In France, what can you not call a pig?

‒ Charles De Gaulle

 

‒ Napoleon

‒ Gerard Depardieu

‒ Jerry Lewis

 

2. In Haifa, Israel, it is forbidden to bring to the beach…

‒ alcohol

 

‒ bears

‒ food

‒ pigs or bacon products

 

In Finland, you must have a license for which of the following?

‒ a computer

‒ a house pet

 

‒ a television

‒ a tomato plant

 

4. In Singapore, it is illegal to do this in an elevator:

‒ to talk

‒ to sneeze

 

‒ to pee

‒ to cough

 

How many years is a “life sentence” in Australia?

‒ 50 years

‒ 1,000 years

‒ 100 years

 

‒ 25 years

 

In Canada, it is illegal to kill a sick person by doing what to them?

‒ making them tired

‒ tickling them

‒ frightening them

 

‒ kissing them

 

7. In Italy, a man may be arrested for wearing…

‒ a hat

‒ the spaghetti sauce from his dinner on his shirt

 

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‒ a skirt

 

‒ red clothes

 

8. In China, to go to college you must be…

‒ a Chinese citizen

‒ rich

‒ male

 

‒ intelligent

 

9. Until 1824 anyone in England who unsuccessfully attempted suicide faced…

‒ 10 to 20 years in prison

‒ the death penalty

‒ life in prison

 

‒ exile and loss of all possessions

 

10. In Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing…

‒ underwear

‒ shirt

‒ hat

‒ gloves

 

11. In Switzerland, it is illegal to do this after 10 p.m. if you live in an apartment:

‒ watch TV

‒ sing

‒ flush your toilet

 

‒ have sex

 

 

26

Module 2

 

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

Read the text and translate it into Russian. Pay attention to the key vocabulary.

 

Key vocabulary

 

treason (n)– государственная измена

 

tax evasion – уклонение от уплаты налогов perjury (n)– дача ложных показаний под присягой counterfeiting (n)– подделка

 

sedition (n)– призыв к мятежу

 

fall short (v)– не дотягивать,не хватать rebellion (n)– восстание,бунт,мятеж mayhem (n)– нанесение увечья

 

premeditated (adj ) – преднамеренный,предумышленный

manslaughter (n)– непреднамеренное убийство

kidnapping (n)– похищение людей с целью выкупа

 

rape (n)– изнасилование

larceny (n)– воровство,кража

embezzlement (n)– хищение,присвоение чужих средств

forgery (n)– подлог,подделка документов,банкнот

hijacking (n)– захват транспортного средства

robbery (n)– ограбление

 

burglary (n)– кража со взломом

arson (n)– поджог

 

trespass (n)– нарушение границ,права владения mugging (n)– уличное ограбление malice (n)– злой умысел

 

decency (n)– приличие,благопристойность bigamy (n)– бигамия,двоебрачие obscenity (n)– непристойная брань harassment (n)– домогательство,приставание vagrancy (n)– бродяжничество felony (n)– тяжкое преступление

 

confinement (n)– заключение

shoplifting (n)– магазинная кража

 

misdemeanor (n)– преступление небольшой тяжести wrong-doer (n) ‒правонарушитель

 

deviant (adj) ‒отклоняющийся от нормы guilty mind ‒преступный умысел guilty action ‒преступное деяние

 

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What’s a Crime?

 

A crime is an offence against the whole society; it is a wrongful act or omission, serious enough for the wrong-doer to be punished by the rest of the community.

 

Criminal behaviour is seen as sufficiently serious or deviant or immoral for the majority of society to ban it. Public opinion is not set for all time and legislation reflects changing habits and norms. Moreover, new forms of potentially criminal activity arise, and the courts respond to those too. Criminal law in the widest sense covers a multitude of activities and sins – from murder, rape, arson, theft and damage of property to the less overtly criminal matters of careless motoring, selling unfit food or serving alcohol to a teenager. The principal areas of Criminal Law are offences against persons and offences against property. Offences against persons can be fatal and nonfatal. The former deals with homicide (killing of a human being by a human being) which falls into three categories: murder (premeditated unlawful killing of another), manslaughter, infanticide. The latter covers such crimes as assault and battery, wounding and grievous bodily harm, sexual offences (rape and others), kidnapping. Offences against property include: theft, robbery, burglary, blackmail, arson, forgery and counterfeiting. They distinguish a group of the so-called inchoate offences: aiding and abetting, incitement, conspiracy, and attempt. There are offences which affect the secrets of the state or international in character: piracy and hijacking, treason, terrorism.

 

There are a number of offences concerned with obstructing justice: perjury, assisting offenders, concealing, refusal to assist a police officer, contempt of court.

 

There are also road traffic offences. As for the classification of crime, the Criminal Law Act 1967 introduced the concept of “arrestable” and “non-arrestable” offences, thus abolishing the old distinction between felonies (serious crimes) and misdemeanours (minor offences). An arrestable offence is one for which no specific arrest warrant is required; a police officer can arrest without a magistrate’s warrant for a suspected crime carrying a maximum of five-year imprisonment or where the penalty is fixed by law as is in the case of murder, treason and piracy with violence.

 

Another way of classification is by the manner of trial. Criminal offences may be divided into two main classes: indictable offences, and offences punishable on summary conviction before magistrates (summary offences). Indictable offences are tried by a jury. They therefore may be generally regarded as serious ones and summary cases as less serious or minor. Two essential concepts in the operation of the Criminal Law are those of actus reus and mens rea. Actus reus means the “guilty action”, mens rea – “guilty mind”. In other words it must be shown that the accused has committedan act or omission which is criminal in nature. Secondly, it must be shown that he intended to commit an offence (though it may not always be a matter of deliberate intention – inattentiveness, recklessness or some other state of mind will suffice to constitute mens rea). Thus actus reu is, approximately, the physical element of crime, mens rea is the mental element. A conviction cannot be secured unless it is shown thatboth factors were present. It is for the prosecution to prove mens rea and actus reus beyond reasonable doubt¹; the burden of proof² lies upon the Crown.

 

28

Notes:

1. beyond reasonable doubt – вне всяких сомнений

 

2. the burden of proof – бремя доказательства

 

1. Pair the verbs in column A with a suitable phrase in column B.

 

A

 

 

B

 

 

1) accuse someone

2) arrest someone

3) ban

4) break

5) charge someone

 

6) commit

7) cross-examine

8) hijack

9) hold up

10) murder someone

11) pinch

12) serve

 

13) sound

14) take someone

15) try

16) vandalize

 

 

a) in cold blood

b) into custody

c) a witness

d) telephone boxes

e) for armed robbery

 

f) a prison sentence

g) a case

h) with murder

i) smoking in public places

j) of shoplifting

k) the alarm

l) a crime

 

m) some money

n) a plane

o) the law

p) a bank

 

 

2. Match the offences to the correct definition.

 

Arson

 

 

a) is taking a person away by force and keeping him as aprisoner, usually in order to demand money for his safe return.

 

 

Assault

 

 

b) is the serious crime of stealing large amounts ofmoney from a bank, a shop or a vehicle, often using force or threats of violence.

 

 

Blackmail

 

 

c) is the crime of copying things such as banknotes,letters, official documents, etc. in order to deceive people.

 

 

Burglary

 

 

d) is killing a person by accident or negligence.

 

 

Embezzlement

 

 

e) is forcing someone to have sex with you.

 

 

Forgery

 

 

f) is the crime of deliberately setting fire to a building.

 

 

29

 

Fraud

 

 

g) is taking control of an aeroplane, train, etc. by force,usually in order to make political demands.

 

 

Hijacking

 

 

h) is killing a person deliberately.

 

 

Kidnapping

 

 

i) is demanding money or favours from someone bythreatening to reveal a secret about him which, if harm.

 

 

Libel

 

 

j) is deliberately

 

 

taking

 

 

goods

 

 

from

 

 

a

 

 

shop

 

 

without

 

paying for them.

 

Manslaughter

 

 

k) is stealing money that is placed in your care, oftenover a period of time.

 

 

Murder

 

 

l) is the crime of getting

 

 

money

 

 

from

 

 

someone

 

 

by

 

tricking or deceiving him.

 

Rape

 

 

m) is the crime of physically attacking someone.

 

 

Robbery

 

 

n) is printing or publishing something which is untrueand damages another person's reputation in some way.

 

 

Shoplifting

 

 

o) is the crime of breaking into a house, a flat, etc. inorder to steal things.

 

 

Theft

 

 

p) is the crime of stealing.

 

 

3. Fill in the missing crimes in the sentences below. Choose from the words in the previous exercise.

 

1. The chief cashier admitted taking $30,000 of the firm's money during the previous three years and was found guilty of _______________.

 

2. She sued the newspaper for ____________ when it printed a story about her in which it claimed she had once been arrested for taking drugs.

 

3. The supermarket decided to install closed-circuit television in order to combat the problem of ________________.

4. This is the sixth fire in the area in the past month. The police suspect

____________.

 

5. He pleaded not guilty of murder but guilty of __________ saying that the gun had gone off and killed his wife by accident.

 

6. There have been so many cases of ___________ in the street recently that the police are advising residents to install alarms and to notify neighbours when they go out.

 

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7. The customs officer found nearly $20,000 worth of cut diamonds hidden in the man’s guitar case. He was arrested and charged with ___________.

 

8. Pop stars and famous people often employ bodyguards for themselves and members of their families as they are constantly worried about ___________.

 

4. Complete the following text with the words from the box.