Unit 1. Classification of Crimes Text 1
Read the text to answer the questions below:
1) How can crimes be classified?
2) Is there any difference in classification of crimes in different countries?
Classification of Crimes
H
istorically
crimes are classed as treasons, felonies and misdemeanors, but there
exist other classifications: indictable offences and offences
punishable on summary conviction and the classification based on the
immediate objects of the crimes (against the State and Public Order,
property, reputation and so on).
Felony, i.e. any of the more serious crimes such as murder, larceny, rape, arson and aggravated assault, formerly punishable by death and forfeiture of property but in England is now punishable in the same way as misdemeanors except in the few surviving instances in which capital punishment still exists (treason and cases of murder).
The former importance of the distinction between felony and misdemeanor is now reduced to a few minor procedural differences, such as the larger powers of arrest for suspected felony.
In the United States the distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor lies in how it is punishable, not the degree of infamy of the offence. All crimes which are not felonies or treason are misdemeanours punishable by a fine or by imprisonment other than in a prison. Originally a misdemeanour was a crime not resulting in the forfeiture of property in conviction, and at one time all felonies were punishable more severely than misdemeanor (usually by death). Today, however, some misdemeanors are punishable in England more severely than some felonies, though never by death. Examples of misdemeanors are perjury, obtaining money by false pretences, and conspiracy.
Notes
treason – измена, предательство (государственная измена)
felony – тяжкое уголовное преступление, фелония (категория тяжких преступлений, по степени опасности находящаяся между государственной изменой и мисдиминором)
misdemeanor – мисдиминор, проступок, провинность (класс преступлений, серьезность которых ниже, чем у фелоний; за них, в свою очередь, предусматриваются менее тяжкие наказания)
indictable offences – преступление, преследуемое по обвинительному акту (согласно общему праву попадает в разряд фелоний, т.е. тяжких преступлений)
manslaughter – непредумышленное убийство
homicide – убийство, человекоубийство
syn.: assassination
conviction – осуждение, признание виновным
murder – убийство (предумышленное, совершённое со злым умыслом)
larceny – воровство, кража
syn: thievery
rape – изнасилование
arson – поджог
syn: burning
aggravated assault – нападение при отягчающих обстоятельствах
forfeiture of property – конфискация имущества
infamy – дурная слава, лишение или ограничение гражданских прав (как последствие осуждения за совершение позорящего преступления)
fine – взыскание, штраф, пеня
syn.: penalty
imprisonment – тюремное заключение, лишение свободы
perjury – лжесвидетельство, вероломство
pretence – притворство, обман
conspiracy – умысел, замысел
2. Read the text again to answer the following questions:
1. What classifications of crimes do you know?
2. What is a felony? What kinds of felonies do you know?
3. What is the former importance of the distinction between felony and misdemeanor?
4. How are misdemeanors punishable?
5. What was originally a misdemeanor?
6. What examples of misdemeanors do you know?
3. Translate the following words and word combinations from English into Russian:
felony, misdemeanor, indictable offences, immediate objects, summary conviction, larceny, rape, arson and aggravated assault, formerly punishable, death, forfeiture of property, treason and cases of murder, obtaining money by false pretences, conspiracy, the few surviving instances.
4. Find the English equivalents to the following words and phrases:
измена (предательство), непредумышленное убийство, вынесенный приговор, осуждение (признание виновным), нападение при отягчающих обстоятельствах, конфискация имущества, тюремное заключение (лишение свободы), умысел (замысел), дурная слава, притворство (обман), взыскание (штраф).
5. Match the words from the left column with their definitions from the right column.
1. treason |
a. the crime of killing somebody illegally but not deliberately |
2. misdemeanor |
b. the crime of deliberately setting fire to something, especially a building |
3. manslaughter |
c. the act of behaving in a particular way, in order to make other people believe something that is not true |
4. conviction |
d. a crime that is not considered to be very serious |
5. larceny |
e. a building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime they have committed, or while they are waiting for trial |
6. arson |
f. a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal |
7. pretence |
g. the crime of doing something that could cause danger to your country, such as helping its enemies during a war |
8. conspiracy |
h. the crime of stealing something from somebody; an occasion when this takes place |
9. prison |
i. the act of finding somebody guilty of a crime in court; the fact of having been found guilty |