Hello, hello, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the BigAppleSchool podcast, with the goal of the show is to help you improve your English listening skills by listening to us. My name is Benjamin, and today we have three participants with us. Our first participant today is...
And last but not least, we have...
Welcome back, guys. So it's a nice chilly morning here in Novosibirsk. I believe it's -23.
It feels like. What does it feel like? Does it still feel like -23? Because the other day it felt like -32 when it was -23.
It was really cold I think it was last week.
Yeah. And then it got a little bit warmer. By warm, I mean, -17.
Don't get used to it to -17, they'll be gone before you know it.
But I love it. So romantic seeing the snowy white landscape is pretty cool.
Especially when you're inside and not outside in this white landscape, try to make your way home.
So you have an expression, something on the lines of a Siberian is someone who dresses warm.
Yeah, yeah. We say like, actually, it's for all those situations when people are like, are you cold? But you're from Russia, you cannot be cold. You like you know what? We have a saying that a Siberian or a northerner is not the one who doesn't get cold, is the one who gets warmly dressed. This is different.
Well, I say that I do say that you're Russian, you're supposed to be warm.
But, yeah, they're human too, so. Skin and everything. Yeah.
So what else is new? I mean, we were talking before the podcast. You have your nails. Freshly painted nails.
Yes, my nails are really important to me. Yeah, it's kinda a treat.
So I've got my sharp little nails to claw anybody. If they come too close.
It's a form of self-care. Self-love.
So if you make a mistake on the second conditional, Varya is going to take your nails and scratch the blackboard.
What's new with you, Benjamin?
What's new with me? Just busy working. Yeah.
Do you have the Christmas mood? Oh, New Year mood?
Actually I don't really feel it just, yeah, it's going to come soon. I bought...
Because you need to go and see the decorations, the beautiful decorations.
In the center of town. Oh, yeah. For those of you who don't live in Novosibirsk, we have a wonderful Christmas, well, not Christmas a New Year's display in the center of the city.
We are the capital of New Year this year on the 23rd and 24th.
There will be a parade, I guess. Right.
There'll be a parade of Дед Мороз.
Well, you know how we don't have Santa Claus, but we have Father Frost, and there'll be a parade of Fathers Frosts from different cities on the 23rd and the 24th.
Do you like when they're dressed in blue or red?
It is frosty and it's different from America.
Oh, you know, yeah actually, you know that's, yeah.
And we have another option like Grinch, green. Whe not?
Yeah. Well, I just want to say thank you to Amrit Sangeeta. He left a wonderful comment on YouTube for us. It was something on the line. It was in Russian, but it was on something on the lines of it's great when people with different English levels can communicate. It makes me confidence to speak and to not be afraid of making mistakes. Katya and Benjamin, I admire your pronunciation.
Amrit, thank you very much. And I'm really interested in your background. Are you living in Russia right now? Really interested. So let us know in the comments in English, practice your English in the comments. And, yeah, we'd love to hear from you. And it's great that you feel confident about not making mistakes. It's really important to. Yeah. Just put yourself out there and not worry about making mistakes or, I don't know, Varya is going to use her nails.
I always like to compare English British with the American.
Yeah, well, it is. There are many differences. All right. And also, guys, I need to mention, you can you can listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Yandex podcasts, VK, and of course, you can get the video version on YouTube.
And you also should think about joining our private telegram chat where you can get access to the aftershow portion of this podcast and you can see us in video formats, and you can also get access to vocabulary lists, which will definitely help you with your English learning journey.
And of course you can communicate directly with us in the telegram chat and practice your English writing skills and speak to one another. So and also we want to welcome Анастасия, who signed up for the private telegram chat. So welcome, Анастасия.
Thank you for being part of the conversation and do not be afraid to share your thoughts with us. Yeah, that's about it. Today we're going to talk about a really fun topic. I love this subject.
Serious, but I actually think it's fun, especially if you love binge watching YouTube or Netflix.
I love it how Benjamin and a lot of other people have very different definitions of fun.
Great weather, you know, interesting and so on. Go on, Benjamin.
Maybe I'm a little twisted. I don't know. Well, today we're going to talk about what do you think?
What do you think? Well, we know exactly what we're going to talk about.
Crime. Criminality, crime. So how do you define crime?
Well, crime has to be against the law. We have to set laws. And then if we don't meet those standards, it is a crime.
So, yeah, a crime is an action that breaks a certain law. But then again, in this case, we have two terms because we have a crime and we have misdemeanor. Is it also a crime?
In America, yeah, in America you have felonies and misdemeanors.
So these are degrees of seriousness of crimes.
Varya, what is considered a misdemeanor crime in America?
I think, like if you were to steal something less than $100, that would be a felony would be something like, you know, a white-collar crime, a some kind of ponzi scheme.
Well, there are many types of felony crimes that could be murder, it could be...
Yeah, it is a felony crime, yeah.
I thought a felony somewhere, you know, in the mid. Like, not.
I mean, I believe it's divided into misdemeanor crimes. Well, in Russian you have administrative crimes.
Yeah, that's what we call them, yeah.
I guess you can translate heavy crimes. It's basically the same distinction.
So misdemeanor crimes are things like jaywalking.
So I was going to ask. What about..?
Petty theft or... Some misdemeanors can be stronger than others.
Oh, but but even something that's serious, like animal abuse, there are some states that just say, well, that's just a misdemeanor.
Yeah. So it just depends on state by state with that.
Of course, in America, you have the federal level and the state level, and it depends what crime you commit. For instance, I love airplanes, as you know, if you commit a crime on an airplane, that's a federal crime, not a state crime. Whereas if you commit a crime on the territory of a state, yeah. That's considered a state crime.
And then the crimes, the criminals would be treated differently depending on the state.
Yeah, they'd be considered differently plus when they're sentenced, they're going to be going to a federal prison or a state prison.
Or even we have privatized prisons where someone actually owns prison.
Which people can make money off from criminals.
It's quite controversial to have someone who makes money off of other people's crimes.
But when we're talking about something that breaks the law is a crime. But then there are things that are not on the law books yet. But some people would consider a crime like domestic violence or something, something that has not met, hasn't gotten to an actual law.
Yeah. Domestic violence, animal abuse.
Yes. I mean, I'm talking about, like, in the sixties and seventies. I mean, a lot of women did not speak out against their husbands because there was no law. A woman at this time could call the police and the police would come and say, Well, we have no law, we can't arrest and we can't do anything. So there are kind of. But but then through activism, we could change laws.
Yeah. And the job of the police, of course, is to enforce the law. Enforce means to make sure that the laws are followed and to apply punishments if required.
Yeah, that's not the the policeman's job. That would be the court's job.
Of course. But I mean, to detain, excuse me, to detain someone, not to punish people. I'm sorry. You're right. Yeah, to detain people if required. So, Ugur, what in Turkey? Do you have, like a similar system to America whereby you have misdemeanor crimes and felony crimes?
Plus we have constitutional crimes. So if you are like doing something against the Constitution, it's the highest level of the crime that you have. And you need to be just, you need to be in a state that you have to take the constitutional law and court house.
It's kind of a life or like in 60 or 70 years in prison, but misdemeanor kind of pickpocket. Okay, there's like in the low degree kind of crime, but murder, of course.
Kind of felony. So, same thing. Like a similar thing.
Well, of course, there's so many different types of crimes, and some people might think one, crime is not particularly heavy or it's a petty crime.
Well, even the different levels of murder we would have, what is a first degree murder...
Yeah, that depends on if it's premeditated. If you really had a plan to do it.
Yeah. That would be the highest. And then you'd have something where it was in the heat of the moment. The passion and a be lesser degree.
Yeah. And I believe France has like a particularly relaxed stance on crimes of passion for like what you just mentioned if, let's say, a husband was cheating on a wife and...
Yeah, exactly. You would.
Isn't that the same as, like, crime in the state of affect? It's called.
Ooh, I'm not sure. Under the influence, the passion. That's alcohol usually.
Because there is certain...
Oh, affect that sounds like, yeah, alcohol.
So in this, well, in Russian, for example, we have this sort of, okay, help me out with the term. So there is mitigating, you know, some sort of conditions which make the punishment harder. What is the opposite to that something that makes the punishment less severe?
Well, mitigating circumstances.
Oh, mitigating is something that helps you to get...
So, let's say, if someone murders someone, but someone is told, I will kill you unless you murder this person.
Without an action you mean.
Those are mitigating circumstances.
So because in Russian we have this murder in the state of affect or a crime in the state of affect, which means you are not acting, let's say, consciously, so meaning you were in shock. You didn't know what you were doing.
Under influence, kind of things.
But under influence of what? So in this case, you were not under influence of alcohol or drugs. Nothing like that. You were just in shock.
Oh, okay. So maybe like some kind of mental.
Or, by the way, guys, I just need to mention none of us have, I don't think any of us have a legal education.
No. We don't really have a legal.
So when we give our definitions. Double check them on Google because you have English and then you have legal English, which is kind of different things.
And also laws change as well.
Yes. And definitions as well can change sometimes. Yeah. So you said you have constitution. So Turkey has a constitution that is written and...
And if you are against that, you will be punished according to that.
For example, like burning the flag.
It is a crime in the US as well.
That's a crime in Turkey.
It's not a crime in the US to burn the flag.
It's a form of free speech to burn the flag.
In Russia, it's a crime, right?
And I don't want to comment on. A lot of things are crime in Russia.
I want to comment on this. Because this was like, that was a really pushed during the Vietnam War was can we burn the flag can we wear the flag as clothing. Because it used to be against the law to if a flag, an American flag purposely or accidentally was dropped to the ground, if it touched the ground, you have to burn it out of a ceremony to show respect to the flag or you were not allowed, it was against the law to wear the American flag as clothing. It was against that law.
And underwear. Same in Turkey.
Underwear short, anything.
So funny. I have pajamas with the American flag.
But in the end Vietnam War came with all of the riots and rebellion and anti-war. And this kind of thing changed it.
So you have, so Turkey has a written constitution. Of course, Russia has a written and of course, America, the UK does not have a written constitution.
I mean, that's just crazy.
Which is really interesting. It's just a big tapestry of many, many old laws. And I'm not 100% sure as to how it's structured, but it's really fascinating. This is old historical structure. And sometimes people try to bring in I think it's called the Bill of Rights.
Maybe it does exist. I believe there is a Bill of Rights, or at least there is discussion about introducing it in the UK. But we don't have like an official written constitution. My opinion, I think it'd be a good idea to have a written constitution.
You can't put everything in the constitution so that it's going to be up for debate and interpretation. So our founding fathers knew this. So they put very general things. And so, of course, as time changes and people change, conditions change. You have to interpret it or misinterpret it. And do they still wear the wigs?
They do, they do. It's very funny.
So actually like in the movies and everithing?
Yes. And what's up with all of this fighting in court? I mean, it is so crazy to watch the British in court fighting each other or not in court, in the parliament, I should say. In the parliament.
Well, yeah, they don't normally physically fight.
We don't have like that. Not in America.
The House of Parliament is a very rowdy parliament.
Yeah, rowdy is a great word.
It is fun to watch. And very noisy.
They insult each other. They get emotional. Yeah.
And they boo and make noise.
Yes. Yeah. A lot of parliaments do have... But some parliaments people get physical. It's really funny. Well, of course, you have the famous video of Жириновский throwing water at people. That was so fun. Did you see that video?
I haven't seen Жириновский pour water but it sounds like...
It's a famous video. He had a disagreement with another person and he threw water.
Yeah, it was probably over the retaking of Alaska.
Yeah, but that was funny. I guess he didn't hurt anyone with the water but...
It was quite the scene. Yeah. So why do people commit crimes?
Oh, for many reasons. Out of. Well, I do not know. Out of spite, out of hatred. Some people do it out of. Let's say, when they have no choice. So let's say, when a person steals because they have no money to feed their families.
Out of addiction sometimes. So when people steal because they need, they want a dose of something like that. There is so, so, so, so, so many reasons.
Well, this is a really big general question about to throw down here. You spoke about addictions.
I mean, some people would do it because of their mental health, you know, mental illness, maybe especially, you know, if you look at the history of all those like serial killers and everything, they knew what they were doing. But why? This is a big question still. Like what was driving them?
And some of them wanted to be studied here. You know, interview me and let's get because they didn't even know why. But another reason is gangs that would be a part of their initiation, being part of it.
Yeah. Gangs. Would you like to be part of a gang?
Humans have a tribal instinct. And I guess if you're a young age and you have a gang.
And yeah, if you don't have a family because you're in some kind of abject poverty, your father's in prison and your mom's a prostitute drug addict. Then, yeah, you need to have a family. And that's what they provide this family feeling.
Well, I was going to ask the big question, I was going to throw down is, do you think that drugs should be legalized or made illegal? What do you think? Because they cause so many crimes? Well, addictions lead to many crimes. Do you think that it's better to follow the Portuguese approach or you think it's bad or the Asian approach, like Indonesia, where you can get the death penalty? I believe, yes.
'Cause it doesn't matter what the laws are going to be, the drugs are going to be there.
I was I was going to ask you, what are your feelings about the way that they legalized some drugs in the US?
Yeah, I know, I'm a very liberal person. But when it comes to legalizing marijuana, I don't like the idea of someone lighting up a doobie and then their children having the contact or plants, or animals, or a little birdie in a cage. I just don't like that idea. And so I just. Yeah, I just stay out of it like, No, I don't want it legalized.
I am, so I'm on ####gram and I follow some of my former students from Wellesley. And it kind of concerns me a little bit that they post like, Oh, how to find out if this is a good drug and how to help a person who has overdosed and everything? And not only was like not only about marijuana but about meth, about fentanyl.
And I'm like, Oh my God, this is such a big part of their culture now of this.
It's true. England and America. It's huge.
It's like being an expert at something like, I know how to come out of a high this concoction. You do this, this and this. It's just the culture. Like you said.
It's scary, to be honest.
Of course, Russia, of course you do have some drug addicts, but I think it's much more widespread in the West. A definitely England and America with many, many, many drug addicts in both our countries.
Because it's easier to get, I would say.
Yeah, and in Russia, like obviously they have stricter laws with regards to drugs. But do you think it's the laws that make it harder for people to receive drugs, or do you think it's for different reasons?
It might be, I don't know.
But then you've mentioned Portugal.
Well, Portugal has completely decriminalized all drugs, heroin, crack, everything. And this has been the case since the year 2000. And I believe I mean, I don't know how they get the data for this, but I believe they saw a huge reduction in drug addiction. But I'm not sure if that is related to the decriminalization.
Right. So that's one extreme. And then we have our so-called war on drugs. And that has been people are really against this thing that has not worked. So, you know. Yeah. What's the solution.
It's such a difficult solution because in California, of course, they take a more relaxed approach to drugs in general. And they've tried to follow the Portuguese model, but it's just not working.
I don't know about that because California has a huge, very strong prison system there.
They put in a lot more money in the prison system than the education at one point.
And so that's what's filling up our prisons are these kind of low level drug things and maybe higher level too. And that's the controversies. Do we really want to fill up our prisons with these, you know, low level drug crimes? And that's where you say, well, let's just legalize it then. And I can really see that point.
I can understand that. But and at one point, I was definitely for it. But recently I've started thinking, is it, I mean, I don't know.
What are you going to say?
You just can't allow that stuff to go around you. I mean, but how... Is the law morality or is the law something else...
You're touching, you know, like on very difficult subjects right now, you know.
Ancient that have been discussed...
Yes, for centuries and centuries. Yeah. Is it the morality of it or the actual law? And that's why it's always controversial. There's always this debate over it. What should we do? And then we end up doing this or that.
Yeah, well, in the Philippines, for instance, they take a really strict approach to the drugs, like, I believe the president himself physically went and and chase down the drug dealers. Yeah. And, and some people applaud him for it because it's really sad what happens in the Philippines with all these people dying from drug addiction.
You kind of never know what exactly is going to happen with this or that action. So, let's say, in Mexico, it is a crime to do drugs and everything. Yet if we look back in history, Mexico was controlled by the drug cartels for a very, very long time.
He's speaking in past tense as though it's not going on today.
I just do not know whether it is. So I don't want to make any statements that are not true.
I would say that it is. Absolutely controlled by the cartels. Yeah. And, yeah, the cartels basically are the Mexican government. I mean, I've not been to Mexico, but I lived in Vegas and knew a lot of people from Latin countries and they would talk about all the cartels and how they would just govern their whole lives. And, yeah, and it's really sad, like what goes on over there. Yeah.
And I guess Thailand has just legalized the medical marijuana and recreational.
Yeah, yeah. Thailand has. Yeah, but I don't think they've legalized other drugs.
Only marijuana. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And Turkey. Does Turkey take a rigid, strict approach to drugs?
Yeah, it's it's kind of forbidden to use, sell any kind of drug. But Turkey is like a geopolitical kind of pathway from Middle East to Europe. So it's a kind of runway of drugs in a way. So you can find anything you want. But if you get caught, all right, you get life, in a way.
So what if you buy, I don't know, like a small bag of weed in Turkey? What would happen to you if the police stopped you?
If you get caught, you need to pay a fine and you can face a prison sentence like six months to three years.
Also they're really strict in Turkey about it.
And do you feel it's a good thing to be strict or do you think?
I guess so, yeah. If you have control on something you can all right, you can stop or reduce the negative effects related to that thing. So it can be kind of a restrictive thing. But of course, you can get whatever you want, anytime you want.
So you can, you can do that way, but you take the risk, of course.
Another aspect of law is how has dealt with poor people compared to rich people. And so in America, we will have people of color and poor people filling up the prisons much more than anyone who could buy their way out or have influence.
Yeah. It's pretty sad. Yeah. Well, let's move away from drugs. Let's move more towards alcohol, which is a drug. But what do you think about drinking and driving? Because different countries have kind of different approaches to this. What is it in Russia, the alcohol, drinking driving limit?
None. I mean, you're not allowed to drive under any influence. I mean, even because I know in the US you can have one portion of alcohol be that one shot.
One glass of wine in Russia.
It's not measured by one shot. It Is measured by...
And I think 0.7 is the limit and you can be arrested.
I remember that I've read that usually it means you can drink, let's say, a can of beer or a glass of wine.
But it would depend on your body type and how you can absorb... So you have to rely on the breathalyzer.
One can of beer, one glass of wine.
In Russia, you can not have any of that.
I heard that you can't even drink квас, which contains, like, a tiny trace of alcohol.
Yeah. So the... What do you call the breath..?
Breathalyzer that shows some sort of...
Yeah. Which is this little thing, you have a straw and you put the straw into this machine, and you blow for a certain amount of time, and then a little number comes up and tells you your, yeah.
And people who work in bars have to do this before they leave at night or in the day, whenever.
I think that I don't know what the measures are in Russia if somebody is caught driving under the influence. But I believe they should take away the driver's license. It just put them into prison for some time. We have enormous amount of accidents because of that. Russia's like horrifying amount of accidents.
I believe Russia's pretty strict with... By the way, for our listeners, it's called DUI, so like Katya said driving under the influence. Yeah, DUI. So I believe in Russia they're quite strict with this. No?
Depends on who's driving.
Well, I've known someone who... He was drinking and driving. He had his license taken away from him. And he has to attend these courses like every.
What is it like? What is driver's driver's license taken away if you kill a person while drunk driving?
Oh, then I think you would go to prison in Russia for that, wouldn't you?
Depends who you are, again. Yeah.
Well, sometimes sometimes they're like, Oh, you know, we're still looking into it and trying to, like, deal with the crime. But no, the the person is still outside driving.
Yeah. Well, speaking of driving, this is not a drink driving case, but this was a really sad case that I was I read about last year, happened in Академ городок, which is here in Novosibirsk, which just outside of Novosibirsk.
And there was this lady driving, I think it was a lady, driving an SUV and she stopped at a pedestrian crossing and to allow pedestrians to cross the road. And all of a sudden, this five year old girl whizzed across the pedestrian crossing on a scooter like, you know, in Russian, you say самокат. So scooter not like the motorbike, but...
Electric scooter. And she whizzed past and just as the car let some other pedestrians cross the road, she started to drive, started driving, and unfortunately she crushed this five year old as she was really quickly with passed and there was no way she could have seen this five year girl.
And I'm not sure what happened to this poor driver. Forgetting the poor girl and her whole family, God bless them. But what do you think should happen to the driver? Would the driver be prosecuted for manslaughter or..?
Well, in this case, it's kind of not intentional. So it would be the mitigating circumstances, you know, but it's all on parents, really. You should teach your kid how to cross the road. Come on.
Yeah, because I'm forgetting all the grief that the family has to go through and the poor little girl. Like, I feel really bad for that driver like that driver has that trauma on the...
Of course, it's like, you know, with what makes me angry. Let's say there have been some situations when people committed suicide in the metro station, they just jump on the train.
Because the driver has to live with that.
And they're traumatized the same over here, you know, because I'm pretty sure she could have seen her, so. But she's still the one now who is...
Who's, yeah, who's being blamed.
Yeah. Metro drivers as I follow this YouTube channel called PRO МЕТРО is this Russian guy who talks about the Moscow metro and how to drive trains.
Well, speaking of harsh penalties toward drunk drivers. Japan has one of the most strenuous... The law, as I recall, was that if you are caught drunk driving, you are yes, your driver's license is taken away for ten years and you're put in to prison for ten years as well.
And everyone knows it. And so it really has proved to be a deterrent because they just have very law. And, of course, I'm speaking about the eighties, so I don't know what's going on the last 30 years.
Well, I know in some Asian countries, they make criminals wear like a sign around their neck. And they go on local TV and...
It is like public humiliation or something.
Yeah. I think it's a pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Well, speaking of punishing people, prison systems, do you think that the Norway Finland model of prisons is ridiculous, or do you think that it's good to give the prisoners some comfort?
That's a very debatable issue. Yeah, because their prisons are better than our dorms.
Yeah, it really is like that.
Like it really is better. I've lived in a dorm for four years. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.
Prison in America and England is bad. It's scary.
I can imagine too. And, yeah. And you, you can die in prison in England and America. Like people will stab you and do stuff like that. In Russia, I think they have much more control over the prisons like I've seen...
It's much more dangerous place than people think.
Well, yeah. It is dangerous. But in Russia, like, they're very strict with the prisoners and they don't let them move around as much as they do.
They keep them in cells. I guess.
No, we have a horrible system. So the thing is that especially lately. So they would easily put, let's say, in a room which is 2 to 2 meters. So like four square meters. Like ten people. 15 people. You can't sit. You can't lie down.
Well, is that jail or is that prison?
Because jails before you go to court. Yeah.
And if you get out of jail, if you're lucky enough to get into prison and not die there.
Because it's like that in America too. Like where and England like where you have... Or England I think you have...
But I mean, how much time would you spend in jail? Because in Russia could be months and months, and months.
Yeah. Same. Because If you have money to get out on bail.
By the way, there's so many interesting channels on YouTube with people who or ex-felons, ex-prisoners discussing their time in prison in America. And I find it's so fascinating and it's like...
Do you think that the government should help ex-cons to assimilate, like to assimilate back into society?
That's the thing with rehabilitation rather than this harsh punishment on top of punishment of being allowed to be beaten up or raped in prison.
Yeah. Well, it depends, it depends on the crime. I mean, if you look at Florida, there's this pedophile colony where they keep all these pedophiles because there's no way you can go back to normal society and get a normal job.
In Russia, there is, you know, a problem and I think it is the same in the US too. So when people spend time, let's say, 10-15 years. Let's say 10 years in prison, they come out. They do not know how the world works. Suddenly we have, you know, all this like Internet and smartphones, and everything. And they cannot get a job.
They cannot adapt. They can not get, you know, housing and everything because there's also, you know, high competition. And sometimes what they do is they commit another crime to get back to prison because they have no other choice. Like, I know how everything works there.
Like, I know how to survive. I know how everything is. But out there in the world, they they're not needed anymore. So they have no choice. And who should, who should deal with that? Should that be the government who has some sort of programs? Should... What can be done?
I mean, I guess prisons have to be divided into rehabilitable people and people who are destined for the waste bin, who, unfortunately, that's how I think it should be. Thus, if Benjamin were a dictator, that's how he run his country, I would have so, let's say, if you were a stupid...
Yeah, let's say, you're a stupid 16 year old. You stole someone's car. Maybe put you in a rehabilitation prison. But...
If you're a rapist... Yeah, I mean, if it was like a violent assault or rape, or something, then maybe you should rot in prison. I know it sounds harsh but...
Yeah, there are people who can be rehabilitated and they should have the opportunity to get an education, get what they need so that they can when they get out back on the streets, they can be a productive member of society within those are ones who cannot be rehabilitated.
But just imagine if you're an employer, let's say, of a small business, like if you saw a guy on someone's record. Yeah, I stole cars and I beat a woman, something like that.
Would you trust them? Yeah.
Right, but this is the part of the program that when you are released, you are released to people who already know that you are an ex-felon and then they kind of mentor you and guide you and know that you are like this. But things have changed now and. Supposedly.
Me? No, I would not employ that person. I kind of think it's a bit harsh, but...
You don't have any guarantee that's going to happen again or not.
Maybe the solution is like old school British workhouses. But seriously, I mean, like, maybe the government needs to make workhouses so they can produce clothing for poor people and force people who commit crimes to work there.
I don't know, maybe it sounds a bit harsh, but like these criminals, when they get back on the streets, they're going to have to generalizing massively, but usually people have to go and steal again and it's just an endless cycle. So you might as well put these people to use. And I know it sounds harsh and kind of like a dictator, but...
All right. Because that can lead to a lot of corruption and a lot of abuse, and a lot of unusual punishment.
So we live in a messy world. We really do. We do.
Yeah. It's not black and white.
And I want to provide, like, utopian solutions.
There're all sorts of ideas, but to actually put force into practice.
Yeah, exactly. So the Portuguese model of decriminalizing drugs sounds nice, but I'm not sure it's going to work for every country.
Maybe for smaller societies where, like, everyone knows each other in a small community, but for big countries like America or even the UK, which is a big...
So Ireland is still a big country for big population or Turkey. I'm not sure these nice policies that they have in Finland or Norway would work. Those societies are tiny, like 4 million people or something like that.
It's more government subsidized up there anyway. So people are used to being their lives, being part of the government whereby the other Western countries are...
They are, but they can also see more. Well, I'm generalizing, of course, but they can see more accountability for their governments because they have a smaller society and they can see where the money's going.
Okay. So it's more transparent.
It's more transparent. Exactly. So it probably works more efficiently there. Whereas like in the UK, like money would just go.
You don't know. Yeah, or America. What is the population? 360 million.
Something huge. Probably more. And. Yeah. It's kind of hard to manage such a big society, so we kind of need these kind of old school draconian...
Measures to keep society under control, I guess. Unless we want to become. Like an old Italian society, like we have many different principalities where Italy has. Well, you know, Italy was made up of many city principalities. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.
Well, part of keeping people under control is fear. So you can put them, you can put religion on them. The fear of God. The fear of hell.
Well. I don't know. Maybe religion. Maybe we need Jesus. I don't know.
Anyway it doesn't work. So, you know, our current president in Turkey is kind of a religious guy. But I can say he is...
But Turkey is a secular society.
Secular society. But he wants to rule the country like a middle Eastern country. Like the religiously controlled.
I mean, yeah, religion is not always the answer. Look at Afghanistan.
Yeah, you're right. But Afghanistan does have a geographical factor to take in, to take into account. And also many different countries have pillaged the country.
So the president of Turkey right now thinks himself that he is the most religious person in Turkey. But I don't know he...
And so he's the leader, everyone should follow him.
Yeah. Okay. I'm in Russia. It's okay. He is also stealing, you know, so he's stealing the taxes and everything. So, yeah, so it is the religion and he advise people follow the religion, but come on.
That's what the thing is. You have the person at the top controlling the people at the bottom with this thing called religion. And you can control people. They will behave. The dictator or the leader will not.
Exactly. So doesn't work religion.
Well, let us know in the comments, guys. There's so many different example. It's such a complicated question because, yeah, there's so many different factors to take into account. So let us know what you think. Let's think about one other thing. Death penalty for crimes. What do you think about death penalty?
Child abuse definitely. I support for the ones who abuse childs.
Yeah, I have to say if you can conclusively prove.
But that's difficult and challenging, like how can you be 100% sure that the person who's standing in front of you is the one who committed the crime?
And it costs millions and millions of dollars, at least in America, to prove that someone is guilty of.
Actually, this is one of the points against the death penalty, is that actually it costs taxpayers way more money than keeping somebody in prison for life.
Exactly. And also, if you keep someone in prison for life, that's probably a worse sentence than death.
If it were cheaper, would you be for the death penalty?
Well, there are some points, you know, to consider. So, let's say, some people say, Oh, you know, it gives closure to the victim's family, you know, knowing that the criminal is no longer alive.
But at the same time, doesn't that support the eye for eye revenge mentality, which is something that we tried to get away from. So, you know, it's a very debatable topic. But correct me if I'm wrong, but in some of the US states, death penalty is still legal.
It is divided by the states. Yes.
Unless there's a capital punishment, which by the by the federal government, they can put someone to death. The problem with us in the United States is we're supposed to be like a beacon of civilization, beacon of leadership. And we've got the death penalty, unlike the UK, right? Europe.
Yeah, the UK hasn't... Well, Russia has a moratorium, I believe.
Right. And we'll go on moratorium because Europe will not sell us all the chemicals for the lethal injections. So there are times that people will just have to have their execution stay.
I don't understand the lethal injection. Why can't they just use a shotgun?
Yeah, line up the shooters. And there you go. So much better. That's how I want to go.
Oh, no, no, no. It is not.
You could do it wrong, and then you get hanged. Haven't you seen those Nazi old movies of the Nuremberg trials? Where those Nazis. Yeah. And then they get hanged. And then they like, Oh, I'm so alive. And then there's a climb back up on the platform and do it over again.
Send them to lethal injection.
But the worse, I mean, what you want to do electric chair or the gas chamber. Horrible.
Why? Why don't they just have a shooting?
Well, I know China, but we talk about the US.
Well, for one thing, it's considered a respectable way of dying. And it's something like you do with the military. Like a military person.
And I guess for some reason people think it's, I don't know, too archaic, I don't know.
At the same time, doesn't that violate the Bill of Rights and the Constitution that gives your right for life?
Like a right to, it's like a right for a life. Like everyone has the right to live.
But if you hurt someone else, then you don't have the right to live.
So again, yeah, it's tricky.
Okay, so you're talking about arguments against the death penalty or for it?
Against having a death penalty. Another argument for against it is that it's not a deterrent. It doesn't serve as a deterrent. It's shown that if even if you know that you're going to go to the gas chamber, you'll still do the crime if that's what you want to do.
So it's not a deterrent. And then that mistaken identity could not, it could possibly not be you, could be uncovered that 10 or 20 years after the execution. This, Oh, he was completely not guilty. He was innocent.
It's technically if you think about a death penalty, you know, people would would think, yeah, if I'm caught...
Right, right. Yeah, yeah.
Let's say 50 years in prison without a chance.
But but some people are on death row for 20 years, waiting and appealing.
And that's very expensive. That's very expensive.
But there're so many questions. This podcast is could be huge. It can literally go on for hours. Like there's so many interesting questions to ask, so many rabbit holes to go down. Yeah, maybe we might have to...
Yeah, maybe. Well, let's. Let's wrap it up. What if you could pass one law everyone would have to follow? What would that law be?
Yeah. It's just a simple, simplest thing, you know.
And then have to debate what's respect.
Yeah. All right. This is general rules of the society. Follow them. That's it. Be kind. Be respectful.
If we are in Russia, I think I would criminalize, animal abuse and domestic violence.
I believe it is criminalized. No?
Okay. They have a lot. Nobody cares.
Both them. Well, domestic violence was decriminalized a couple of years ago, so it is no longer a crime.
And it's all about jure, which is on the books and what is actually happening. De facto, what really happened, what was on the books.
I have, let's say, a situation, a girl, so it's like a friend of a friend. She was in a supermarket just holding her dog, you know, a little dog, a woman, elderly woman comes with a bottle and just hits her dog on the head.
It's all on camera. There was CCTV footage. So. And of course, the girl, you know, she goes to the police and everything and they open a case and then she calls like, So how is it going? They're like, Oh, we closed the case. We don't have enough evidence or.
We don't have enough evidence.
It's not even a crime. She's like, I have all the details from like the vet's office. You have the CCTV footage, which is like, I have the CCTV footage that. They like, No, it's not really.
Yeah. And they like, It's not really a crime, you know, nobody died. She's like, Wow. So this is how it's done in Russia.
Well, my crime would be my law would be if you commit a mistake with the second conditional.
I will sentence you due to some nasty prison in the middle of...
Yeah. Grammar dictator. Yeah, it is actually.
Okay. I like to work in that prison.
So every day you start with three questions of second conditional and then you move to the third conditional. Don't get me started on the mix conditional.
If I were the dictator of Benjaminostan...
I would execute offenders.
For not using articles, leaving out "a", "an" and "the".
Oh, my God. That's how you find out about the dark side of people. Okay, all right.
That' so funny, because we were speaking about not making mistakes on many podcasts, and we..
I'm joking. Make your mistakes. Go on. Make your mistakes.
Yeah. But in grammar, of course not in life, general, right?
Yeah. Be good. You know the book les Miserables.
Are you a law breaker or a law abider? That's my British accent.
Coming from Judas Priest. Breaking the law. Right, the next song is that one.
Yeah, well, guys, if you don't check out our website, you will go to prison. So our website is www.bigappleschool.com where you can check out cool articles, more podcasts, videos, all other sorts of stuff.
And like I said before, be sure to join or telegram chat or private telegram chat where you can speak to us and you can get access to the aftershow portion of this podcast, which we will be doing very soon.
And we will check your IP addresses, of course, serious.
And of course we will be providing a vocabulary list so you can see which words we use in this show so you can improve your English skills. So that's it, guys, thank you very much for listening. Share your comments or go to jail. We'll see you next time.
Катерина Рудых
