English Vocabulary – Crime and Criminals

Good morning everyone!

How are you today? Ready to learn some vocabulary?

Today we will be looking at crime related words.

Steal – to take (something that does not belong to you) in a way that is wrong or illegal.

Rob – to take money or property from (a person or a place) illegally and sometimes by using force, violence, or threats.

Notice that the difference between these two verbs is the object. In “steal” the object is the thing which was taken away, for example: “He stole my bike”. With the verb “rob” the object is the person or place from which things were stolen: “Jenny was robbed last night” or “Jenny was robbed by a man in black”.

Crime vocabulary

Murder – the crime of deliberately killing a person.
Criminal: murderer
Ex: “The murder happened at night”

Shoplifting – to steal things from a shop or store.
Criminal: shoplifter
Ex: “An actress was caught shoplifting diamonds from a jewelers”

Burglary – the act of illegally entering a building in order to steal things.
Criminal: burglar
Ex: “There was a burglary at my local sports shop”

Smuggling – to move (someone or something) from one country into another illegally and secretly.
Criminal: smuggler
Ex: “Some people make money smuggling cigarrettes over the border”

Kidnapping – to take away (someone) by force usually in order to keep the person as a prisoner and demand money for returning the person.
Criminal: kidnapper
Ex: “A little girl has been kidnapped from her primary school”

Legal vocabulary

Trial – a formal meeting in a court in which evidence about crimes, disagreements, etc., is presented to a judge and often a jury so that decisions can be made according to the law.
Ex: “He was put on trial for the attempted murder of his girlfriend”

Case – a situation that is being investigated or managed by someone (such as a police officer or social worker) in an official way.
Ex: “Case closed, the crime has been solved”

Evidence – something which shows that something else exists or is true.
Ex: “We found no evidence that Erin was the culprit”

Proof – something which shows that something else is true or correct.
Ex: “She wanted proof that the burglar had been caught”

Judge – to form an opinion about (something or someone) after careful thought.
Ex: “Judge Judy is a very popular show about a female judge”

Jury – a group of people who are members of the public and are chosen to make a decision in a legal case.
Ex: “The jury decided the man was innocent”

Exercise

To make sure you have understood the new vocabulary, fill in the gaps in the exercise bellow. Remember to put the verbs in the correct verb tenses!

1. On Monday an armed gang __________ the school. They ___________ all the laptops.
2. My luggage _________ at the airport. I think it was ___________ by the blond man in a pink jacket.
3. Every year large numbers of banks __________.
4. Ali __________ of the opportunity to become class president.