Expressing views about crime and punishment

1. The crime rate: a measure of the number of crimes in a particular area

during a period of time.

The reduction of the crime rate is the main goal for lawmakers.

2. To commit a crime: does something wrong or illegal.

In the US, a young person who commits a crime by stealing a car will
almost certainly go to prison.

3. Prison sentence: the period of time served in prison under such as a

sentence.

It is the heated debate that government have to pass lenient laws that would
avoid the prison sentence while others think it would increase the crime
rate in our society.

4. Deterrent: a punishment makes somebody less likely to do illegal activities.

The death penalty acts as a deterrent to people who wish to bring drugs
illegally into another country.

5. Loss of freedom: Be not free

Loss of freedom is a punishment that offenders have to face when they go to

jail.

6. White-collar crime: Crimes committed by office works, for example,

fraud.

More and more employees who work in a bank turn into crime as white-
collar crime.

7. Be put on probation: To be under supervision to ensure their good

behaviour

Sometimes first-time offenders are not imprisoned but are put on

probation for a set period of time to ensure their good behaviour.
8 . Social isolation: the state of separating somebody from our society.

The offenders have to serve the prison sentence as the social isolation to
remain safety of society.

9. A violent criminal: Includes assault, mugging and robbery.

A student who is bullied at school may turn into a violent criminal when
they grow up.

10. Motive for crime: The reason why people commit crimes

A desire for revenge on his wife is a motive for his crime as murder.

11. Allay the fears: to make someone feel less afraid, worried.

I believe that some solutions could help to allay peoples fears.

12. Turn to a career of crime: become a criminal

Nowadays, in the harshly competitive labour market, the unemployment rate

is rising rapidly, more and more people cannot meet the basic humans need
that is maybe a reason for them to turn to a career of crime.

13. To be imprisoned: Go to a jail.

Being imprisoned is the best way to punish offenders for their guilty.

14. To breed future offenders: influence people, especially young people,

in such a way that they later commit a crime.

Parents should give more attention to their offspring in order to

avoid breeding future offenders.

15. Easy money: Money that you get without working hard for it, especially
when you do illegal activities to get this money

To make easy money, the bank robbery have stolen two billion dollars from
five international banks in this year.
16. To break the law: do something illegal

If a person breaks the law, he is certainly imprisoned.

17. To resort to crime: to use crime because there is no other solution.

After losing all money from the game, the men resorted to crime to
get easy money.

18. Illegal activities: the illegal acts.

It is alarming that more and more youngsters turn into illegal activities.

19. Fall foul of the law: to get into trouble with the police because you are
doing something illegal

In Vietnam, if the company discharges the huge amount of untreated waste

into rivers, they certainly fall foul of the law.

20. Juvenile delinquency: Antisocial behaviour committed by people under

eighteen years old.

It is true that juvenile delinquency rate is increasing alarmingly, which

could jeopardise the social stability.

21. Soaring crime rates: crime rates rising very fast

Example: We are facing off soaring crime rates and its high time the criminals
were brought to justice.

22. Miscarriages of justice: Situation where innocent people are found

guilty

Example: There have been a multitude of miscarriages of justice recently.

23. Trumped-up charges: invented and false accusations

24. Face trial

 Example: No one in the world should face trial on the basis of unreliable
evidence or trumped-up charges.

25. Escape punishment

26. Custodial sentences: a sentence to be served in a prison or similar

institution

27. Commit minor offences

Example: While the rich always seem to escape punishment, poor people seem
to receive custodial sentences even for committing minor offences

28. Extenuating circumstances: circumstances that lessen the blame

29. Serve out ones sentence: serve the full amount of time

Courts and Trials

The trial was adjourned: the trial was suspended till a later time or date

To be remanded in custody: send to prison until the trial begins or

continues

Dismiss the case: Decide that the case is not worth considering

Unanimous verdict: verdict which all the decision makers agree to

Beyond reasonable doubt

Contest the verdict: Disagree with the verdict and tried to change it

Other useful expressions and phrases for Crime

Topic:
Capital punishments | Death penalty
To sentence criminals to death
 A form of revenge
A criminal record
To engage in unlawful activities
To re-offend
Criminals = Wrongdoers = Lawbreakers = Convicts = Offenders
Rehabilitated prisoners
Community service
Prison sentences
Unlawful actions
To deter/discourage people from doing something
Inmates
To send somebody to prison

EXERCISES:

Exercise 1: Rewrite the underlined part of each of these extracts

from conversations using the collocation below to make them sound
more like extracts from newspaper reports.

Soaring crime rates

Dismiss
Escape punishment
was adjourned

1. Why should young criminals get away without being punished for crimes
just because of their age?
2. An increasing number of crimes per head of the population have been
recorded in the last twelve months.
3 The judge threw out the case because he felt the evidence was not strong
enough.
4 The judge said that the trial would now take place next month.

Exercise 2. Choose the correct collocation.

1. If you are remanded in custody, you are kept in prison/ obliged to pay some
money/ allowed to go home.
2. Someone might get out of prison early for good/soaring / extenuating
behaviour.
3. If you serve out a sentence, you are kept in prison for the full amount of time
/ released from prison early /kept in prison for life.
4. If you get a custodial sentence, you only serve the sentence if you
commit another crime / go to prison / have to do some community service.
Exercise 3. Correct the mistakes with prepositions in the
collocations.
1 The witness appeared on court for the first time today.
2 He was put in trial for murder.
3 The murderer was soon brought into justice.
4 He was later remanded on custody.
5 The ease against Mr Sharp was proved over reasonable doubt.

Exercise 4. Come up with Answers for the following topics related to

Crime in IELTS Writing Task 2 and post it in the comment section
below or on Writingielts.net to be checked and scored by IELTS
experts.

Writing IELTS Task 2 Topic 1:

Studies show that criminals get low level of education. Some people
believe that the best way to reduce the crime is educating people in
prison so they can get a job after leaving prison. To what extent do
you agree or disagree?
You can read Band 9.0 Sample Answer here.

Writing IELTS Task 2 Topic 2:

In some countries, a high proportion of criminal acts are
committed by teenagers. Why has this happened? What can be
done to deal with this?
You can read Band 9.0 Sample Answer here.

Writing IELTS Task 2 Topic 3:

Some people who have been in prison become good citizens later.
Some people think that having these people to give a talk to school
students is the best way to tell them about dangers of committing
a crime. Do you agree or disagree?
You can read Band 9.0 Sample Answer here.

Exercise 5. Complete each sentence

1 He has been in court on several previous occasions but only for

committing offences.
2 Unfortunately, there have been a number ofof justice recently.
3 The jury was quick to reach averdict, finding the accused guilty.
4 This is the sixth time the accused has.in court.
5 The lawyer claimed that there were somecircumstances.
6 The accused. all knowledge of the crime, but no one believed her.
7 The newspaper said. had been served by the conviction of Joe
Lee.
8 Charles Weiss was..damages for the injury he had suffered.
9 The trial has been.until next week.

SOURCE: http://ieltsmaterial.com