单选题 Perhaps all criminals should carry cards which read "Fragile, Handle with Care". It will never do, to go around referring to criminals as violent persons. You must refer to them politely as "social misfits". The professional killer who wouldn"t think twice about battering some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her small life saving must never be given a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of "hospital treatment". According to his misguided defenders, society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evil or so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of talk, it makes you wonder why we aren"t all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of criminal legislation in many countries such as Britain has been the suspension of capital punishment.
The violent criminal has become a kind of hero figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is pursued by the press and paid vast sums of money for his "memoirs". Newspapers which specialize in crime reporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publisher of trashy cops and robber stories or "number mysteries" have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movement. The hardened criminal is embraced and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on the other. It"s no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes.
Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It prevented unarmed policemen from being killed while pursuing their duty by killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society, young children, from brutal violence. It"s frightening to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. We all know that "life sentence" does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of good conduct, the most desperate wicked person can return to society where he will live very comfortably on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always willing to hold liberal views at the expense of others. It"s always fashionable to pose as the defender of the underdog so long as you remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment in their desire for fair play? Hardly, you know, they couldn"t, because all the victims were dead.

单选题 From the last two sentences of Paragraph One, we know that ______.

单选题 What is the reason for a monstrous criminal becoming one hero figure?

单选题 What is said about the foremost function of the capital punishment?

单选题 By saying "life sentence" (Line 5, Para. 3), the author means ______.

单选题 We can infer from this passage that ______.