Vocabulary and Speech Exercises

I. Find the words of opposite meaning in the text and fill the chart; translate the pairs of words into Russian:

II. Chose the word to describe crimes in this situation:

burglary, arson, vandalism, terrorism, forgery, blackmail, smuggling, fraud, rape, mugging, kidnapping, drug pushing, shoplifting.

He threatened to send the love letters to her husband unless she gave him 500 pounds.

The telephone box had been smashed, the young trees broke.

An old man has been attacked and robbed in a city street. He is recovering in hospital.

Department stores lose millions of pounds each year through goods being stolen off the shelves.

Thieves broke into the house while the family was away on holiday.

The young woman was sexually attacked as she walked across the dark park late at night.

He watched with satisfaction as the fire he lit burnt down the factory. “That’ll make them wish they’d never given me the sack”, he thought.

It was a perfect copy. It was so good, in fact, that it could even fool an expert.

The bank believed her to be trustworthy. They had no reason to suspect that she had transferred thousands of pounds to false accounts.

If you want to see your child again, put $50.000 in an old suitcase and wait for further instructions.

George gave the man 50 pounds in return for a small packet of heroin.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and people were sitting outside the café enjoying the sunshine. Then the bomb went off.

“If only I hadn’t brought these watches through customs,” she thought as she sat crying in the police station.

III. What do you call the criminals who commit these crimes? Choose the words to complete the sentences:

A burglar, a smuggler, a shoplifter, an arsonist, a kidnapper, a hijacker, a thief, a forger, a mugger, a fraudster, a robber, a murderer.

1) … sets fire to buildings/forests on purpose.

2) … takes someone by force and doesn’t release them.

3) … gains money or financial benefits by a trick or by lying.

4) … breaks into a building in order to steal things.

5) … copies work of art/documents/signatures/etc/ to deceive people.

6) … takes things into or out of the country illegally.

7) … internationally kills another person.

8) …steals things from a shop while pretending to be a customer.

9) … steals money or property from a bank/shop/vehicle/etc. using force of threats.

10) … illegally takes control of a plane or other vehicle using force.

11) … steals another person’s property.

12) … attacks someone violently in a street in order to steal money from them.

IV. Arrange the following crimes into two groups:

a) crimes against people;

b) crimes involving things or property.

Murder, rape, assault causing grievous bodily harm, mugging, robbery, burglary, car theft, homicide, arson, blackmail, embezzlement, fraud, pick pocketing, shoplifting, stealing.

V. Match the beginnings and the endings of the sentences; translate the sentences.

Read and translate this text.

Modern Crimes

Many acts became criminal acts by law as the modern business world came into being in the 18-th and 19-th centuries following the Industrial revolution. This period of great change made it necessary to regulate human conduct in many new fields. Laws were passed to regulate, among other things, industry, business, trade, labor, health, welfare, taxes, and banking.

In the 20-th century came a new type of crime, known as “white-collar”, or corporate crime. “White-collar” crimes are crimes committed by business people, professionals, and politicians in the course or their occupation. Examples include conspiring with other corporation to fix prices of goods or services in order to make artificially high profits, bribing officials to obtain manufacturing licenses, constructing buildings or roads with cheap, defective materials. The term “white-collar crime” is also used to describe fraud and embezzlement. This constitutes crime for profit by the individual against the organization.

It is assumed that most crimes are committed by the poor and members of the underworld (which is organized crime). It is true that housebreaking, robbery, and similar crimes are often committed by persons in need. But sometimes well-educated people with good incomes commit crimes, usually out of greed. They sometimes use their education and talents in illegal ways to get bigger profits.

Organized crime is often based on “protection rackets” where a racketeer forces a merchant to pay money by threatening him. These protection rackets are most common in the distribution of food, in the building trades, and in transport. By organizing themselves in groups, the racketeers get better results by widening their field of operation, setting up monopolies, and guarding against competition.

Another form of organized crime has do with gambling, horse- or dog-racing, illegal lotteries, and so on. There are legalized forms of gambling in many countries and in some states of the United States, but even in those places illegal gambling takes place.

A narcotic trafficking, especially in the United States, is carried out by international groups of criminals and by local and regional groups working with international suppliers.

Find the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations; memorize them:

1. по закону

2. преступление, совершенное служащим или лицом, занимающим высокое общественное положение

3. преступный мир

4. организованная преступность

5. совершать преступления из корысти

6. получать искусственно завышенную прибыль

7. покровительственный рэкет

8. заставлять кого-либо выплачивать деньги путем угрозы

9. азартная игра, запрещённая законом

10. торговля наркотиками.

Answer the questions:

1. When did “white-collar” crime come into being?

2. What crimes are known as “white-collar” crimes?

3. Is it right to say that most crimes are committed by the poor and members of the underground? Why?

4. What are the illegal ways to get bigger profit/

5. What is organized crime based on?

6. What are the main spheres of illegal activities for organized criminal groups? 

UNIT 9

JUSTICE

Scan the text and answer the questions.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The Government’s strategy for dealing with crime is to sustain the rule of law by preventing crime where possible, to detect culprits when crimes are committed, to convict the guilty and acquit the innocent, to deal firmly, adequately and sensibly with those found guilty, and to provide more effective support for the victims of crime. It is also concerned with ensuring that public confidence in the criminal justice system is maintained and that a proper balance between the rights of the citizen and the needs of the community as a whole is maintained.

With continuing concern in Britain, as in many other countries, over rising crime rates, public expenditure on the law and order programme reflects the special priority given by the Government to these services. Recent increases have been made to cover, in particular, greater police manpower, the prohibition service and extra spending on prison building. More than two-thirds of total expenditure is initially incurred by the local authorities (with the help of central governmental grants), mainly on the police service.

A number of measures to strengthen the criminal justice system have been taken. The Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 provides for the pretrial freezing of suspected drug trafficker’s assets, backed up on conviction by immediate confiscation of the assets to the value of the proceeds of the crime; similar provisions are included in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1987. The Public Order Act 1986 codifies the common law offences of riot, unlawful assembly and affray, enhances the power of the police to control public processions and assemblies likely to result in serious disorder or disruption; strengthens the law against incitement to racial hatred; and provides additional powers to combat football hooliganism. Under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 a Serious Fraud Office with wide powers to investigate and prosecute serious or complex fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was established in 1988. 

1. What does the Government’s strategy aim for?

2. What was the reason for expenditures expand on the police force in Britain?

3. What is a share of local authorities in public and order spending?

4. How does the British Government provide criminal justice system strengthening?

Grammar Exercises