1. A crime is an offense against society. In order to convict, the prosecution must establish a duty to do or not to do a certain thing, a violation of the duty, and, in most cases, criminal intent.
2. A crime is punishable by the appropriate government - federal, state, or local.
3. Crimes are generally divided into (a) felonies and (b) misdemeanors.
4. Some crimes in which a business may be the victim are: robbery, burglary, shoplifting, employee pilferage, passing bad checks, vandalism, receiving stolen property, and embezzlement.
5. Some business related crimes are income tax evasion, consumer fraud, conspiring to fix prices, false advertising, embezzlement, and bribery. The offenses are often termed white-collar crimes because of the respected status of the criminals.
6. Victimless crimes include commercial gambling, illegal drug trafficking and prostitution. Despite the name of such crimes and the voluntary involvement of the parties, there are often victims in such crimes.
7. Generally any adult capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong is responsible for his or her crimes.
8. Generally what would be criminal conduct for an adult is juvenile delinquency for a minor, with lighter penalties and an emphasis on reform and rehabilitation.
9. Anyone accused of committing a crime has certain constitutional rights including (a) no arrest without probable cause, (b) equal protection of the law, (c) due process, and (d) a speedy, public, fair trial.
10. Crimes are punished by fine, imprisonment, or both. Probation and parole are mild punishments because the criminals remain at liberty, subject to limited restraints on their actions.
Vocabulary
abuse - злоупотреблять
arson - поджог
assault – 1. нападение 2. угроза физического насилия
battery – побои, избиение
bigamy - бигамия; двоеженство
blackmail - шантаж; вымогательство
bribery - взяточничество
burglary - кража со взломом
concealment - укрывательство
conspiracy - преступный сговор
counterfeiting - подделка
deceit - обман
decency - приличия
disorderly conduct - нарушение общественного порядка
drug abuse (addiction) - наркомания
embezzlement - растрата; присвоение (денег, имущества)
extortion - вымогательство
false pretenses - обман, мошенничество
felony - уголовное преступление, фелония (категория тяжких преступлений)
forgery - подделка
fraud - мошенничество
fraudulent sale - продажа во вред кредиторам
hijacking - нападение, ограбление; угон самолета
homicide – 1. лишение жизни человека 2. убийство
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illegal speeding - езда с недозволенной скоростью
income tax evasion - уклонение от уплаты подоходного налога
infraction - нарушение правил
intent – намерение
intrude – вторгаться
intruder - человек, незаконно присваивающий чужое владение
kidnapping - киднэппинг, похищение людей
larceny – кража, похищение имущества
litter - мусорить
malice aforethought – заранее обдуманный злой умысел
malum in se – лат. преступление в самом себе
malum prohibitum – лат. преступление в силу запрещения
metered parking - автостоянка с паркоматом
misdemeanor – мисдиминор (категория наименее опасных преступлений, граничащих с административным правонарушением)
murder – убийство, тяжкое убийство с заранее обдуманным злым умыслом
obscenity - непристойная брань
passing bad checks - пуск в обращение фальшивых чеков
perjury - лжесвидетельство
pickpocketing - карманная кража
pilferage - мелкая кража
public peace - общественный порядок
rape - изнасилование
receiving stolen property - укрывание краденого
rioting - нарушение общественной тишины и порядка
robbery - грабеж
sexual harassment - сексуальная агрессия (в основном на рабочем месте)
shoplifting - кража из магазина
tax evasion – уклонение от уплаты налогов
theft – кража, воровство
trespass - противоправно нарушать владение
vandalism - вандализм, варварство
white-collar crime - преступление, совершаемое служащими
wild cat securities - ничего нестоящие ценные бумаги
wrongful - незаконный
LESSON 7
GRAMMAR: REVISION OF ING-FORMS, PASSIVE VOICE
TEXT A: CIVIL LAW
TEXT B: CIVIL PROCEEDINGS
TEXT C: CIVIL COURTS
TEXT A
Before reading the text learn to pronounce the following words correctly:
| [o:] law call | [o] involve prosecutor responsible preponderance | [i] division issue injure | [i:] breech complete feature means |
| [æ] category matter damage unanimous | [e] penalty settlement defendant evidence | [ai] design provide private | [ei] behaviour failure plaintiff |
| [ ] government public among company | [a:] harmful arson | [ju:] sue suit dispute | [ә:] deter concern burden |
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CIVIL LAW
There are many divisions and categories of law. One major division is between civil and criminal law. Civil law is designed to regulate matters of a private nature involving issues such as contracts and domestic relations.
A major purpose of criminal law is to protect the public and prevent or deter criminal behavior. The government brings suit and imposes penalties on those found guilty. In civil law cases, individuals rather than government bring suit in which redress is sought for some harmful action. Breach of contract could be grounds for a civil suit. A contractor being suit for failure to complete a building for example, is a civil action. A person committing arson is liable under the criminal law and could also be liable for civil law damages as well.
These are major features of civil law:
a. It provides a means for settling private disputes.
b. The individual citizen (rather than government brings suit, this is called a civil suit.
c. It is concerned with payment for damages.
d. The government provides a forum for settlement of disputes but is not a prosecutor.
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Civil cases. Civil cases are usually disputes between or among private citizens, corporations, governments, government agencies and other organizations. Most often, the party bringing the suit is asking for money damages for some wrong that has been done, Foe example, a tenant may sue a landlord for failure to fix a leaky roof, or a landlord may sue a tenant for failure to pay rent. People who have been injured may sue a person or a company they feel is responsible for the injury.
The party bringing the suit is called the plaintiff; the party being sued is called the defendant. There may be many plaintiffs and many defendants in the same case.
The plaintiff starts the lawsuit by filling a paper called a COMPLAINT, in which the case against the defendant is stated. The next paper filed is usually the ANSWER, in which the defendant disputes what the plaintiff has said in the complaint. The defendant may also feel that there has been a wrong committed by the plaintiff, in which case a COUNTERCLAIM will be filed along with the answer. It is up to the plaintiff to prove the case against the defendant. In each civil case the judge tells the jury the extent to which the plaintiff must prove the case. This is called the plaintiff’s BURDEN OF PROOF, a burden that the plaintiff must meet in order to win. In most civil cases the plaintiff’s burden is to prove the case by a PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE, that is that the plaintiff’s version of what happened in the case is more probably true than not true.
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Jury verdicts do not need to be unanimous in civil cases. Only ten jurors need to agree upon a verdict if there are 12 jurors: five must agree if there are six jurors.
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TASKS
Task 1. Read and translate the following word combinations:
divisions and categories of law, domestic relations, to deter criminal behavior, to find guilty, grounds for the civil suit, harmful actions, private disputes, to be liable under criminal law and civil law, to commit an arson payment for damages, to bring a suit, to impose penalties, a paper called a complaint, a paper called an answer, burden of proof, to prove the case by a preponderance of evidence, the plaintiff’s version, landlord and tenant.
Task 2 Match the following:
| 1. Action | 1. Person charged with a crime |
| 2. Defendant | 2. Claim presented by a defendant in opposition to the claim of the plaintiff. |
| 3. Preponderance of evidence | 3. Proceeding taken in court synonymous to case, suit, lawsuit. |
| 4. Counterclaim | 4. Means that the weight of evidence presented by one side is more convincing to the tier of facts than the evidence presented by the opposing side. |
| 5. Plaintiff | 5. Formal written charge that a person has committed a criminal offense. |
| 6. Complaint | 6. The party who begins an action, complains or sues. |
Task 3. Read Text B, translate it and give a resume using the expressions given below:
Civil Proceedings
In England and Wales civil proceedings are instituted by the aggrieved person; no preliminary inquiry on the authenticity of the grievance is required. Actions in the High Court are usually begun by a writ of summons served on the defendant by the plaintiff, starting the nature of the claim. A defendant intending to contest the claim informs the court. Documents setting out the precise question in dispute (the proceedings) are then delivered to the court. County court proceedings are initiated by a summons served on the defendant by the court, subsequent procedure is simpler than in the High Court.
A decree of divorce must be pronounced in open court, but a procedure for most undefended cases disposes with the need to give evidence in court and permits written evidence to be considered by the registrar.
Civil proceedings, as a private-matter, can be abandoned or ended by compromise at any time. Actions brought to court are usually tried without jury, except in defamation, false imprisonment or malicious prosecution cases, when either party may, except in certain special circumstances, insist on trial by jury, or a fraud case, when the defendant may claim this right. The jury decides questions of fact and damages awarded to the injured party; majority verdicts may be accepted.
The title of the text is …
The text consists of … parts.
The first (the second …) part is about, deals with …
The main idea of the text is …
The text gives information about ….
At the beginning of the text the author describes …..
At the end of the text we read about …