Understanding Crime: Definitions, Legal Terms, and Social Impact

Understanding Crime: Key Definitions and Legal Terms

Crimes and Criminals

• To murder is to kill someone unlawfully and with premeditation.
• To mug is to attack and rob someone in a public place.
• To rob is to steal money or property from a person or a bank.
• To kidnap is to take somebody somewhere by force, often in order to get money for returning them (ransom).
• To steal is to take something that belongs to somebody else.
• To burgle is to get into a building and steal things.

People Involved in Crime

• A witness sees a crime.
• A culprit commits a crime.
• A victim suffers a crime.
• A suspect may be guilty of a crime.

Related Vocabulary

Paragraph A

• Groups of young people who spend time together and who are often involved in crime or drugs: gangs
• Someone whose job is to prepare medicines in a shop or hospital: pharmacist
• Someone who gives lectures, especially in a university; a teacher in a British university or college: university lecturer
• Artificial; false; copy: fake
• People who take something illegally from one country to another: smugglers

Paragraph B

• Deadly: fatal
• A physical hurt: injury
• Poisonous: toxic
• Medicines: fake drugs
• Choose someone to do a particular job: appoint somebody
• Be in control of an organization: lead
• Pause before doing something: hesitate

Paragraph C

• Met, confronted, coped with: face
• Fake: counterfeit
• Giving somebody, especially to a public official, money or a gift to persuade them to do something for you: bribing
• Deal with a problem: to tackle
• Capable of being corrupted: corruptible
• Criminals: outlaws

Paragraph D

• Do the right thing in the face of difficulty: make a stand
• Choice: option
• Caught up in; mixed up in: get involved in
• Forgers; imposters: counterfeiters
• Frightening or worrying: chilling

The Legal Process

• When someone commits a violent crime, the police try to make an arrest as soon as possible.
• Once the police have arrested suspects for the crime, they take a statement from them.
• The police may then formally charge the suspect with the crime and send them for trial in a court.
• If the person is accused of a serious charge, a jury of 12 citizens decides if the person is guilty of the crime.
• If the verdict is guilty and the person is convicted of a crime, a judge will decide what the sentence should be.
• The person may have to pay a fine or they may even be imprisoned for the crime.
• Sometimes guilty people get away with a crime when the wrong sentence is reached.

Possible Punishments

• Do community work
• Pay a fine
• Serve time in prison
• Receive a warning

Court Officials

• A bailiff is the official who can take people’s goods or property when they owe money in the British system.
• In the USA a defendant is an official of the legal system who watches prisoners and keeps order in a court of law.
• An offender is the person in a court of law who has been accused of doing something illegal.
• Jurors are the members of a jury.
• Offenders are those who are guilty of crime.
• A judge is the official in control of a court who decides how criminals should be punished.

Personal Qualities and Reactions

• Public-spirited: unselfish, selfless
• Single-minded: focused
• Calm, reflective: cool-headed
• Cold-hearted: totally insensitive
• In charge of something: responsible
• Away from danger: safe from
• The same as ‘scared of’: afraid of
• To be honest about something: to be open about
• Very critical: hard-hitting
• Saying what you think: plain-speaking