Crime Classifications and Definitions

A crime occurs when someone breaks the law by an overt act, omission or neglect that can result in punishment. A person who has violated a law, or has breached a rule, is said to have committed a criminal offense.

There are two main categories of crime: property crime and violent crime:

Property Crimes: A property crime is committed when someone damages, destroys or steals someone else's property, such as stealing a car or vandalizing a building. Property crimes are by far the most commonly committed crime in the United States.

Violent Crimes: A violent crime occurs when someone harms, attempts to harm, threatens to harm or even conspires to harm someone else. Violent crimes are offenses which involve force or threat of force, such as rape, robbery or homicide.

Some crimes can be both property crimes and violent at the same time, for example carjacking someone's vehicle at gunpoint or robbing a convenience store with a handgun.

Omission Can Be a Crime

But there are also crimes that are neither violent nor involve property damage. Running a stop sign is a crime, because it puts the public in danger, even though no one is injured and no property is damaged. If the law is not obeyed, there could be injury and damage.

Some crimes can involve no action at all, but rather not taking action. Withholding medication or neglecting someone who needs medical care or attention can be considered a crime. If you know someone who is abusing a child and you do not report it, under some circumstances you could be charged with a crime for failing to act.

Each year, the FBI publishes crime statistics in its Uniform Crime Reporting program. The reports provide not only helpful statistics but also crime classifications and definitions. UCR categorizes serious crimes as Part I offenses and less serious crimes as Part II offenses.

 

Part I Offenses – Personal/Violent Crimes

Aggravated assault: Unlawfully attacking another person to inflict severe or aggravated bodily injury, usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by other means likely to produce death or grave bodily harm. Attempted aggravated assault that involves the use or threat of use of a gun, knife or other weapon is included in this crime category because serious personal injury likely would result.

Forcible rape: The “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” UCR includes assaults and attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force but excludes statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses. UCR collects data only on the rape of women.

Murder: Killing a human in a willful and non-negligent manner.

Robbery: Taking or attempting to take anything of value from a person by force or threat of force or violence.

 

Property Crimes

Arson: Willfully or maliciously burning or attempting to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a house, public building, motor vehicle, aircraft or personal property.

Burglary: Unlawfully entering a structure to commit a felony or theft. Forcible entry need not have occurred.

Larceny-theft: Unlawfully taking property from another (e.g., stealing a bicycle, stealing automobile parts, shoplifting, pickpocketing) without force, violence or fraud. Attempted larcenies are included.

Motor vehicle theft: The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

 

Part II Offenses

Curfew violation/loitering: Curfew violation sometime is classified as a status offense (one only juveniles can commit). Loitering involves spending an excessive amount of time in a particular location without being able to justify one’s presence when questioned by authorities. Loitering frequently occurs in conjunction with curfew violations.

Disorderly conduct: Acting in a manner potentially threatening to oneself or to other people. Disorderly conduct laws sometimes overlap with public drunkenness laws.

Driving under the influence: Operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. Each state sets an acceptable blood-alcohol level for drivers.

Drug law violations: Violating any local, state or federal drug law that prohibits the possession or sale of specific drugs or drug paraphernalia.

Embezzlement: Misappropriating money or property by a person entrusted with it for personal use and benefit.

Forgery and counterfeiting: Forgery involves creating or altering a written document in such a way that another person’s rights are compromised. Counterfeiting occurs when a person copies or imitates an item without authorization and passes off the copy as the genuine or original thing. While counterfeiting is most often associated with money, it also can be applied to designer clothing and accessories.

Fraud: The intentional deception by one party in order to wrongfully obtain possession or control of money, goods or specific rights belonging to an innocent party.

Gambling: Violating any local, state or federal law that prohibits gambling.

Prostitution and related offenses: Offering to exchange sexual favors for money, drugs or other goods or providing such favors.

Public drunkenness: Being inebriated in public for an extended period of time. Blood-alcohol levels are set forth to govern such violations in each state. Laws also dictate when and where people may carry around alcohol in open containers.

Sex offenses (e.g., statutory rape): An adult having sex with a child or teen who cannot legally consent to the act.

Simple assault: Attempting to inflict physical harm on another person when that person is aware. Assault can be both a criminal and civil wrong, redressed by either criminal punishment or damages. Battery has generally been defined as the unlawful touching of another person. However, many jurisdictions no longer observe this distinction.

Vandalism: Damaging or defacing public or private property without permission.

Vagrancy: Failing to maintain a verifiable mailing address and spending excessive time wandering around in public.

 

New or Notable Crimes

Corporate/white-collar crimes: Under a legal theory called the Identification Doctrine, corporations can be convicted as legal entities under various criminal laws. In an effort to further combat this type of fraud, President Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 into law. The act created penalties for those trying to practice accounting fraud.

Hate crimes: Committing a crime against a person because of that person’s race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics. The FBI publishes statistics each year about hate crimes.

Identity theft: Unlawfully using a person’s identifying information (e.g., Social Security number, driver’s license information, credit card number) to obtain financial gain. In May 2006, President Bush signed Executive Order 13,402 into law, authorizing the use of federal resources to combat this growing crime.

Organized crime: Organized crime today frequently involves homegrown street gangs, but the Colombian drug-trafficking cartels continue to smuggle large quantities of drugs into the U.S. Many of these types of groups are also involved in importing undocumented immigrants into the U.S.

Terrorism: Using or threatening to use violence against civilians to achieve political or ideological goals.

 

Vocabulary:

 

to vandalize – вредить, разрушать              to harm – вредить

omission – бездействие                                 defraud – обманывать, выманивать

to obey a law – подчиняться закону             to alter – переделывать

under the circumstances – при обстоятельствах

to inflict injury – нанести поврежд ение      vagrancy – бродяжничество

curfew violation – нарушение комендантского часа

acceptable blood alcohol level – допустимый уровень алкоголя в крови

carnal knowledge – половые сношения

redress – восстанавливать, компенсировать

 

Task 3: find in the text the synonyms of the following words

 

obvious –	to submit to –	to make smb do smth –
to destruct –	to go on –	to struggle –
to cheat –	to include –	illicit –

 

Task 4: make the expressions with the proposed words, translate them

to damage			to commit

	offence			level

forcible			lawful

	punishment			behaviour

 

Task 5: give English equivalents

местные уличные банды, иммигрант без документов, достичь политической цели, преступление на почве фобии, юридической лицо, нанести удар, забрать ценности, отказать в лечении, угон автотранспортного средства, угроза силой, совершить преступление, незаконное касание человека, подписать акт, управлять автомобилем, явное действие, фальшивомонетничество, нападение при отягчающих обстоятельствах, причинить вред, растрата, изнасилование, преднамеренное убийство, организованная преступность, допустимый уровень алкоголя в крови.

 

Task 6: match the notion and its explanation

 

omission	statement of an intention to punish or hurt smb.
threat	act of leaving out or undone
value	do what one is told to do, to carry out a command
obey	quality of being useful or desirable

 

    Task 7: define the correct completion of the sentences

 

1. A person violating a law is said to have ………

a) destroyed the building        b) committed a crime         c)vandalized the monument

 

2. Crime is rooted in ……….

a) criminal’s intention       b) variety of factors           c) court decision

 

 

3. Due to Lombroso’s theory criminals are identifiable through ………

a) social background         b) education             c) genetic composition

 

4. Freud states that crime is a result of ……….

a) academic training          b) childhood experience              c) friends’ influence

 

5. Violent crimes involve ……….

a) insulting                    b) threat of force                c) police corruption

 

6. Withholding medication can be considered ……….

a) an offence             b) cruelty        c) omission

 

7. Each year, the FBI publishes ……….

a) analytical summary       b) criminal data        c) crime statistics

 

8. Defacing public or private property without permission is defined as ……

a) arson                b) counterfeiting              c) vandalism

 

9. Under various criminal laws corporations can be convicted as ………

a) business partners          b) juristic person      c) natural person

 

10. Organized crime today frequently involves ………..

a) jazz bands            b) local criminal groups              c) sport teams

 

Task 8: translate the text

 

    Преступление – это предусмотренное криминальным кодексом общественно опасное деяние (действие или бездеятельность), совершенное субъектом преступления, которое посягает на права и свободы человека и гражданина, собственность, общественный порядок и общественную безопасность, окружающую среду и конституционный строй Украины.

Признаки преступления:

 - общественная опасность. Значит, что действие или бездеятельность наносит вред или создает угрозу вреда объектам, которые охраняются Уголовным Кодексом;

- противоправность. Значит, что преступлением является лишь то деяние, которое прямо предусмотрено криминальным законом. Под противоправностью понимается нарушение лицом конкретной криминально-правовой нормы.

- виновность. Значит, что деяние считается преступлением только тогда, когда в действиях лица есть вина в форме умысла или неосторожности;

- наказуемость. Значит, что преступлением является только то деяние, за которое законом предусмотрен определенный вид и размер наказания.

Деяние не может считаться преступлением, если оно не имеет хотя бы одного из этих признаков. С другой стороны, не является преступлением деяния, которое формально имеет все признаки преступления, но не составляет общественную опасность.

Состав преступления – это его структура, которая включает совокупность объективных и субъективных признаков, которые определяют общественно опасное деяние как преступление. Состав преступления включает: объект; объективную сторону; субъект; субъективную сторону.

 

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