Crime and Law Enforcement in Great Britain and USA

Crime and Law Enforcement in Great Britain

When someone is arrested for committing an offence, he is taken to the police station for interrogation. If the police decide there is a case against him, he is charged with the offence, that is to say the police formally accuse him of committing it. After this, the accused appears before a magistrate. This is a well-respected member of the public who is empowered to decide, with a lawyer’s help, what to do about minor cases. If the magistrate finds the accused guilty, he will sentence him to pay a fine, or some other minor punishment.

More serious cases are passed up to the Crown Court, where the accused is tried for the offence by a judge, and usually a jury. Very serious cases are heard in the high courts in London. The accused may have to wait a long time to stand trial.

Sometimes he can pay bail, as a kind of guarantee, and await a trial in freedom. In other cases, he is remanded in custody by the magistrate, and must wait in cell, in a police station or a remand prison.

At the trial, the accused pleads guilty or not guilty. If he pleads not guilty, the jury, composed of 12 ordinary citizens, has to decide if he is guilty or not. This decision is called their verdict. The judge directs proceedings, and decides what punishment to give, if any. The lawyers who try to persuade the jury are called barristers. In court, the one on the side of the accused is known as the Counsel for the Defence, and the one against him is called the Counsel for the Prosecution. Each barrister calls witnesses to give evidence in support of his case. The witnesses can be cross-examined by the other counsel, who tries to persuade the jury that the evidence is untrue or not important.

When all the evidence has been heard, the judge sums up the case and explains legal points for the jury’s benefit. He must not try to influence their decision, however. The jury retire to another room, where they try to reach a verdict. If they find the accused guilty as charged, we say he has been convicted of the offence. The judge then passes sentence. He may sentence the guilty person to pay a fine, to a number of years’ imprisonment, or to some other punishment. If the verdict is ‘not guilty’, we say the accused has been acquitted of the offence, and he goes free. If the accused feels there was something unfair about the trial, he may appeal to the Appeal Courts, where three judges decide the case.

Cover the text. Which words on the left go

with which words on the right?

a) plead i) verdict

b) cross-examine ii) case

c) remand iii) imprisonment

d) commit iv) sentence

e) reach v) witnesses

f) stand vi) offence

g) find vii) evidence

h) hear viii) guilty/ not guilty

i) pay ix) trial

j) call x) fine

k) give xi) bail

l) sum up xii) custody

m) pass

Which people are connected with which items and in what way?

the police the accused the magistrate the judge

the jury the witnesses the barristers

Crimes

1.Listen to the cassette, and match the spontaneous definitions

that you hear to the crimes on your list:

It’s a crime that involves lighting fires, setting fire to something, and the person who commits this crime is someone who sets fire to something, and he shouldn’t, or she shouldn’t.

This means really, like putting pressure on someone to do something, like give you money or something else you want them to do. It can be by, usually it’s by threatening to expose some terrible secret that they’ve got.

This is when you kill someone without intending to, so it’s not murder, but nevertheless it’s your fault and you’ve probably done something you shouldn’t have done – like dangerous driving, for example.

This is, er, when you rob somebody with violence or with threats of violence, um, in a public place. It wouldn’t be called this if it was in your own home, but it includes robbery and violence or threat of violence.

It’s a crime when somebody hits somebody else, er, could be as simple as just one punch or it could be a complete beating up.

2. Listen to snatches of conversation on the cassette.

Which crimes are concerned?

Now officer, I’m sure there will be some fine to pay for this offence, so why don’t you and I just save each other a lot of trouble, and I’ll pay you the fine straight away. Personally, as it were.

Those are our demands, which must be met by midnight at the latest. Should they not be, we will begin to execute the hostages on board, one every hour.

I can’t pay, I can’t pay all that. Why are you asking for more suddenly?

Sshh! Keep quiet, turn the light off. There’s someone moving around upstairs. Look, no shooting, all right?

I didn’t mean to do it, I didn’t mean to do it, I didn’t mean to! The gun just went off. And there he was, dead!!

The photographs must be left in a plain white envelope, under the fourth park bench along as you enter the park from Piccadilly. This must be at eight-fifteen precisely. Slide the packet under the bench and walk straight on. The money will be handed to you in a second white envelope, by a man wearing a green jacket and horn-rimmed glasses.

Look at that. Perfect! I challenge anyone to tell the difference.

That one over there who’s just picked up the black suitcase, do you see him? What do you think? Yep, come on, let’s pull him in, and see what he’s got in there.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 2016