19. Read the story and say what crime was committed: a murder or suicide. If it’s a murder bring in a verdict and impose the sentence. Prove your point of view by the facts from the text.

In Chicago in 1992 a man jumped off the roof of a 26-storey building. As he fell past the l4th floor, someone shot a bullet out of a window which hit him in the head killing him instantly.

The police had to decide whether the crime was suicide or murder. When they started investigating the police discovered that there was some safety netting not far below the l4th floor. A window cleaning company had put it up to catch their employees if they fell while cleaning windows. If the man had not been shot, the net would have caught him and he would not have died.

The police thought they might be investigating a murder, so they tried to find out who had fired the gun. An old man and his wife had been having an argument in the apartment on the l4th floor. While they were fighting, the man took a gun from his desk and shot at his wife. The bullet missed her and went out of the window where it hit the man who had jumped from the roof. So presumably the old man could be charged with the murder of the man who died, as well as the attempted murder of his wife.

However, the old man claimed that he was innocent. He said that he thought the gun was empty and that he often threatened his wife with an empty gun when they were arguing. The police thought this sounded unlikely, but his wife confirmed that this was true. They often fought and he often threatened to kill her, but both of them knew that the gun was never loaded. Neither of them could understand how the bullet had been in the gun.

After some enquiries, the police decided that the old couple’s teenage son had probably loaded the gun. The boy urgently needed some money and he knew he would inherit a large sum of money when his mother died. He knew about his father’s habit of firing an empty gun at his mother, so he bought some bullets, loaded the gun and waited for his father to shoot his mother.

However, his parents didn’t have an argument for a long time and the boy became more and more depressed about money. Eventually he decided to commit suicide. He went to the roof of the building where his parents lived and jumped off. As he fell past the l4th floor, someone shot a bullet out of a window which hit him in the head, killing him instantly.

20. Make a list of 10 books that you’ve read or films that you’ve seen concerned with any kind of crime. The example is given below:

W. Collins’ “The Moonstone” – theft of a precious stone

P. Ackroyd’s “Hawksmoor” – a string of ritual murders

Movie “Gentlemen of Fortune” – escape from the prison, theft

1. Compare your result with the group’s one. Say what crimes are usually in the writer’s / scriptwriter’s focus of attention.

2. Discuss and explain why crimes are often chosen for a book’s / film’s plot.

21. Role-play the trial procedure, the situations are given below. Perform the parts of a defendant, his/her defence counsel (barrister / solicitor), the prosecutor and a victim (if he/she survives and can testify against the accused, witnesses (eye, credible, false etc), a judge, a jury. If it’s necessary, add the parts of criminologist, medical expert etc. Follow the rules of hearing cases.

1. A married couple celebrated their anniversary in a bar. On their way home they were attacked by three men from the bar who demanded their cash and the woman’s jewelry. The man, a karate coach defended his wife from the men’s infringement. Two attackers got fractures of upper and lower extremities, one died after falling on his knife. The muggers accused the karate coach of murdering their friend because of jealousy as the last had tried to invite the woman to dance in the bar before and was rejected.

2. A bank was robbed by two men in masks. They threatened the bank manager with their guns and stole one million pounds. Nobody suffered. The bank teller recognized the voice of one of the robbers. It belonged to their new client who had opened the bank account two days before the robbery.

3. A driver while speeding hit a cyclist off her bike. She was badly injured and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. The driver didn’t stop so he’s charged with hit and run. The witness managed to write the first two figures from the car plate, remembered the colour of the car and the black mustache of the driver.

4. The accused is a doctor who gave an overdose to an 87-year-old woman. She had a terminal illness, was in constant pain and had asked for the overdose. Her family are accusing the doctor of murder as according to the will the doctor is the only testamentary heir. The family didn’t visit their grandmother and mother during her illness.

5. A. and B. mugged Mr X., took his money and left him for dead. B. later returned alone and pushed the body into the river. An autopsy revealed that the man was still alive despite numerous injuries and loss of blood when he was pushed into the water. The victim subsequently drowned.