Landeskunde USA Criminals and society /

Lsungsvorschlag Growing old behind bars

A. I. 1. hot (and humid)
2. arrived
3. weak
4. need
5. watched carefully; controlled
II. 1. He gave/handed out his weapon voluntarily.
2. He maintained to be mentally ill.
3. They insult you.
4. These prisoners form/are only a minority in the jails.
5. It is not very probable that such prisoners commit another
crime.
B.

1.I would not say that Quenton Brown is a hardened criminal.

Being a homeless, simple-minded tramp of 50, he robbed a
store (which of course is a crime and must be punished) more
or less only to survive. But as soon as the police arrived he
gave up voluntarily. And what is more, his behaviour in prison
clearly shows that he is anything but a dangerous criminal. In
my opinion he is a very poor man.
2.There are 20,000 prisoners older than 55 in American jails.
400 of them are even over 85. The number of aging prisoners
becomes twice as great every four years. Old prisoners, like all
elderly people, are very likely to become seriously ill, thus
causing huge costs to the taxpayer.
3.They would face enormous problems. They might have no more
relatives to care for them, there might be no place for them to go,
so that they would be really homeless. A lot of old prisoners lack
job experience, which would make it almost impossible for them
to find work. These prisoners have no money to make a new start
outside the prison and they don't know how to benefit from
welfare programmes. All in all, they would be in a very desperate
situation.

hm-abo Januar 1990

Landeskunde USA Criminals and society /

C. In my opinion, Quenton Brown has been treated extremely unjustly. It

is far beyond my comprehension how that judge could sentence him to
30 years without parole. What must this man Quenton Brown feel
when he sees murderers and other violent criminals walk out into
freedom while he has got to stay without any hope of being released. I
think there is absolutely no reasonable relation between crime and
punishment.
From a more general point of view there is no meaning in keeping
persons like Quenton Brown in prison for the rest of their lives. After a
certain time of serving a sentence a society should be prepared to
acted mercifully on criminals who constitute no obvious danger to that
society when released. (118 words)
D. Die Entlassung von lteren Gefangenen in die Freiheit verursacht
mehr als (nur) politische Probleme.
Viele von ihnen haben ihre Familien verloren oder sie berlebt.
Sie haben mglicherweise keine Heimat (mehr) und keinen Beruf.
Sie haben keine Ersparnisse oder Krankenversicherung, und sie
wissen kaum, wie man Sozialhilfeprogramme nutzt.
Einige Staaten haben reagiert, indem sie ltere und behinderte
Gefangene in eigenen Teilen/Flgeln des Gefngnisses oder im
Gefngniskrankenhaus gesondert unterbringen.
Es sollte ein System von sicheren Pflegeheimen geben, wo die
Bewegungen der Insassen (lediglich) durch/mit elektronische(n)
Armbndern berwacht werden knnten.
Die zentrale Frage (jedoch) ist: Worin liegt der Sinn, einen gebrochenen
alten Mann wie Quenton Brown im Gefngnis sterben zu lassen?
Ungeachtet dessen, was mit Brown passiert, ist dies eine Frage, der
sich die Justizbehrden frher oder spter stellen mssen.

hm-abo Januar 1990