The Guildford Four, freed last week after spending 15 years in prison for crimes they did not commit, would almost certainly hav

admin2014-03-03  22

问题    The Guildford Four, freed last week after spending 15 years in prison for crimes they did not commit, would almost certainly have been executed for the pub bombing they were convicted of bad the death penalty been in force at the time of their trial. There may now be a decent interval before the pro-hanging lobby, which has the support of the Prime Minister, makes another attempt to reintroduce the noose.
   Reflections along these lines were about the only kind of consolation to be derived from this gross miscarriage of justice which is now to be the subject of a judicial inquiry. In the meantime, defence lawyers are demanding compensation and have in mind about half a million pounds for each of their clients.
   The first three to be released -- Mr. Gerald Conlon, Mr. Paddy Armstrong and Ms. Carole Richardson -- left prison with the 34 pounds which is given to all departing inmates. The fourth, Mr. Paul Hill, was not released immediately but taken to Belfast, where he lodged an appeal against his conviction for the murder of a former British soldier, Since this conviction, too, was based on the now discredited statements allegedly made to the Survey policy, he was immediately let out on bail. But he left empty-handed.
   The immediate reaction to the scandal was renewed demand for the reexamination of the case against the Birmingham Six, who are serving life sentences for pub bombings in that city. Thus far the Home secretary, Mr, Douglas Hurd, is insisting that the two cases are not comparable; that what is now known about the Guilford investigation has no relevance to what happened in Birmingham.
   Mr. Hurd is right to the extent that there was a small-though flimsy and hotly-contested -- amount of forensic evidence in the Birmingham case. The disturbing similarity is that the Birmingham Six, like the Guilford Four, claim that police of fleers lied and fabricated evidence to secure a conviction.
   Making scapegoats of a few rogue police officers will not be sufficient to expunge the Guildford miscarriage of justice. These are already demands that the law should be changed: first to make it impossible to convict on "confessions" alone; and secondly to require that statements from accused persons should only be taken in the presence of an independent third party to ensure they are not made under coercion.
   It was also being noted this week that ’the Guilford Four owe their release more to the persistence of investigative reporters than ’to the diligence of either the judiciary or the police. Yet investigative reports -- particularly on television -- have recently been a particular target for the condemnation of Mrs. Thatcher and some of her ministers who seem to think that TV should be muzzled in the public interest and left to get on with soap operas and quiz shows.
To compensate the miscarriage of justice, the defence lawyers may ______.

选项 A、demand 500,000 pounds for the Guildford Four
B、demand 500,000 pounds for each of the Guildford Four
C、demand 50,000 pounds for each of the Guildford Four
D、demand a reexamination of the Birmingham pub bombings

答案B

解析 该题问:为了补偿误判,被告律师可以怎样做?A项意为“要求对the Guildford Four赔偿500,000英磅”,此项文中并没有提到。B项意为“要求对the Guildford Four的每一位各赔偿50,000英磅”,这在文中第二段的最后一句中可以看出——In the meantime,defence lawyers are demanding compensation and have in mind about half a million pounds for each of their clients,故B项为正确选项。C项意为“要求对the Guildford Four的每一位成员赔偿50,000 pounds”,显然这并不是half a million,故为错误选项。D项意为“要求对伯明翰的酒吧爆炸重新审查”,这显然是另一个案子,故此项不正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/ak0YFFFM
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)