soundbite of campaign ad) Gov. WHITE: These ______________ criminals will never again murder, rape or deal drugs. As governor 10 I made sure they received the ______________ punishment: death. And Texas is a ________________ place for it. BLOCK: Governor White, as you listen to that ad now, what do you think, were those executions ________________? Gov. WHITE: They were clearly ______________ at that time and even today. The distinction that I make 15 today is that we've seen the change in ______________ and science over the years in the ________ testing, which can be done today - makes certain crimes more certain or also confirms the innocence of those ______________ accused. I think we've seen that many people have been released from prison because they were found to be ______________ innocent of the crime. This was something that I think we need to be very ______________ about when we __________ ____ executions today and that's the reason I've 20 been speaking about the prospect of our ______________ reviewing the status of our death penalty ______________. BLOCK: Do you believe that innocent people have been executed in the state of Texas? Gov. WHITE: I don't - I can't say for certain either way. I would hope not, and that's one of the worst things that could possibly happen is you see how terrible it is for someone to be confined for years in prison later to be 25 determined to be innocent because of DNA testing. How much more horrible it would be if we were to have executed someone who was, in fact, innocent? BLOCK: As a strong supporter of the death penalty before, I'm assuming you thought it had some sort of deterrent effect on crime. Do you still think that now? Gov. WHITE: No, I never did think it was a great deterrent, and I still think it's not. Obviously, with 400 people 30 on death row, there's at least 400 people up there that didn't deter. What I felt at the time was, and still do in this sense, that it is an appropriate punishment for the most heinous crimes. And it's been narrowed down as to what those heinous crimes are. What I see in retrospect is that our system is not as foolproof as I think it should be in order to carry out a punishment that's irreversible. BLOCK: Do you think, Governor White, that it would be palatable to you to substitute a sentence of life in 35 prison with no possibility of parole for the death penalty? Gov. WHITE: Well, I'm - let me say, I'm a private citizen and I certainly would accept that as a way to make certain we didn't have unfortunate execution of an innocent person. BLOCK: That would be acceptable, you think? Gov. WHITE: Yes. And I'll assure you that that is a very harsh punishment. If you could imagine being locked 40 up in a room of about maybe 96 square feet for 23 hours of a day, every day for as many years as you might live, it would be a very, very tough existence. BLOCK: When you think about the prisoners who were executed during your time as governor, do you have second thoughts about those? Do those cases come back to you? Gov. WHITE: Every one of them. I can recall the details in which we went through all of the records to make 45 certain everything was done appropriately and then substantively appropriate as well. I don't have any reservation about it, I just - that was a job that I undertook. It was something that was most distasteful. But that's what the law was in Texas. And I think that we have seen a need to strengthen procedures to make sure that we don't have any such thing as execution of an innocent person.

1) Listen to the recording and fill in the blanks 2) Find in the text equivalents of the following words or expressions: Previous__________________ Let out___________________ Supervised________________ Careful___________________ Were candidate____________ Locked in ________________ Final_____________________ Supposing________________

Acceptable_______________ Hard____________________ Regrets__________________ Unpleasant________________

3) Match the following words or expressions with definitions On death row Wrongfully accused Statute Legislature Parole Record

when a prisoner is released early with the agreement that they will behave well the group of people who have the power to make and change laws in prison and waiting to be killed as a punishment for a crime information about someone or something which is stored by the police a law which has been formally approved and written down Unfairly indicted

4) Say whether the following statements are right or wrong. Justify your answers with a quote When he was a governor, Mark White used to oppose Death Penalty. R/W ______________________________________________________________________________________ He has walked with the prisoners on death row before their execution. R/W ______________________________________________________________________________________ Technological progress made him change his views on Death Penalty. R/W ______________________________________________________________________________________ He does not consider Death penalty can deter people from committing crimes. R/W ______________________________________________________________________________________ He thinks the judiciary system is infallible. R/W ______________________________________________________________________________________ 5) Find in the text the 7 adjectives in their comparative or superlative forms. _________________ _________________

_________________ _________________

_________________ _________________

_____________

6) Put the verb in the correct form If we (to be to) ______________ have executed an innocent, it (to be) _____________ much more terrible. If courts (to substitute) ______________ life imprisonment to death penalty, (it to be) ______________ palatable to you? I (to accept) ______________ it, if it (to prove) ______________ to be a way to make certain no innocent was executed If you (to spend)____________ your life locked up in a room, you (to lead) ___________ a tough existence. Mark White ( to like) ______________being reelected in 1990, if electors ( to want) ______________ it. If he ( can) ______________ convince the legislature, they ( to strengthen) ______________ the procedures.

7) Pair Work ( use the vocabulary below) STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS 1) What is the difference between capital punishment and corporal punishment? 2) Do you agree with capital punishment? 3) What is the history of capital punishment in your country? 4) Is the death penalty a deterrent to violent crime? 5) What different methods are there of applying the death penalty? 6) What do you think of the argument “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”? 7) Do you think victims’ families get a sense of closure knowing a killer has been executed? 8) Should the death penalty be applied to mentally disabled people? 9) What do you think the executioner feels? STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS 1) Do you think capital punishment is murder? 2) Which is worse, life imprisonment or the death penalty? 3) What do you think is the most humane way to put someone to death? 4) Do you think the victim’s family should be able to choose the method of execution? 5) If execution is unacceptable, what is the alternative? 6) Why does the “capital” mean in capital punishment? 7) Should the general public be allowed to look at executions? 8) In Britain you risk the death penalty for killing the Queen but not your neighbor. What do you think? 9) Do you think the death penalty can be applied to thieves?

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aggravated kidnapping aircraft hijacking appropriate cold-blooded drug trafficking fit the crime foolproof

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heinous increase in crime irreversible Lethal injection painless rape of victim under 13

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to deter to lock up to support torture treason wrongful conviction

revenge

8) Here are the states where capital punishment is not enforced ( no statute). Find the missing letters. A____________a

N_____h D_______a

H____________i

N_____w J_______y

I____________a

R______e I______d

M____________a

V____________t

M____________e

W____________n

M____________n

W_____t V_______a