Apart from the daily topic of Covid-19, a typical news story will start with a crime of some sort. It may be petty, stealing someone’s handbag or it may be more serious i.e. killing a person in a bar fight. Each crime carries a punishment which can be serious depending on the level of the crime. The job of the prosecutor is to investigate the crime, decide whether to instigate proceedings or not and to appear in court. A criminal will hire a lawyer to advise him/her on all aspects of the law and present their case in court. The judge is responsible for ensuring that the law is followed. The jury determines the facts of the case and decides on a guilty or not guilty verdict. If the criminal is found guilty, the judge imposes a sentence. This can be in the form of time in prison, community service or a fine.
Let us start with the crimes. In English we distinguish one type of theft from the other. Burglary is someone entering your house to steal jewellery, money, or valuable pieces of art. Robbery on the other hand is used more specifically for large buildings such as banks, businesses, or factories. Other types of crime that are reported in the news are: cybercrime, terrorism, corruption, paedophilia, slander, forgery, money laundering, drug trafficking, fraud, etc., Unfortunately the list is far too numerous to mention them all but knowing some of them will help you follow the News in English better.
As with the variety of crimes, we have an extensive list of criminals as well. For example, burglar, robber, thief, to name but a few. Criminals in English normally end in -er as in slanderer, money launderer, drug trafficker, fraudster, etc. However, there are exceptions worth noting. For example, cybercriminal, terrorist, burglar, and paedophile.
The verbs of crime such as to burgle and to rob are regular verbs and the past simple is formed by adding -ed and doubling the -b consonant in rob. For example: He burgled my neighbour’s house last night. Barclay’s bank was robbed last Friday night.
As with cause and effect, every crime deserves a punishment. The Police handling the case in question will arrest a person who they believe is a suspect. The suspect will then be taken into custody for questioning and fingerprints and a DNA swab will be taken. If he/she is found guilty they will be brought to court to be tried and sentenced.
There is no doubt that in becoming familiar with crime vocabulary, you will be far better equipped to interpret a news article and follow the news more easily on the TV or Radio.
| Crime | Criminal | Verb |
| Robbery | Robber | Rob |
| Theft | Thief | Steal |
| Burglary | Burglar | Burgle |
| Terrorism | Terrorist | Terrorise |
| Money laundering | Money Launderer | Money launder |
| Forgery | Forger | Forge |
| Fraud | Fraudster | Defraud |