Texas has doubts over death row

Level 2 Intermediate
1 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using the correct form of these key words from the text.

moratorium abolish exonerated conviction capital punishment

verdict overturned condemned executed innocent

1. ___________________ is another term for the death penalty.

2. A ___________________ is an official judgement made in a court.
3. A ___________________ is an official agreement to stop an activity temporarily.
4. If you are ___________________, you are not guilty of a crime.
5. To ___________________ a law, system or practice means to get rid of it officially.
6. A ___________________ prisoner is one who is waiting to be killed.
7. In some parts of the US, prisoners are ___________________ by lethal injection or in the electric chair.
8. A ___________________ is a decision by a court of law that someone is guilty of a crime.
9. If a decision is ___________________, a court decides officially that it is wrong and changes it.
10. If someone is ___________________, it is stated or proved officially that they are not to blame for something.

2 Find the information

a. Look in the text and find the following information as quickly as possible.
1. What proportion of prisoners executed in the US this year will be executed in Texas?
2. How many death sentences have been overturned across the US with the growth in the use of DNA forensic
evidence?
3. By what percentage has the number of death sentences passed in the US each year fallen?
4. How many people have been exonerated in Dallas county?
5. When did the state of New Mexico abolish the death penalty?
6. When did the state of Illinois declare a moratorium on the death sentence?
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Texas has doubts over death row / Intermediate

O
H
•P
CA
 Texas has doubts over death row
Level 2 Intermediate
Texas accounts for half of executions man. Other prisoners are also being released
in US but now has doubts over after DNA evidence. In Dallas county alone, 24
death row people have been exonerated. Recent attention
has focused on a high profile case which
Chris McGreal may become the first officially acknowledged
15 November, 2009 miscarriage of justice which led to a man
1 Even in Texas people have their doubts. Texas being executed.
executes more people than any other US state 7 Other states have moved quickly to address
– half the prisoners sent to the death chamber concerns about possible miscarriages of justice.
in the US this year are executed in Texas. But After the release of four men in New Mexico,
now overturned convictions, judicial scandals the governor abolished the death penalty in the
and growing evidence that at least one innocent state earlier this year, saying: “I do not have
man has been executed are beginning to shake confidence in the criminal justice system as it
people’s firm belief in capital punishment. currently operates to be the final judge when it
2 Increasing use of DNA forensic evidence has comes to who lives and who dies for their crime.”
led to nearly 140 death row convictions being Six years ago, the governor of Illinois declared a
overturned across the US. This in turn has led moratorium on the death penalty after realizing
to abolition and moratoriums in some states. So that the state had freed more men from death
far Texas has resisted such moves but the public row than it had executed since 1976.
mood is beginning to change in the conservative 8 Death penalty supporters in Texas say that the
state. A former governor, Mark White – numerous appeal processes protect against
previously a strong supporter of the death a wrongful conviction. “No one who’s involved
penalty – has joined those calling for a rethink in in criminal prosecution has ever said they are
the use of capital punishment because of the risk absolutely perfect,” said Dudley Sharp, founder
that an innocent person might be executed. of a Texas victims rights group, Justice For All.
3 The number of death sentences passed by “But with the death penalty in the United States
juries in Texas has fallen sharply in recent you have a system that protects innocence to a
years, reflecting the reduction in the use of greater degree than a life sentence ever could.”
capital punishment in many parts of America 9 But Hall says the highly politicized judicial
after DNA evidence led to the release of scores system in Texas, with elected prosecutors and
of condemned prisoners. The number of death judges, is part of the problem. “One of the
sentences passed annually in the US has problems with having elected judges is that they
dropped by about 60% in the past decade, to have to be good politicians. That means they
around 100. have to appeal to the voters. The presiding judge
4 “In Texas we have seen a number of individual on the court of criminal appeals, Sharon Keller,
cases that really destroy public faith and integrity was elected as a pro-prosecution judge. That
in our criminal justice system,” said Steve Hall, was her phrase,” he said.
an anti-death-penalty activist. 10 Keller - known as Sharon Killer to her critics
5 “You are seeing that scepticism reflected in a because of her enthusiasm for the death penalty
lot of different ways. You are seeing juries more - is at the centre of a controversy that has further
unwilling to pass death sentences. You are also shaken confidence in the death penalty, after
seeing a different approach by district attorneys. she refused to keep a court office open after
Some are breaking with the past habit of seeking 5pm to allow a last-minute appeal for a stay of
the death penalty whenever they can.” execution. The convict, Michael Richard, was
executed hours later. Keller is now awaiting a
6 Recently a man sentenced to death and another verdict from the State Commission on Judicial
sentenced to life in prison for the murder of four Conduct on charges of dereliction of duty.
teenagers in 1991 were cleared after forensic
tests from the crime scene did not match either © Guardian News & Media 2009
First published in The Guardian, 15/11/09
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Texas has doubts over death row / Intermediate

O
H
•P
CA
 Texas has doubts over death row
Level 2 Intermediate
3 Comprehension check
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the text?
1. Texas is the only state in the US that still has the death penalty.
2. There has been a sharp fall in the number of death sentences passed by juries in Texas in recent years.
3. The state of Illinois has abolished the death penalty.
4. The governor of New Mexico abolished the death penalty after realizing the state had freed more men from
death row than it had executed.
5. In Texas judges are elected.
6. Sharon Keller is a strong supporter of the death penalty.

4 Find the word

Look in the text and find the following words and expressions.
1. a two-word noun meaning the part of a prison for criminals who are going to be executed (para 2)
2.
a noun in its plural form meaning a large number of people (para 3)
3. a two-word noun which is an American term meaning a lawyer whose job is to bring people accused of crimes
to trial (para 5)
. a three-word expression meaning a situation in which a court of law punishes someone for a crime they did not
4.
commit (para 6)
5. a noun meaning the act of letting someone leave a prison (para 7)
6. a noun meaning a formal request for a court of law to change its decision (para 8)
7. a three-word expression meaning an order given by a judge to delay carrying out a death penalty (para 10)
8. a three-word expression meaning a serious failure to do the things you are responsible for in your job (para 10)

D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Texas has doubts over death row / Intermediate

O
H
•P
CA
 Texas has doubts over death row
Level 2 Intermediate
5 Word building
Complete the table

verb noun
1. execute
2. abolish
3. convict
4. punish
5. appeal eal
6. reduce educe
7. believe
8. prosecute

6 Language: Two-word expressions

Match
the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make expressions from
the text.

1. forensic a. judge
2. death b. punishment
3. capital c. conviction
4. crime d. evidence
5. presiding e. scene
6. wrongful f. penalty

7 Discussion
Are you in favour of the death penalty? Why? Why not?
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
N T
O

NEWS LESSONS / Texas has doubts over death row / Intermediate

CA O
H
•P
 Texas has doubts over death row
Level 2 Intermediate

KEY
1 Key words 5 Word building

1. capital punishment 1. execution

2. verdict 2. abolition
3. moratorium 3. conviction
4. innocent 4. punishment
5. abolish 5. appeal
6. condemned 6. reduction
7. executed 7. belief
8. conviction 8. prosecution
9. overturned
10. exonerated 6 Language: Two-word expressions

2 Find the information 1. d

2. f
1. half (50%) 3. b
2. nearly 140 4. e
3. 60% 5. a
4. 24 6. c
5. earlier this year (2009)
6. six years ago (2003)

3 Comprehension check

1. F
2. T
3. F
4. F
5. T
6. T

4 Find the word

1. death row
2. scores
3. district attorney
4. miscarriage of justice
5. release
6. appeal
7. stay of execution
8. dereliction of duty
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
T O

NEWS LESSONS / Texas has doubts over death row / Intermediate

O
H
N
•P
CA