Cover of the textbook Speakout Advanced - Students' Book

The key answer of exercise 2

The key to exercise solutions in chapter 4.1 - Fight for justice for the textbook Speakout Advanced - Students' Book with authors Antonia Clare and J. J. Wilson from Pearson Education

Question

Work in pairs and answer the questions.

Answer

  1. She was charged with drug dealing.
  2. No, they had no strong evidence (police found no drugs on her person or during subsequent searches). The evidence for her arrest came from an informant, who was also charged with drug offences.
  3. She had to decide whether to plead guilty and be allowed home as a convicted criminal, or stay in prison and fight her conviction, risking a much longer sentence if she were to lose her case.
  4. She was pressurised by her family and her lawyer, probably because they felt it would be too risky to fight the case.
  5. Perhaps because she had a strong sense of justice, and also didn't want to have to live with a criminal record, which might affect her future ability to work and look after her family.
  6. According to the article, the system pays the police more money if they make more arrests. This encourages the police to make racially motivated arrests, based on little evidence, and then offer the defendants the opportunity to sign plea agreements. Some people often lack the courage or the finances to be able to defend their rights. Prosecutors gain good reputations for showing that they are gaining convictions in the war against crime.