C. Say what crimes are becoming more common and why.

14. Work in pairs. What kind of offences can you name? Write a list of them and add the entries suggested by the other students in your class. Then read the text below and match the names of the crimes in the text with their descriptions below.

The most serious crimes are felonies, which carry a potential penalty of im­prisonment for more than one year in a penal institution and fines. A capital offence is a felony for which death is a potential penalty. Misdemeanors carry the maximum potential penalty of imprisonment for maximum a year, or a fine, or both. Imprison­ment for misdemeanor is in a local facility, a county jail, or municipal workhouse or jail. Imprisonment for a felony may be served in an approved local facility and imprisonment for consecutive misdemeanors - in a state penal institution. There are nine degrees of felony, the most serious one is aggravated murder. Then goes murder, followed by aggravated felonies of the 1^st, 2d, and 3d degrees, and felonies of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees. Misdemeanors are divided into misdemean­ors of the 1^st, 2d, 3d and 4^th degrees, and minor misdemeanors. The list of some of serious offences proscribed by law includes: homicide, assault, menacing threats; kidnapping, abduction, false imprisonment, extortion, coercion; patient abuse; rape, prostitution, obscenity, arson; robbery, burglary, safecracking, trespass; theft, credit card offenses, forgery, fraud; gambling; inciting to violence; false alarms; domestic violence; bribery, perjury, resisting arrest, harboring criminals, escape, graft, conflict of interest, dereliction of public duty, violation of civil rights; conspiracy, attempt, complicity; weapons and explosivescontrol; racketeering, corrupt activity; drug abuse; miscellaneous offenses.

1. taking a person by force and demanding money for his/her return

2. illegal copying of docu­ments, paintings, or paper money

3. taking a person by force without demanding money for his/her return

4. illegally giving money or a gift to persuade an official to do something

5. stealing

6. secret illegal planning

7. sexual attack

8. pushing to unrest

9. risking money on the result of a card game etc.

10. earning money by having sex with people

11. opposing being taken into custody by the police

12. making a person do something by force

13. putting a person to jail illegally

14. bad treatment of sick people

15. blackmail

16. illegal arms possession

17. going onto one's land without his/her permission

18. narcotics misuse

19. physical attack

20. murder

21. intimidation

22. fake warning of danger

23. lying under oath

24. trying to kill someone

25. brutality in the family

26. using sexually offen­sive words or actions

27. stealing from a bank, shop etc by using violence

28. failure to do what one should do as part of his job

29. illegal opening of spe­cial locks with valuables

30. getting into a building to steal things

31. illegal getting away from a prison etc.

32. dishonesty and fraud of public officials

33. denying people what they are entitled to

34. manipulations with credit cards

35. hiding criminal offend­ers

36. deliberately setting fire, especially to a building

37. deceiving people to get their money or goods

38. getting money or ad­vantage by the dishonest use of influence or power

39. intimidating business people to get money from them

40. involvement in a crime, together with others

41. not doing a job fairly as it'll have a negative impact on your business etc.

 

15. Put each of the following words and phrases into its correct place in the passage below.

Bigamy	civil	classes	community
countries	crimes	criminal law	felony
fine	forgery	laws	life imprisonment
misdemeanor	offences	penalty	person
prison	state	term	treason

Crime

Crime violates the laws of a community, ….. or nation. It is punishable in accordance with these …... The definition of crime varies according to time and place, but the laws of most ….. consider as crimes such ….. as arson, ….., burglary, ….., murder, and …...

Not all offences against the law are …... The laws that set down the punishments for crimes form the …... This law defines as crimes those offences considered most harmful to the …... On the other hand, a ….. may wrong someone else in some other way that offends the ….. law.

The common law recognizes three ….. of crime: treason, ….., and misdemeanor. Death or ….. is the usual ….. for treason. Laws in the United States, for example, define a felony as a crime that is punishable by a ….. of one year or more in a state or federal …... A person who commits a ….may be punished by a ….. or a jail term of less than one year.