Prisons in Lithuania and United Kingdom

There are differences and similarities between prisons in U.K. and Lithuania .There are 160 prisons in U.K. and there was about 85000 prisoners last year. In Lithuania there is just one prison, and 17 correctional institutions where are about 11 000 prisoners.
Prisoners are divided into A,B,C,D categories in U.K. :

• Category A: prisoners whose escape would be highly dangerous
• Category B: prisoners who don’t need extreme security but for whom escape must be difficult.
• Category C: prisoners not trusted in open conditions but without the ability to escape.
• Category D: prisoners trusted to serve their sentences in open conditions

In Lithuania there are 3 prisoners' groups inside the jail: simple, light and disciplinary group. Living conditions are much better in U.K. Inmates live in cells where are toilets ,they are allowed TV's ,computers ,record-players. All prisoners have sport facilities,also there are multi-faith centres ,where prisoners of different religions can profess one's faith. There are 11 proprietary prisons in U.K. It means ,that prison reside in private firm ,for instance ''CCA". There was ideas to try establish such prison in Lithuania too, but government refused it for the meantime, because it would be very complicated.

The biggest problem in Lithuania is that there are too much inmates in prisons .Prison Departament got 183 million litas last year .But this amount of money is to little for all prisons, prison officers and inmates to keep. Also, there are lack of prison officers in Lithuania. They earn just about 1000 litas per month, and officers in U.K. earn about 33,500 pounds a year, it is about 13 000 litas per month .But they call themselves ''forgotten service" too ,because prices are very high in U.K. and their job is very hard and dangerous.

Education is available for all prisoners in U.K. and in Lithuania too. There are much more various educational programs in U.K. Inmates can learn from ABC to college's studies ,use computers, learn foreign languages. Prisoners can get secondary education in Lithuania too. Also there are project ,which provide chance to study at university too .For instance ,there are three prisoners in Lukiškės prison ,who study at Vilnius Pedagogical University.

To sum up, I would like to say that our government should learn from other countries penitentiary systems (from United Kingdom too) and try search new , innovative ways how to solve problems in prisons.

Public and civil law

All juridical system are divided in civil and public law.Civil law regulates disputes among citizens, and public law deals with the relationship between the citizens and the state ,or between states.

There are some differences between civil and criminal procedures: civil actions are started by individuals, one party of criminal action is the state. In a criminal cases the defendant are prosecuted and if he is found guilty, he can be sentenced to life imprisonment or must pay a fine. The guilt cannot be proven if there is any doubt. Punishments of civil wrongs could be - a fine or to pay damages for plaintiff. The guilt are proven , when court decides what evidences is most probable.

The losers of civil and criminal cases ,who avoid liability are punished.

Summary of ,,Criminal law"

A crime is illegal act,which can be punished by the state.A different acts are considered crime in
different countries.
The most important elements of a crime are Actus Reus(the criminal act itself) and Mens Rea (person's state of mind when he commited the act).The main points ,which the court must find out are:was the crime commited malice aforethought ,was the act a substantial couse of result.A defendant has right to defence -to try prove that the crime was commited under duress ,or of self-defences,or that defendant is insane.A convicted person can expect migitation of sentence.
Criminal law quickly develops in order to coincide present-day society's demands.

Amnesty International

All people want that other members of society would respect his/her dignity and rights.Today all of as know that there are human rights,rights of citizens,rights by nature, which should be protected by laws and laws‘ safety institutions.Unfortunately,but there are countries ,where human rights security is very poor.These rights are violated in various lifes‘ spheres in democratic countries too

Amnesty International is independent worldwide movement ,of which basic aim is that all people would enjoy human rights world over.It‘s mission is act against abuse of the rights and discrimination,fight for freedom of concience and expresion. Amnesty International was founded in July 1961 by Peter Beneson an English lawyer. Amnesty International has about 2.2 million members, supporters and subscribers in over 150 countries and territories in every region of the world today. Amnesty International members have different, experiences, political religious beliefs.

There is Amnesty International Council of this organization,where are taken major decisions. Amnesty International urges all governments to observe the rule off law and implement human right standarts.It stimulate other member of society to do same.The International Council consists of members the International Excutive Committee and of representatives of this organization selection and structure.It must meet at interval of not more than two years.The International Council promts worldwide discution about issue like inhumane treatment with prisoners,death penalty problam,sexsual ,racial , religious discrimination, trade in humane beings,child abuse, rights of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. The International Council publishes reports from all the World.This year ( 2006 ) report could find http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Download-the-Report .There are mention two big problems in Lithuania. It is- trade in humane beings,on purpose sexual exsploitation,and prisoners‘ conditions in Lithuanian prisons.

Amnesty International takes more and more members.This organization motivates millions of people to build a better world.

Summary of "Never again"

Capital punishment is the most cruel punishment. There are various opinion about it in the World.

The main arguments for it are: fear of death can be prevention for murders; society would be safer; murders should get what they deserve; murders live in prison from taxpayers’ money. The arguments against capital punishment ''say'': statistic showed that fear of death didn’t reduce murders rate; there are people ,who are wrongly convicted; nobody can take a life ,even state; Christian religion is against death penalty.

The reintroduction of capital punishment is one of the most negotiable question nowadays .There are countries ,where it is acted (in the USA) or not , (in Great Britain).

My future profession

I am studying at Mykolo Romerio university.My speciality is Law and penitentiary activity.Actually,I have never thought about studying law before my exams.I , my family and friends thought that I will study photography or graphic art ,or something like that.But now I am here and I think my speciality is enough interesting.

I and my study mates don‘t know about our speciality very much.But I think it is difficult and hard speciality.Person ,who want work in this area should be strong nerves, self-possessed ,responsible and interested in such problems like prisoners’ socialization, crimes rate reduction ,situation in prisons amendment and etc. On purpose to do this, member of this profession must know law very well. So it is one of the most important our study’s part.

We are trained to work in prison or other correctional institutions, but we will be able to work as lawyer too. In my opinion there are lot of perspectives to do a career .Furthermore , there are lot of abilities to rise a qualification in Lithuania and abroad too. Sure, not all of as will work in this area in future.

Today we all are full of hope that we all will end this university and will end it well. But maybe one of as will leave it for various reason .I am not sure for my decision too. So I don’t know how long I will study here. Maybe I will choose other studies in other university ,maybe not. .But now the most important thing for all of as is to pass our first exams well.