Text 6 b

Read the text and answer the following questions.

1. What is gun crime?

2. What did you learn about knife crime?

3. What is vandalism?

4. What do know about bogus callers?

5. What is fraud?

6. What does a term ‘theft’ mean? What kinds of theft do you know?

7. What crime is called ‘ burglary’?

8. What is robbery?

9. What crime do we call ‘murder’?

10. What is ‘manslaughter’?

Types of crime

Gun crime includes any offence that involves the use of a gun or other firearm. This includes a murder where the victim was shot, any situation where a gun was fired, even if nobody was injured, any robbery or burglary where the thieves carried a gun, any case in which people were intimidated with a weapon, anybody found carrying a banned gun, anyone found carrying or using an imitation gun.

To solve the problem of gun-related crime, sentences for people convicted of crimes involving a gun or other firearm have been made much tougher in recent years. Under the current law anyone found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm is given a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

Knife crime is any crime that involves a knife. This can include carrying or trying to buy a knife if you’re under 18, threatening people with a knife, carrying an illegal kind of knife, murder or assault in which the victim was stabbed with a knife, robbery or burglary where the thieves carried a knife as a weapon. Even if you carry a knife to protect yourself or feel yourself safer but don’t intend to use it then you are committing a crime.

Vandalism is any deliberate damage done to someone else’s property. Vandalism is a crime that damages people’s quality of life and costs communities millions to repair. Examples include painting graffiti, dumping rubbish, setting small fires, breaking windows, damaging buildings or other structures, scratching car paint.

The punishment given to vandals depends on how seriously they’ve damaged property. Most crimes are minor offences, and those are usually dealt with by a Magistrates’ Court. The penalty will depend on how much damage there was, how much it cost to repair and how much trouble it caused. More serious acts of vandalism that damage or threaten lives can result in substantial sentences.

Bogus callers, who may be any age and appearance, male or female, aim to trick or worry you into leaving your house or into letting them in, by making up stories. Bogus callers may pose as water, electricity or gas-board workers, council workers or police officers; so they can steal money or property from your home. You can prevent this type of crime if you take precautions. To reduce the risk of becoming a victim of this crime, remember the following three steps: stop before you open the door, put the chain on, ask the caller for their identification - and check it - before letting them in. Use the phone number in the phone book, not on an identity card.

Fraud is a growing problem. Millions of people fall victim every year. You can be defrauded if somebody steals your credit card, and uses it to buy things, or if someone hacks into your bank account and takes the money. Other types of fraud include fake investment projects, when you give money for something that never happens. And identity fraud, when somebody pretends to be you in order to buy things that they never intend to pay for. Fraud costs the country at least £14 billion each year; nearly £265 for every person.

Theft is the term for all crimes in which a person intentionally takes personal property of another without permission or consent. Although robbery (taking by force), burglary (taken by entering unlawfully), pickpocketing (stealing things and money from pockets), shoplifting (stealing things from a shop), and embezzlement (stealing from an employer) are all commonly thought of as theft, they are distinguished by the means and methods used.

Burglary is the crime of breaking and entering into a dwelling for the purpose of committing a crime.

Here are a few things you can do to prevent burglary: never leave a spare key in a convenient hiding place, such as under a doormat as burglars know to look there; set your burglar alarm; install timers which switch lights or radios on and off automatically when you are not at home; store valuable items (including passports, driving licences and bank statements) out of view; hide cash and wallets away.

Robbery is taking or attempting to take something of value from another by violence or the threat of violence. Robbery can be committed against individuals, businesses, and institutions like banks. It is a serious crime. Threatening people on the streets with a baseball bat and demanding all their money and jewelry is a robbery, even if the person is not injured.

Armed robbery involves the use of a weapon. If someone robs a store with a toy pistol, that will also be a robbery, because the weapon appeared to be deadly.

Murder is the unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice. Murder is perhaps the single most serious criminal offence; a person who is convicted of murder may be sentenced to capital punishment or a prison sentence with no possibility of parole.

Manslaughter is the crime of killing someone illegally but not deliberately.

Notes

1. firearm – огнестрельное оружие

2. to intimidate with a weapon – устрашать,запугивать оружием

3. a banned gun – запрещенное оружие ( пистолет)

4. to threaten – угрожать

5. assault – нападение

6. to stab with a knife – наносить удар ножом

7. vandalism –вандализм

8. deliberate – преднамеренный

9. damage –вред ,повреждение, ущерб

10. to dump rubbish – сваливание мусора

11. deliberate – преднамеренный

12. damage –вред ,повреждение, ущерб

13. to scratch – царапать, соскребать

14. minor offence – мелкое правонарушение

15. a penalty – наказание

16. substantial – значительный, существенный, большой

17. bogus caller – человек, который выдает себя за кого-л.

притворяется кем-либо

18. fraud - мошенничество

19. council worker – служащий муниципалитета

20. to steal (stole, stolen) – красть, воровать

21. take precautions –принять меры предосторожности

22. a victim of a crime – жертва преступления

23. to defraud – обманом лишать собственности

24. theft – кража, воровство

25. intentionally – умышленно, намеренно

26. a bank statement - перечень банковских счетов

27. burglary – квартирная кража со взломом, незаконное

проникновение в помещение (с преступными целями)

28. robbery – грабеж, разбой, ограбление (с применением насилия)

29. armed robbery – вооруженный грабеж

30. pickpocketing – карманная кража

31. shoplifting – кража в магазине

32. embezzlement – присвоение или растрата имущества

33. violence – насилие, оскорбление действием

34. murder – тяжкое убийство

35. premeditated malice – заранее обдуманный злой умысел

36. to convict of murder – осуждать за убийство

37. capital punishment – смертная казнь, высшая мера наказания

38. parole – условно-досрочное освобождение

39. manslaughter – непредумышленное убийство

Translate the following text in a written form. Use a dictionary if necessary.