Vocabulary: Janssen Pharmaceutica slashes 558 jobs
Belga
Fill out the following words:
to employ; workforce; insufficient; redunancies; to blame; divisions; parent; to cut; to
face
Tue 03/11/2009 - 15:48 The Belgian pharmaceutical giant Janssen
Pharmaceutica (1) ...................... yet more jobs.
The job losses were announced at the company's European Works Council on Tuesday.
The (2) ...................... will be spread over three to four years.
Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceutica's (3) .................... company, is shedding up
to 7% of its (4) ................... worldwide.
CEO Tom Heyman told the Works Council: "Sadly we have to axe 558 permanent jobs in
Belgium. The cuts will occur in production, R&D as well as in several other (5)
........................ in Beerse, Olen and Geel.
318 jobs are set to go next year, 240 jobs the following years.
At present Janssen Pharmaceutica (6) ......................... 4,200 including 400 blue collar
workers.
The job cutting operation will be a difficult one as it follows similar operations in earlier
years. In 2002, 2007 and 2008 850 jobs were cut.
The company (7) ............................. rising production costs. The pharmaceutical sector
has been (8) ...................... structural problems for some time and it is becoming
increasingly difficult and expensive to develop medicines.
Several Janssen Pharmaceutica patents have lapsed and revenue is understood to have
fallen.
Tom Heyman: "The reorganisation is painful, but it's the only way to remain an important
expertise model within Johnson & Johnson. Together with companies like Tibotec and
Virco we will concentrate on R&D of therapies that address medical needs for which there
are (9) ............................... answers at the moment."
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Vocabulary: Belgian police: "Young officers lack
discipline"
Translate & fill out the missing words:
aanwervings- ; vergen; botsen (2x) ; bezorgdheid ; nadruk (2x) ; aanpakken;
voorstander van; gepast ; controleren ; voorbeeld- ; vakbond
According to Jan Schonkeren, head of the liberal (1) t............u............ for the
police, young police officers do not have sufficient discipline.
He is in favour of stricter recruitment criteria and more (2) e..................... on discipline
during police training.
"Young officers do not fully understand the (3) e...................... role the police play in
society. They (4) c................. too often with deontological rules. Even worse,
sometimes they (5) c..................... with judicial authorities," officer Schonkeren said in
the Sunday edition of the daily Het Nieuwsblad.
Schonkeren thinks that police academies should (6) t.......................... the problem and
there should be more (7) e........................ on discipline during classes. He also calls for
stricter (8) r....................... criteria, especially in where the 'morality of the candidates'
is concerned.
Earlier this year the parliamentary committee Comité P, which (9) au................ the
police services in the country, expressed (10) c......................... . "Our young officers
no longer know how to react (11) ad.......................... to problems that arise," was its
conclusion.
Comité P is also in (12) f................... .... better and more extensive training at the
police academy. It also (13) c............... ....... stricter recruitment criteria.
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Reading: Cloud computing
What cloud computing really means
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The next big trend sounds nebulous, but it's not so fuzzy when you view the
value proposition from the perspective of IT professionals
By Eric Knorr, Galen Gruman | InfoWorld
Cloud computing is all the rage. "It's become the phrase du jour," says Gartner senior
analyst Ben Pring, echoing many of his peers. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0)
everyone seems to have a different definition.
As a metaphor for the Internet, "the cloud" is a familiar cliché, but when combined with
"computing," the meaning gets bigger and fuzzier. Some analysts and vendors define
cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual
servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you
consume outside the firewall is "in the cloud," including conventional outsourcing.
Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a
way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new
infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing
encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the
Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities.
Cloud computing is at an early stage, with a motley crew of providers large and small
delivering a slew of cloud-based services, from full-blown applications to storage services
to spam filtering. Yes, utility-style infrastructure providers are part of the mix, but so are
SaaS (software as a service) providers such as Salesforce.com. Today, for the most
part, IT must plug into cloud-based services individually, but cloud computing
aggregators and integrators are already emerging.
InfoWorld talked to dozens of vendors, analysts, and IT customers to tease out the
various components of cloud computing. Based on those discussions, here's a rough
breakdown of what cloud computing is all about:
1. SaaS
This type of cloud computing delivers a single application through the browser to
thousands of customers using a multitenant architecture. On the customer side, it means
no upfront investment in servers or software licensing; on the provider side, with just
one app to maintain, costs are low compared to conventional hosting. Salesforce.com is
by far the best-known example among enterprise applications, but SaaS is also common
for HR apps and has even worked its way up the food chain to ERP, with players such as
Workday. And who could have predicted the sudden rise of SaaS "desktop"
applications, such as Google Apps and Zoho Office?
2. Utility computing
The idea is not new, but this form of cloud computing is getting new life from
Amazon.com, Sun, IBM, and others who now offer storage and virtual servers that IT can
access on demand. Early enterprise adopters mainly use utility computing for
supplemental, non-mission-critical needs, but one day, they may replace parts of the
datacenter. Other providers offer solutions that help IT create virtual datacenters from
commodity servers, such as 3Tera's AppLogic and Cohesive Flexible Technologies' Elastic
Server on Demand. Liquid Computing's LiquidQ offers similar capabilities, enabling IT to
stitch together memory, I/O, storage, and computational capacity as a virtualized
resource pool available over the network.
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3. Web services in the cloud
Closely related to SaaS, Web service providers offer APIs that enable developers to
exploit functionality over the Internet, rather than delivering full-blown applications. They
range from providers offering discrete business services -- such as Strike Iron and
Xignite -- to the full range of APIs offered by Google Maps, ADP payroll processing, the
U.S. Postal Service, Bloomberg, and even conventional credit card processing services.
4. Platform as a service
Another SaaS variation, this form of cloud computing delivers development environments
as a service. You build your own applications that run on the provider's infrastructure and
are delivered to your users via the Internet from the provider's servers. Like Legos, these
services are constrained by the vendor's design and capabilities, so you don't get
complete freedom, but you do get predictability and pre-integration. Prime examples
include Salesforce.com's Force.com, Coghead and the new Google App Engine. For
extremely lightweight development, cloud-based mashup platforms abound, such as
Yahoo Pipes or Dapper.net.
5. MSP (managed service providers)
One of the oldest forms of cloud computing, a managed service is basically an application
exposed to IT rather than to end-users, such as a virus scanning service for e-mail or an
application monitoring service (which Mercury, among others, provides). Managed
security services delivered by SecureWorks, IBM, and Verizon fall into this category, as
do such cloud-based anti-spam services as Postini, recently acquired by Google. Other
offerings include desktop management services, such as those offered by CenterBeam or
Everdream.
6. Service commerce platforms
A hybrid of SaaS and MSP, this cloud computing service offers a service hub that users
interact with. They're most common in trading environments, such as expense
management systems that allow users to order travel or secretarial services from a
common platform that then coordinates the service delivery and pricing within the
specifications set by the user. Think of it as an automated service bureau. Well-known
examples include Rearden Commerce and Ariba.
7. Internet integration
The integration of cloud-based services is in its early days. OpSource, which mainly
concerns itself with serving SaaS providers, recently introduced the OpSource Services
Bus, which employs in-the-cloud integration technology from a little startup called Boomi.
SaaS provider Workday recently acquired another player in this space, CapeClear, an
ESB (enterprise service bus) provider that was edging toward b-to-b integration. Way
ahead of its time, Grand Central -- which wanted to be a universal "bus in the cloud" to
connect SaaS providers and provide integrated solutions to customers -- flamed out in
2005.
Today, with such cloud-based interconnection seldom in evidence, cloud computing might
be more accurately described as "sky computing," with many isolated clouds of services
which IT customers must plug into individually. On the other hand, as virtualization and
SOA permeate the enterprise, the idea of loosely coupled services running on an agile,
scalable infrastructure should eventually make every enterprise a node in the cloud. It's
a long-running trend with a far-out horizon. But among big metatrends, cloud computing
is the hardest one to argue with in the long term.
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Vocabulary
 nebulous: ..............
She has a few nebulous ideas about what she might like to do in the future, but nothing
definite.
 Fuzzy: .............
 outsource: ..............
 On the fly: Spontaneously or extemporaneously (onvoorbereid, geïmproviseerd) ;
done as one goes, or during another activity. In colloquial use, “on the fly” means
something created when needed. The phrase is used to mean:
1.something that was not planned ahead
2.changes that are made during the execution of some activity: ex tempore,
impromptu, ie. without preparation.
E.g. The software program has a table of values for some results, but calculates
others on the fly.
 To encompass: .................
 Pay-per-use: ......................
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To extend: uitbreiden
A stage: een fase
Motley: ...................
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A slew: ...................
Full-blown: fully developed
To emerge: to appear
A vendor (AmE) someone who’s selling something (verkoper)
To tease out: ....................
Multitenant: “..................
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Upfront: direct
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a term usually used in conjunction with ERP
software or an ERP system which is intended to manage all the information and
functions of a business or company from shared data stores.
An ERP system typically has modular hardware and software units and "services" that
communicate on a local area network. The modular design allows a business to add
or reconfigure modules (perhaps from different vendors) while preserving data
integrity in one shared database that may be centralized or distributed
supplemental: added to complete or make up a deficiency; "produced
supplementary volumes"
Utility computing: Utility computing is the packaging of computing resources, such as
computation and storage, as a metered service similar to a traditional public utility
(such as electricity, water, natural gas, or telephone network). This system has the
advantage of a low or no initial cost to acquire hardware; instead, computational
resources are essentially rented.
commodity: ………………….
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I/O: …………………..
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API: …………………………………………………………….. (API) is an interface that a software
program implements in order to allow other software to interact with it, much in the
same way that software might implement a user interface in order to allow humans to
use it. APIs are implemented by applications, libraries and operating systems to
define how other software can make calls to or request services from them
to range from: variëren van
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to constrain: ………………………………….
prime: ……………………………..
to abound: to exist in large numbers (in overvloed voorkomen)
Theories abound about how the Earth began.
 Yahoo Pipes: Pipes is a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and
mashup content from around the web. (A pipe = een buis, leiding, pijp)
 expense: (1) when you spend or use money, time or effort; (2) [ C ] something
which causes you to spend money
 to edge:
to move slowly with gradual movements or in gradual stages, or to make someone or
something move in this way
A long line of traffic edged its way forward.
Inflation has edged up to 5% over the last two years.
Those who disagreed with the director's viewpoint were gradually edged out of (=
forced to leave) the company.
 b-to-b: ……………………………
 to flame out: ……………………………….
 SOA: service-oriented architecture
 to permeate: to spread through something and be present in every part of it
Dissatisfaction with the government seems to have permeated every section of society.
A foul smell of stale beer permeated the whole building.
The table has a plastic coating which prevents liquids from permeating into the wood
beneath.
 agile: (literally) able to move your body quickly and easily
 scalability: is the ability of a computer application or product (hardware or software)
to continue to function well when it (or its context) is changed in size or volume in
order to meet a user need. Typically, the rescaling is to a larger size or volume. The
rescaling can be of the product itself (for example, a line of computer systems of
different sizes in terms of storage, RAM, and so forth) or in the scalable object's
movement to a new context (for example, a new operating system).
An example: John Young in his book Exploring IBM's New-Age Mainframes describes
the RS/6000 SP operating system as one that delivers scalability ("the ability to retain
performance levels when adding additional processors"). Another example: In
printing, scalable fonts are fonts that can be resized smaller or larger using software
without losing quality.
In Dutch: schaalbaarheid = De mogelijkheid van een database (in de regel van een
serversysteem) om mee te groeien met de performance-eisen van de gebruikers,
desnoods door de overstap op een ander hardwareplatform of besturingssysteem.
 a node: …………….
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far-out: strange and unusual
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Capital punishment
1. Introduction
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Definition
Capital punishment or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process
as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as
capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally
"regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by
the severing of the head.
Today, most countries are considered by Amnesty International as abolitionists, which
allowed a vote on a nonbinding resolution to the UN to promote the abolition of the death
penalty. But more than 60% of the worldwide population live in countries where
executions take place insofar as the four most populous countries in the world (the
People's Republic of China, India, United States and Indonesia) apply the death penalty
and are unlikely to abolish it at any time soon.
History
Execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies—both
to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. In most places that practice capital
punishment it is reserved for murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In
some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery, incest and sodomy, carry the
death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy in Islamic nations (the formal
renunciation of the State religion). In many countries that use the death penalty, drug
trafficking is also a capital offense. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of
corruption are punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world courtsmartial have imposed death sentences for offenses such as cowardice, desertion,
insubordination, and mutiny.
In medieval and early modern Europe, before the development of modern prison
systems, the death penalty was also used as a generalised form of punishment. For
example, in 1700s Britain there were 222 crimes which were punishable by death,
including crimes such as cutting down a tree or stealing an animal. Thanks to the
notorious Bloody Code, 18th century (and early 19th century) Britain was a hazardous
place to live. For example, Michael Hammond and his sister, Ann, whose ages were given
as 7 and 11, were reportedly hanged at King's Lynn on Wednesday, September 28, 1708
for theft. The local press did not, however, consider the executions of two children
newsworthy.
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The 20th century was one of the bloodiest of the human history. Massive killing occurred
as the resolution of war between nation-states. A large part of execution was summary
execution of enemy combatants. Also, modern military organisations employed capital
punishment as a means of maintaining military discipline. The Soviets, for example,
executed 158,000 soldiers for desertion during World War II. In the past, cowardice,
absence without leave, desertion, insubordination, looting, shirking under enemy fire and
disobeying orders were often crimes punishable by death. One method of execution since
firearms came into common use has almost invariably been firing squad. Moreover,
various authoritarian states—for example those with fascist or communist governments—
employed the death penalty as a potent means of political oppression. Partly as a
response to such excessive punishment, civil organisations have started to place
increasing emphasis on the concept of human rights and abolition of the death penalty.
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Among countries around the world, almost all European and many Pacific Area states
(including Australia, New Zealand and Timor Leste), and Canada have abolished capital
punishment. In Latin America, most states have completely abolished the use of capital
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punishment, while some countries, such as Brazil, allow for capital punishment only in
exceptional situations, such as treason committed during wartime. The United States
(the federal government and 35 of the states), Guatemala, most of the Caribbean and
the majority of democracies in Asia (e.g. Japan and India) and Africa (e.g. Botswana and
Zambia) retain it. South Africa, which is probably the most developed African nation, and
which has been a democracy since 1994, does not have the death penalty. This fact is
currently quite controversial in that country, due to the high levels of violent crime,
including murder and rape.
Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, is a good tool for police and
prosecutors (in plea bargaining for example), improves the community by making sure
that convicted criminals do not offend again, provides closure to surviving victims or
loved ones, and is a just penalty for their crime. Opponents of capital punishment argue
that it has led to the execution of wrongfully convicted, that it discriminates against
minorities and the poor, that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment,
that it encourages a "culture of violence", that it is more expensive than life
imprisonment, and that it violates human rights.
Controversy and debate
Capital punishment is often the subject of controversy. Opponents of the death penalty
argue that it has led to the execution of innocent people, that life imprisonment is an
effective and less expensive substitute, that it discriminates against minorities and the
poor, and that it violates the criminal's right to life. Supporters believe that the penalty is
justified for murderers by the principle of retribution, that life imprisonment is not an
equally effective deterrent, and that the death penalty affirms the right to life by
punishing those who violate it in the strictest form.
Wrongful executions
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put
to death by capital punishment. Many people have been proclaimed innocent victims of
the death penalty. Some have claimed that as many as 39 executions have been carried
out in the U.S. in face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.
Newly-available DNA evidence has allowed the exoneration of more than 15 death row
inmates since 1992 in the U.S., but DNA evidence is only available in a fraction of capital
cases. In the UK, reviews prompted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission have
resulted in one pardon and three exonerations with compensation paid for people
executed between 1950 and 1953, when the execution rate in England and Wales
averaged 17 per year.
Of the American cases, one often quoted is the execution of Jesse Tafero in Florida.
Tafero was convicted along with an accomplice, Sonia Jacobs, of murdering two police
officers in 1976 while the two were fleeing drug charges; each was sentenced to death
based partially on the testimony of a third person, Walter Rhodes, a prison acquaintance
of Tafero's who was an accessory to the crime and who testified against the pair in
exchange for a lighter sentence. Jacobs's death sentence was commuted in 1981. In
1982, Rhodes recanted his testimony and claimed full responsibility for the crime.
Despite Rhodes's admission, Tafero was executed in 1990. In 1992 the conviction against
Jacobs was quashed and the state subsequently did not have enough evidence to retry
her. She then entered an Alford plea and was sentenced to time served. It has been
presumed that, as the same evidence was used against Tafero as against Jacobs, Tafero
would have been released as well had he still been alive.
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Vocabulary
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to sever (6): to break or separate, especially by cutting (doorhakken, afsnijden)
nonbinding (9): niet-bindend
insofar as (11): voor zover
populous (11): …………………..
to abolish (8/13) > the abolition : afschaffen
dissent (n) (17): …………………….
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When the time came to approve the proposal, there were one or two voices of
dissent.
treason (18): ……………………….
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adultery (19): ……………………..
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sodomy (19): ……………………..
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apostasy (20): the act of giving up your religious or political beliefs and leaving a
religion or a political party (apostasie, afval(ligheid) (van geloof / partij),
geloofsverzaking)
renunciation (21): the formal announcement that someone no longer owns, supports,
believes in or has a connection with something (afstand, verzaking)
the renunciation of violence
courts-martial (24): a military court
to impose a sentence (24): …………………..
cowardice (24): ……………………..
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desertion (24): ……………………..
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insubordination (25): ……………………..
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mutiny (25): ……………………..
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Conditions on the ship were often very bad, and crews were on the point of mutiny.
resolution (38): when you solve or end a problem or difficulty
summary (adj.) (38-39): done suddenly, without discussion or legal arrangements:
summary arrest/dismissal/execution (snel, kort)
a combatant (39): a person who fights in a war (strijder, strijdende partij)
as a means of (40): als een middel om
leave (noun) (42): ……………………..
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to loot (42): ……………………..
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to shirk (42): to avoid work, duties or responsibilities, especially if they are difficult or
unpleasant (zich onttrekken aan) : If you shirk your responsibilities/duties now,
the situation will just be that much harder to deal with next month.
firearms (44): ……………………..
firing squad (44): a ……………………..
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potent (46): ……………………..
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excessive (47): too much (buitensporig, exorbitant)
to retain (57): ……………………..
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advocate (n) (62): ……………………..
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 opponent (65)
to deter (62): to prevent from doing something or to make someone less
enthusiastic about doing something by making it difficult for them to do it or by
threatening bad results if they do it (afschrikken, ontmoedigen)
plea bargaining (63): A plea bargain (also plea agreement, plea deal or copping a
plea) is an agreement in a criminal case where by the prosecutor offers the defendant
the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal
charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence. (het
bepleiten van strafvermindering in ruil voor schuldbekentenis)
closure (64): ……………………..
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to discriminate against someone (NOT: discriminate someone !!) (66)
a substitute (74): ……………………..
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to violate (75): schenden
the right +to +noun (e.g. the right to life): het recht OP leven (75)
to justify (76): rechtvaardigen
retribution (76): ……………………..
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equally effective (77): even effectief
wrongful (80): ……………………..
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a miscarriage of justice (81): a situation in which someone is punished by the law
courts for a crime that they have not committed (rechterlijke dwaling)
to put to death = to execute (82): ter dood brengen, executeren, terechtstellen
to proclaim (82): to announce something publicly or officially, especially something
positive (verklaren, verkondigen)
in face of (84): ……………………..
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compelling (84):
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exoneration (85): to show or state that someone or something is not guilty of
something (zuivering, vrijspraak, verontschuldiging)
death row (85): “on death row “ =……………………..
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……………………..
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an inmate (86): a prisoner
a fraction (86): a very small part (een klein deel, een stuk)
a pardon (88): when someone who has committed a crime is officially forgiven
(kwijtschelding (van straf) , gratie(verlening), amnestie)
compensation (88): money that is paid to someone in exchange for something that
has been lost or damaged or for some problem (schadevergoeding)
to quote (92): to cite/mention
an accomplice (93): ……………………..
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a charge (94): ……………………..
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to testify  a testimony (95): getuigenis
an acquaintance (95): a person you know (kennis)
an accessory (96): someone who helps another person to commit a crime but does
not take part in it (an accessory to murder) (medeplichtige)
to commute (97): to change a punishment to one that is less severe (verlichten,
verminderen, verzachten, omzetten)
to recant (98): to announce in public that your past beliefs or statements were wrong
and that you no longer agree with them (terugtrekken, terugkomen op, terugnemen,
herroepen)
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to quash (100): to state officially that something, especially an earlier official
decision, is no longer to be accepted (verwerpen, vernietigen, casseren, ongegrond
oordelen, ongedaan maken)
His conviction was quashed in March 1986 after his counsel argued that the police
evidence was a tissue of lies.
to try: to examine a person accused of committing a crime in a court of law by
asking them questions and considering known facts, and then decide if they are guilty
(verhoren, berechten)
Because of security implications the officers were tried in secret.
They are being tried for murder.
an Alford plea (101): In an Alford Plea, the criminal defendant does not admit the act,
but admits that the prosecution could likely prove the charge. The court will
pronounce the defendant guilty. The defendant may plead guilty yet not admit all the
facts that comprise the crime. An Alford plea allows defendant to plead guilty even
while unable or unwilling to admit guilt. One example is a situation where the
defendant has no recollection of the pertinent events due to intoxication or amnesia.
A defendant making an Alford plea maintains his innocence of the offense charged.
One reason for making such a plea may be to avoid being convicted on a more
serious charge. Acceptance of an Alford plea is in the court's discretion.
to serve time (101): ……………………..
2. Film: The Life of David Gale
Class discussion of the film and the abolition of capital punishment
THE DEATH PENALTY: THE POLITICAL ARGUMENT
By Alan Parker (director of “The Life of David Gale”)
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Our film is a thriller. It would be hypocritical to pretend otherwise, cognizant as we all
are of the commercial demands of the contemporary movie business. Perhaps, because
of this alone, I still would have made the film. But I would also be remiss in pretending
that this was the only reason that I was attracted to this project. Personally I am very
much against the death penalty for several reasons, which I will explain below. Charles
Randolph, the writer, is against it because he believes that it doesn’t work. The actors principally Kevin, Kate and Laura - have varying views, which probably mirror the myriad
of current popular opinions.
Nevertheless, our film is not a political diatribe. It is a story about people who would go
to great extremes because of their beliefs, and to that end the film is biased on their
behalf. However, I most certainly hope that the film will provoke debate. Here is my
personal understanding of the “for” and “against” arguments with regard to the death
penalty.
There are literally thousands of anti-death penalty websites on the internet
(www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) as patently pointed out by one of the few pro-death penalty
sites (www.prodeathpenalty.com).
As of writing, the most recent U.S. survey (Gallup, May 2002) shows that 52% approve
of the death penalty as opposed to 43% who favor “life without parole.” The “for” figure
has grown steadily since an all time low in 1965, with a high in recent years of 61%
(1997). When the question is asked without an alternative of life sentence, the figure in
favor is a good deal higher (www.gallup.com).
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Compassion for the victims of violent crime is paramount in all views on the death
penalty, whether for or against it. A cursory glance at the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice’s comprehensive website (www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/deathrow) revealing the
actual crimes for which many of the residents of Death Row have been convicted makes
for pretty gruesome reading. The most “bleeding heart” liberal could not argue with the
litany of heinous crimes scrupulously recorded there. These people, if guilty of their
crimes, undoubtedly should be punished. But should they be put to death? Are they all
guilty? In the last twenty-five years, 102 condemned prisoners were released from Death
Row in the U.S. because they were discovered to be innocent. (A few due to the advent
of DNA, but mostly they were victims of dishonest witnesses.)
The possibility of an innocent being executed is the single most important argument that
could possibly sway public opinion (and hence is the crux of our movie). Of those polled
by Gallup, 90% stated that they thought that probably as many as 10% of those
executed were innocent. As the American Bar Association has repeatedly pointed out,
individuals prosecuted for murder, predominantly from the bottom end of the economic
scale, cannot afford to pay for lawyers and consequently, in the vast majority of cases,
do not have adequate legal representation.
Popular support for the death penalty in the U.S. is linked to the considerable increase in
violent crime. Little has to do with its effectiveness as a deterrent. The overwhelming
evidence is to the contrary. (The Texas crime rate rose 4% in 2001, nearly five times the
national average, with a 7.6% increase in homicides. At the same time, the total number
of executions in Texas was more than three times that of any other state. The Northeast
– the region with the lowest murder rate – had no executions in 2001.) There is also a
view that the sheer brutalizing effect of the death penalty doesn’t deter, but actually
aggravates, crime. The polls state, however, that most people don’t even care if it is
effective. The argument appears to still be fueled by retribution: that vindication is a
moral imperative – that only execution can fulfill a society’s will – “it fits the crime.” To
be against the death penalty becomes an expression of fear: of being “soft on crime,” or
oblivious to the horrendous rise in crime, violent or otherwise, that affects everyone’s
daily lives.
Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated in the United States, there have been
807 executions. In 2002 the figure (as I write) was 66 - down from a high of 98 in 1999.
In theory, the death penalty exists in 38 states and Death Rows swell around the country
(from 691 in 1980 to 3,697 currently). However, except for the southern states - led by
Texas (285), Virginia (87), Missouri (58), and Florida (53) - many states seem reluctant
to administer it. The view seemingly being that it’s important to have the death penalty
as long as it’s rarely used. California, for instance (with the country’s highest number of
homicides), has the most populous Death Row (613) and yet since 1976 has carried out
only 10 executions.
Another key issue in the debate is that of racial discrimination. While blacks represent
12% of the U.S. population, 35% of those executed are black. This is an issue that
continues to divide the Supreme Court. As does the execution of juveniles and the
mentally ill and retarded. (Once again, for the pro-death penalty view on this, see
www.prodeathpenalty.com/articles.htm. For the abolitionists’ argument, see
http://dev.aclu.org/DeathPenalty/DeathPenaltyMain.cfm or www.amnestyusa.
org/abolish.)
With regard to the “life without parole” solution, most people have a deep concern that
this doesn’t actually mean “forever,” and that one day a murderer will be back on the
streets. There is also the belief that this solution is too expensive – a waste of taxpayers’
money. (In fact, the cost of lifelong incarceration is actually one quarter of that incurred
by a death penalty case – legally complex and with the state paying for both prosecution
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and defense costs. In Texas, the average time that a prisoner spends on Death Row is
ten years while the legal appeals process takes place).
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The Supreme Court has also grappled with the issue of “cruel and unusual punishment” –
the phrase contained in the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1791) taken
from the English Bill of Rights (1689). The Supreme Court’s inability to come to an
agreement on this led to the decade-long moratorium on executions from the 1960’s into
the 1970’s and the opinions of 1972 and 1976 when the court, during a period of
considerable obfuscation, declared the contrary decisions which have plagued the
tenuous legality of the death penalty ever since. For example:
Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun: “Intravenous tubes attached to his arms will
carry the instrument of death, a toxic fluid designed for the specific purpose of killing
human beings...no longer a defendant…but a man, strapped to a gurney and seconds
away from extinction.”
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, not known for his munificence (comparing lethal
injection with the brutal rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl): “How enviable a
quiet death by lethal injection compared to that!”
Supreme Court Justice Blackmun: “The death penalty remains fraught with arbitrariness,
discrimination, caprice, and mistake.”
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Supreme Court Justice Scalia: “If the people conclude that more brutal deaths may be
deterred by capital punishment, indeed, if they merely conclude that justice requires
such brutal deaths to be avenged…the court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence should
not prevent them.”
Apart from the shibboleth of deterrence, Justice Scalia probably got it right regarding
public opinion: revenge is what it’s all about. Certainly lethal injection is a lot less “cruel
and unusual” than “Old Sparky” - the electric chair, which preceded it for seventy years.
You find the vein, a little choking, a sigh and they’re gone. Scalia has been at the center
of the death penalty debate as a leading conservative on the Supreme Court since 1986,
hence my attention to him here. For Scalia, retribution, not vengeance, is achieved, just
as it says in the Bible (which often figures in the debate - Matthew 5:7). Scalia quoting
Paul: “If you do wrong, then you may well be afraid: because it is not for nothing that
the symbol of authority is the sword.” Needless to say, Scalia, a Roman Catholic, wasn’t
exactly in tune with his church, which had odd notions of “turning the other cheek” along
with fifty other quotes from the Bible not included here. In fact, the U.S. Catholic bishops
had a go at influencing the justice with Ezekiel: “And the Lord said, I swear I take no
pleasure in taking the life of a wicked man.” Scalia was unimpressed by Ezekiel, because
anyway, he wasn’t saying he took any pleasure in it, merely that he was “part of the
machinery of death.” Pope John Paul II asked the U.S. to stop this “cycle of violence” to
no avail. Scalia ignored them all in the name of American democracy. It wasn’t just the
Pope who was worried about all the executions in the U.S. - so was the rest of the world.
Not that it made a jot of difference to U.S. popular opinion. The U.S. suddenly found
itself out of step with every modern democracy, all of whom had long before abolished
the death penalty. Justice Scalia, however, had his own take on this. He said, “The more
Christian a country is, the less likely it is to regard the death penalty as immoral.
Abolition has taken its firmest hold in post-Christian Europe and has best support in the
church-going United States. I attribute this to the fact that for a believing Christian,
death is no big deal.”
It goes without saying that Scalia’s characterization of Europe as “post-Christian”
wouldn’t go down too well at the Vatican or with the European Union’s 254 million
Catholics. Also, Scalia’s hypothesis doesn’t really fly, considering the conduct of atheist
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China and Muslim Iraq (the two countries that perform more executions than the United
States). Although one could allow Scalia’s argument that both of those countries do not
consider death “a big deal.” In April 2001, the United Nations passed a resolution calling
for all members to abandon the death penalty. (Currently, 110 countries have already
done so.) The U.S. was subsequently ejected from the U.N. Human Rights Committee for
the first time since 1947, when the organization was formed. The U.S. suddenly found
itself among odd bedfellows on a list of most executions in 1999:
1. China, 2. Iraq, 3. Congo, 4. U.S.A., 5. Iran.
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The “pro” argument says that it’s churlish for Europeans, like myself, to get snotty about
this. After all, the homicide rate in the U.S. is ten times higher than it is in Western
Europe, so maybe stiffer sentences are in order – and so the debate becomes more
turbid. However, it is clear that America’s apparent insensate and obdurate position on
the death penalty has considerably degraded the image of the U.S. in democratic Europe,
perhaps negating its moral leadership in the world. An editorial in France’s Le Monde
accurately summed up European feeling: “The death penalty, along with limits on
abortion rights and the sale of firearms, is digging a gulf between America and the Old
Continent, a gulf of values and misunderstanding that drives them apart. In this domain,
President Bush, more than any of his predecessors, incarnates an America that is more
and more distant from Europe.” Amongst considerable opprobrium, Bush is often
described by left-wing politicians as a “serial assassin” (authorizing as he did 146
executions during his tenure as governor of Texas).
International criticism, of course, goes unheeded in the traditionally inward-looking
United States. Scalia even postulated that, “Secular Europe’s thought on this matter is
the legacy of Napoleon, Hegel and Freud.” Europeans would argue that Adolph Hitler and
Joseph Stalin probably had a greater influence on their present thinking.
The oft-held view in Europe is that the U.S.’s barbaric avidity for execution is just a
reflection of a brutal society. But claiming the moral high ground isn’t that simple. Okay,
the U.S. is in violation of the U.N. Resolution on Human Rights, and there are more
firearms in private hands in the U.S. than in the entire Chinese Army, but in truth,
popular opinion in Europe doesn’t always accurately reflect the views of its politicians and
representatives.
When polled, people’s opinions are remarkably similar to those held in the U.S. For
instance, in the U.K., support for the return of capital punishment grew to 70% in the
late 1990’s in the wake of highly publicized murders of children. (It currently stands at
60%.) In the Netherlands, the most liberal of societies, the figure is 52% in favor. In
France and Italy, support sits at 50%. The new Eastern European members of the EU
have all abolished capital punishment as a prerequisite of membership, even though 60%
of people favor its retention. Boris Yeltsin commuted 700 prisoners on Russia’s Death
Rows to “life imprisonment” in order to gain membership to the Council of Europe.
It is argued that it’s not so much a divide in U.S. and European public opinion as a
difference between political cultures. The difference in Europe is that governments
decided to abolish capital punishment for intellectual and moral reasons, despite the will
of the populace. This couldn’t happen in the U.S. It can’t just be explained away as the
Faustian bargain that American politicians strike – votes being more important than
principles. As reasoned in Stuart Banner’s excellent book, The Death Penalty: An
American History, it could be argued that the United States is more, well, democratic.
After all, no U.S. politician would run for office on an issue if the polls said that the
electorate was against it. Increasingly, this very issue actually defines a candidate to the
voters. And so the effect on government, and the law, becomes most directly the will of
the people. Hence, the moral high ground is not easily yielded.
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Whatever side of the debate we all sit on – whether you see it as an abasement of all
civilized human values or as a necessary evil in an increasingly evil society – it’s obvious
that it’s not a clear-cut issue, and if it isn’t 100% clear, we have no right to so readily
take the lives of other human beings.
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Once again, Justice Blackmun’s words of 25 years ago: “The death penalty remains
fraught with arbitrariness, discrimination, caprice and mistake.” Nothing has changed.
Too many of those that are sent to their deaths have been black, Hispanic, uneducated
and poor. The execution of juveniles and the mentally ill or retarded cannot be
acceptable in a civilized society. A patently flawed and fallible justice system continues to
send innocents to their deaths. Even Justice Scalia agrees with this: “Death is no big
deal,” he said. “But the execution of an innocent is.”
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The overwhelming evidence shows that the threat of Death Row, and ultimately many
years later the threat of injection of lethal poison, certainly does not deter violent crime.
But the fear of crime - all crime - affects everyone’s lives and this real concern causes
people to continue to demand the greatest retribution.
My own views are probably close to those expressed in Constance’s speech outside the
Texas State Capitol in our film:
SCRIPT EXTRACT
Constance:
When you kill someone, you rob their family. Not just of a loved one, but of their
humanity – you harden their hearts with hate, you take away their capacity for civilized
dispassion, you condemn them to blood lust. It’s cruel, horrible thing. But indulging that
hate will never help. The damage is done and once we’ve had our pound of flesh we’re
still hungry, we leave the Death House muttering that lethal injection was just too good
for them. In the end, a civilized society must live with a hard truth: he who seeks
revenge digs two graves.
Vocabulary
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cognizant (1): knowing
contemporary (2): ………….
to be remiss (in) (3): careless and not doing a duty well enough (nalatig, achteloos,
onachtzaam, laks, lui)
a myriad (8): ……………………………
a diatribe (9): an angry speech or piece of writing which severely criticizes something
or someone (scherpe kritiek, aanval)
to go to extremes (10): tot uitersten gaan
to be biased (10): …………….
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patently (15): in a way that is clear
parole (19): …………………
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steadily (19): slowly
an all time low (19): ……………
paramount (22): …………….
cursory (23): quick and probably not detailed (vluchtig, oppervlakkig)
gruesome (26): extremely unpleasant and shocking, and usually dealing with death
or injury
a litany (27): …………….
heinous (27): very bad and shocking (gruwelijk)
to condemn (29): …………………
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the advent (30): ………..
the crux (33): the most important or serious part of a matter, problem or argument
(essentie, kernpunt)
to poll (33): ………………………….
predominantly (36): ……………………………
adequate (38): proper (gepast, adequaat)
homicide (42): doodslag
to aggravate (46): ……………………
to vindicate (47): to prove that what someone said or did was right or true, after
other people thought it was wrong (rechtvaardigen)
an imperative (48): something which is extremely important or urgent (verplichting)
to be oblivious to (50): …………………
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horrendous (50): extremely unpleasant or bad (verschrikkelijk, afschuwelijk)
reluctant (56): …………………
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retarded (54): ……………
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incarceration (71): …………..
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to grapple (75): to try to deal with or understand a difficult problem or subject
(worstelen met)
a moratorium (78): ………..
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to obfuscate (80): to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially
intentionally (in de war brengen)
tenuous (81): A tenuous connection, idea or situation is weak and possibly does not
exist (fragiel, dun)
to plague (80): ………….
a Justice (82): US - a judge in a court of law (rechter, zittend magistraat)
a gurney (84): brancard
munificence (86): generosity (gulheud)
enviable (88): …………..
fraught (89): vol, beladen
arbitrariness (90): …………
caprice (90): (the quality of often having) a sudden and usually silly wish to have or
do something, or a sudden and silly change of mind or behaviour; a whim
(wispelturigheid, eigenzinnigheid, grilligheid)
jurisprudence (93): the study of law and the principles on which law is based
(rechtswetenschap)
shibboleth (95): a belief or custom that is not now considered as important and
correct as it was in the past
vengeance (100): ……..
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to be in tune with sth (104): If you are in tune with people or ideas, you understand
or agree with them, and if you are out of tune with them, you do not
to no avail (109-110): ……..
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a hold (116): ………
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to attribute sth to sth else (117): ……………
to fly (121): …………..
the conduct (121): ……………….
odd bedfellows (128): strange and peculiar companions
churlish (130): rude, unfriendly and unpleasant (lomp, onbehouwen)
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snotty (130): ehaving rudely to other people in a way that shows that you believe
yourself to be better than them (verwaand, snobistisch)
turbid (133): …………….
insensate (133): ………………..
obdurate (133): ………………
to degrade (134): ………….
to incarnate (139): ……………
opprobrium (140): schandaal
tenure (142): …………………..
unheeded (143): …………………..
secular (144): not having any connection with religion (seculier)
avidity (147): gretigheid; hebzucht
in the wake of (155): in het spoor van, in de voetstappen van
a prerequisite (158): …………………
populace (164): bevolking
a Faustian bargain (165): A deal with the Devil, pact with the Devil, or Faustian
bargain is a cultural motif widespread wherever belief in the Devil is vividly present,
most familiar in the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, but elemental
to many Christian folktales. According to traditional Christian belief in witchcraft, the
pact is between a person and Satan or any other demon (or demons); the person
offers his or her soul in exchange for diabolical favours.
strike a bargain (164-165): ……………….
the polls (168): a study in which people are asked for their opinions about a subject
or person (opiniepeiling)
the electorate (169): …………….
claim the moral high ground : to say that you are morally better than someone else
abasement (172): vernedering, verlaging
flawed (180): not perfect, or containing mistakes (gebrekkig)
fallible (180): able or likely to make mistakes (onvolmaakt)
dispassion (193): able to think clearly or make good decisions because not influenced
by emotions (kalmte, koelheid, objectiviteit)
blood lust (193): when people enjoy being violent or watching other people being
violent
to indulge (193): to give someone anything they want and not to mind if they behave
badly (toegeven aan, hier: haat)
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Grammar
Read this sentence:
Students are interacting with fewer and fewer people in the hall as colleges have moved
to more and more single rooms.
Translation of fewer:
( More is the opposite)
What other English word expresses the same Dutch meaning?
You can use either ‘fewer’ or ‘………..’, depending on the word you use it with. In fact, it’s
the same difference as with ‘many’ and ‘much’.
Now fill in the given words in this scheme:
much, many, less, little, fewer, few, more, a lot of
countable, plural nouns
uncountable nouns
expressing a large quantity:
‘veel’
……………………………………
………… beers, ideas, people, students
…………
beer, hope, bread
comparative= ‘meer’
beers, ideas, people, shoes, marks
……………….
beer, hope, bread, gas, money
expressing a limited quantity:
‘weinig’
…………………… beers, ideas
…………….
gas, hope, …
comparative= ‘minder’
………………….. students, ideas, parties
………..contact, gas, heat,...
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Exercise 1: Fill in : much, many, a lot of, few, little, less, fewer
1. In America ……………. people can’t afford to send their children to college.
2. …………… students don’t need a student job in addition to what their parents can
spare:
tuition is very expensive.
3. ….……………. upperclassmen now prefer to leave campus and rent an apartment on the
private market, but in the past …………. students minded having to share a room.
4. Don’t expect………………. financial support from us. We’d like to help you out, but we
already have too ……………… money to pay your father’s hospital bill.
5. I’m afraid I have ………….. time tonight and tomorrow I even have ……….. .
Shall we make an appointment some time next week?
6. If you’d played ………… games on your computer, you wouldn’t have failed. I’m pretty
sure of that.
7. You have too …………… knowledge and too …………. skills to find a job easily.
8. Congratulations! …………… people your age can proud themselves on having started
their own company.
9. We should use public transport more often, ride our bikes or walk. ………………trips
done by car are in fact within cycling distance. But ……………. people even consider
not to use their cars.
10. Smaller blocks with ……………. residents would increase the sense of community and
neighbourliness.
11. If only the neighbours would make ……….. noise! They have very …………….
consideration for the people living next door.
12. The size of this room is …………. more than a shoe box. And with a messy roommate
there are even ……….. possibilities to get everything organized: the wardrobe, TV, my
armchair, the shelves and my desk…
Note : less - fewer (advanced)
The traditional rule says that you should use fewer for things that can be counted (fewer
than four players) but less with mass terms for things of measurable extent (less paper,
less than a gallon of paint). But people use less in certain constructions where fewer
would occur if the rule were being followed. You can use less than before a plural noun
that denotes a measure of time, amount, or distance: less than three weeks
less than $400
less than 50 mile...
You can sometimes use less with plural nouns in the expressions no less than and or less.
Thus you can say:
No less than 30 of his colleagues signed the letter.
Give your reasons in 25 words or less.
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