Reading comprehension home Exercise- 13 PASSAGE A

The ways in which organized society has dealt with criminal offenders constitutes a long and painful chapter in the history of man. Reference to that history need only be made in sufficient detail to demonstrate that as unenlightened as our present penal system is today, it represents a giant step forward from earlier societies. In primitive societies, each individual dealt with wrongs done to him or to his family in his own way. The victim was motivated chiefly by ideas of revenge, retaliation or compensation for loss of property. Since in those early societies there were no well-established rules, the strong predator very often went unpunished, and the strong victim sometimes overreacted, resulting in a compounding of the damage.

As the primitive societies developed, the government, represented by the chief or the king, gradually began taking over the protection of persons and property and the punishment of offenders in the name of public peace and order. The basic concept behind the intervention of government, however, continued to be that of retribution – a balancing of the scales of justice. The scales tended to be balanced on the side of the superior power of the state. The death penalty was the most common response to common crime. It is recorded that in London, in January 1801, a 17 year old boy was hanged for stealing a silver spoon. During the 16^th and 17^th centuries in Europe, some thirty types of death penalties were in use, ranging from drawing and quartering to burning at the stake and breaking on the wheel. Physical torture of all forms was common, including mutilation, such as cutting out the tongue and burning out the eyes. Public flogging and other forms of public degradation were commonly in use for relatively minor offenses. Imprisonment was not looked upon as a means of punishment, but was used rather for the purpose of guaranteeing the presence of the offender at his trial and ultimate punishment. With a relatively small population there were eight hundred executions in a year in England alone towards the end of the 16^th century. Then, even more than now, the recipients of these harsh punishments were mainly the poor and the underprivileged.

Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the pilgrims in 1620, not merely out of a desire to worship as they chose, but also because of social  economic, and legal injustices than so commonplace in England. However, strange as it may seem, the American colonists, knowing no better way, brought with them criminal codes almost as severe as those they had left behind.

The exception to the harsh colonial laws was the ‘Great Law’ of William Penn, embodying the comparatively humane Quaker criminal code. This continued in force in Pennsylvania along with the other colonies, continued under the harsh laws of the American colonies until the late 18^th century and the beginning of the new Union.

The Quakers provided the keystone around which modern penal reform developed in America, and was accompanied by parallel developments in England and on the Continent. Although the harsh methods of Europe are no longer used, current penologists are beginning to feel dissatisfaction with the dichotomy between what  our prisons are supposed to be institutions of rehabilitation, and what they all too often are, institutions of punishment and demoralization . Many feel that the movement away from torture and capital punishment to containment is but the first step in effective penology.

1.       What is the main idea expressed in the passage?

A.      The passage gives an account of the use of cruel and inhuman discipline in order to punish the offenders.

B.      The passage deals with the use of unlimited power of the primitive government to suppress the people and gain supremacy.

C.      The passage expresses the need for a better form of government in order to overcome the cruelties afflicted by rules in the past.

D.      The passage traces the development of a reformed society in terms of law order.

2.       Which of the following best describes the passage?

A.      The American  Penal Code

B.      History of Capital Punishment

C.      Rule of The kings

D.      History of Severe Penal system

3.       Which of the following statements is true about the passage?

A.      The write says that a minority population was subjected to execution in England.

B.      The modern American system of reformed Justice is based on the guidelines of the Quaker law.

C.      William Penn forced the harsh colonial laws.

D.       A balance was created by the government in delivering justice.

4.       According to the passage, what was the main approach of the government in delivering justice in the primitive societies?

A.      The approach was reformative, and the government wanted to introduce welfare.

B.      The approach was of greed to gain more wealth.

C.      The approach of the government was progressive to spread prosperity.

D.      The approach of the government was harsh to give torturous punishments.

 Answer:

1.       A    option A expresses the main idea of the passage most effectively. The passage describes use of harsh punishment in order to bring justice. Thus it describes the penal system as one-sided, favoring the government and the powerful, and not as a system to restore peace and order. We reject option B since this statement does not refer to punishments being used by the government. It only refers to use of unlimited power, which can be interpreted in other ways as well. Option C is also rejected since the writer is revealing facts about cruelties done in the name of justice in the past. He does not refer to any change required in the form of government. The difference lies in the way the passage is written. Option D also mentions a false statement. The passage is not about the development of   a reformed society, but of a society where reforms were not brought about.

2.        D   Option D is the best answer since it covers the whole topic effectively. The passage is about the use of harsh laws to punish even those guilty of a crime most trivial in nature. It traces the role of government of primitive societies in the execution of such punishments, the extent of torture inflicted on people and the wide use of such laws. Option B is rejected since the passage does not talk about only death sentence, but harsh punishments in every form. Option C is also rejected as according to it, the passage is about the rule in general and not about penal code specifically.

3.       B   Option A is false since the writer mentions a relatively small population, and not a minority, that was subjected to about 800 executions in a year in England. Option B is an appropriate answer since the passage mentions that Quaker law was the keystone around which modern penal reform developed in America. Option C is a distorted version of the fact mentioned in the passage, since William Penn introduced the Great law that was an exception to the harsh colonial law. Option D is false since the passage mentions that the scales of justice were not equal and tended to be balanced towards the state.

4.       D    According to the passage, the basic concept behind the government ї ½ s way of punishing the offenders was cruel and harsh. In the primitive societies, pain and suffering was inflicted on the offenders without any scope of excuse. Thus D is the best answer option. A is wrong since the passage does not refer to welfare of state in primitive society, and reforms in the penal code were far from practice. Option B is obviously wrong since there is no mention of the government’s ways and measures of amassing wealth. Option C mentions the approach as progressive in order to spread prosperity. We reject this option since it is beyond the scope of the passage.