Real English: What you need to know if you're going to court

Dunh-dunh-dun-dun-dun-ne-dun-ne-dunh. engVid. Hi. James from engVid. I did a lesson before

on sort of crime, when you get arrested by the police, and this is a second part, because

there are two parts to a legal system or a law system. The first part is meeting the

police, and the police saying you've done something wrong. The second part is when you

actually have to get someone to say you are guilty or innocent. We'll go over that in

a second or two: What does that mean? But you have to go before people, and they have

to tell you everything is good and you can go home, or bad and you have to go to jail.

You ready? Let's go to the board.

All right, so I was on my stool of justice, but probably gone for a second, here.

Let's go to the board. There are a couple terms we want to talk about.

Remember we talked about being arrested? Well, the second part is going to court. We like to say:

"You have your day in court",

which means that you cannot go to jail for no reason. Someone has to say

you've done something wrong, and they have to show it. So, this video is about the process

of how that happens. Okay? These are called "handcuffs".

Handcuffs. Usually you see the

police, they put them on you. Well, on you, not on me, if you do something bad. Or you

see bad guys wearing handcuffs. And the reason why I did handcuffs is because the two things

go together. If you get arrested, you need to go to court.

All right? So let's get a start.

You'll notice that we have funny pictures up here, so we're going to try and figure out

what these pictures mean. The first one you notice is an ear. Well, in North America,

before you go to a long-term prison, I give you example. If you drink a little one night,

they can put you in jail for one night, but then they usually let you go the next day,

so there's nothing special about that. But if they want to put you in jail for a longer

period of time, they actually have to give you a "trial". Okay? That's a word up here.

But you need to have a "hearing". The hearing is where you go in front of a judge, and that

is a man or a woman who listens to what you have to say, and they listen to what the police

say, and they decide if they should say:

"This is it, don't worry about it", or:

"This is serious, and we need to go further."

This will happen in cases of murder, and large

theft, like $10,000, $100,000, $200,000 or any kind of sexual crime. If you walk across

the street when cars are coming, don't worry about it, you won't need a hearing. But you

notice ear is for "hearing", so this will tell you the first part is a hearing. "Hearing"

because the judge needs to hear what you have to say, because the police have said you're

bad, and you get to say: "

Hey, look, it wasn't me", or: "It's not what... That's not what happened."

So you go for a hearing.

Now, after the hearing, the judge will decide, and they will decide if you have a "trial".

There are two people you must know will be at the trial. One is...

Okay. The first is the "judge". The "judge" is the person with this thing.

Oh, not exactly the best drawing

in the world, looks like Thor's hammer, but it's called a "gavel". Bang. That's when they

tell you the decision, they hit the gavel. So that will be the judge.

The other person that will be at your trial will be a "lawyer". Your lawyer. You're going

to need one. Make sure if you ever get in this situation, you get a lawyer. In America,

it's called an "attorney". They can use both terms, "lawyer" or "attorney". "Lawyer" is

commonly used through English-speaking countries. Okay? So, there's also a lawyer for the other

side, because there's you, and you're called the "defense", and on the other side, depending

who they're representing, the government or another person. Okay?

Now, here, after you have... You go to trial, the judge will make a decision. This decision,

he will use his gavel, and it is called a

"judgment" or "verdict". A judgment or a verdict.

This is where they decide if you are "guilty" or "innocent". "Innocent" means you are good,

no jail time. "Guilty" means you are bad, okay? Now, you'll notice there's an arrow,

here. We go here because there's two little breaks. There's a break for a reason. If the

verdict is you are innocent, the charges will be dropped, like a ball. Okay? So you can

imagine this, charges dropped, no more, you go home, you're free. Okay? So if you're innocent,

you... The charges will be dropped. We'll draw a little electricity, here. Not the best

electricity in the world. Dunh-dunh-dunh. Watch the flash, there. Electricity. The charges

will be dropped and you go home free.

If the charges are not dropped, you will get... I'll write this word, here, and then I'll

show in a senten-... A second.

"Sentenced". Notice the sentence: "I loved you" is in the

past tense. You will get sentenced. You will get a sentence or sentenced. This means they

will give you a period of time you must go to jail. They will say:

"Okay, you need to go to jail for two years, plus a day", or: "One year".

And by the way, those numbers

are not just whatever numbers; there's a meaning for why two years plus a day, or you have

to serve a year. It depends on the country you're in, and I will get back to that afterwards

a little later.

Now, if you get sentenced... Notice: "I loved you", okay? You're going to have to go to,

dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh,

"prison", baby. I'm sorry, you're locked up. You can see this person

is very unhappy. But it's not over yet. It's like Monopoly, it's a game.

No, sorry, it's not a game, but similar to that if you go to prison, you can actually say:

"Hey, this isn't fair. I actually didn't do anything wrong, and I can prove it."

And you're allowed to do something called "appeal it". Now, if you notice, this is a banana.

Well, the skin of a banana is called "peel", and it is spelt with two e's. That's not how

you spell "appeal" here, but you get the idea, because with a banana, the banana is inside,

and then you remove the skin to get a look at what's actually there, or to see what happened.

In this case, you go for an "appeal" with "eal", okay? An "appeal" means you go back

up and say: "I want another judgment." So you go from here, I want an appeal, and you

go up to another judgment.

If you're lucky, you can get the charges dropped here. If not, I'm sorry, we go straight to

here. Okay? So I put "appeal" down here, sorry.

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo,

and you're going to serve "time". Okay? You go to prison and you serve time.

Sorry about that, kids, but

you will have serve... Notice how this looks like a clock, you'll have to do your full

sentence if you don't get the appeal.

But when you're finished your time, you will be "released". See how the fish is on the

hook and you let the fish go? You let the fish go, you are let out of prison and you

are released. Now, there's a word I didn't write up here, but I will right now, which is this...

These are special words. If you go to jail, you are "convicted" of a crime, which means

you went to jail. You are now a "convict". So sometimes you hear people talk about:

"He's a convict", or short they say: "He's a con",

and that means you serve time in prison. Now,

you can do something wrong, but not go to jail, then that means you are not a convict,

nor have you been convicted. You might be a "criminal", but you're not a "convict".

So when you watch your TV programs, they go: "That con just got out", or: "He's a convict".

They're saying this person spent time in prison. Okay? But you could be a criminal and never

convicted of anything. Okay? Keep that in mind.

Now, there is one thing I want to mention, cross your fingers on this one, sometimes

there are so many cases, court cases-right?-going on that it's very difficult for the judge

or the lawyers to get to you and your case. And what will happen is they will say:

"We're going to throw it out." And they say:

"Look, you already went to... You know, you were

in jail for the night, you waited two years, this is too long, this is not right, so we're

going to throw out your case." Okay?

Because when you hear somebody say:

"I was... I had to go to a hearing, then I went to... I didn't go to court, because I threw it out",

probably what happened is they took too long, so you go home free, no problems. Cool?

Well, let's... If you really understand this, we're going to do a little quiz and see how

well you understand the court system for British-speaking countries.

Are you ready?

[Snaps]

Hey. Before I start with a little quiz that I have for you, just to make sure you understand

what we were doing with the vocabulary we were learning for, you know, the criminal

court system, I just want to go over something that you will hear, because I live in Canada,

so I will say one thing, but many programs that you will watch will be American, and

they will say something else. So you should understand what the difference is, okay?

Now, "guilty". If you're guilty of a "felony" or a "federal charge". If something is very

small, like you steal a chocolate bar from a store, or you were driving a little too

fast, these are classed "misdemeanors", they are small. You probably won't get in that

much trouble. Usually, you get a fine where you must go and pay money. That's it. Right?

Or you punch somebody, even, boom, you hit someone, you get a fine, usually, if there's

no serious damage.

However, if you do things that are considered federal charges or felonies, there is something

specific that takes place. Number one, there are serious charges. Okay? So felonies and

criminal charges are serious. Murder, where you kill someone; rape, this was a sexual

attack; if you drink and drive and kill someone, that's called "manslaughter". So you can drive

fast, and you'll get a ticket. If you drive and kill somebody or hit somebody, you'll

get a felony.

Now, what does this mean for you? Because you're like:

"Okay, nice words, 'misdemeanor', 'felony', 'criminal charges', blah, blah, blah."

Hold your horses. This is serious.

When it's a misdemeanor in Canada, you're going to go to jail for less than two years,

and the judges will actually say something like: "Two years, less a day", that means

you go in provincial... A provincial jail or a local prison, somewhere close to where

you live. So if you live in Toronto, you'll go to a Toronto jail, okay? In Canada, if

they say this is a criminal charge, it's two years, plus a day. That means federal time.

That means they move your butt from where you are to a federal prison. It's considered

very serious, that's why it's murder, serious theft, or injuring someone badly.

United States is interesting. There's... There's serious crimes, they're called "felonies".

It's the same idea, it's a serious crime. But the difference, here, is this: In Canada,

they think you're a serious criminal and you need to be in a serious place if you're going

to jail for more than two years, because you're very dangerous, they think. In America, 12

months is enough. So if you do something, the judge goes: "365 days", you're going to

a serious prison.

Now, there's one thing I didn't write on the board, but in America they have in many states,

like California, they have what's called a "three strikes rule", that means if you get

three felonies in a row, you go to jail for the rest of your life. So when in the States,

be careful, because the first time you get your first felony and second, don't think:

"Oh, I'll just get one more."

No, because you're going to go to jail for the rest of

your life. All right? Just a little something, because I know many of you who watch American

programs are always talking about:

"That's a felony, you know that, don't you?"

And you're going: "He did something bad, what?"

This is why you need to know, okay? You're going

to jail at least a year, and if you get three of them, you're done.

Now, let's go to the board and do the quiz.

Dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh.

Matlock.

"The judge have her __________ and I had to go to jail."

Remember there are two possible words for this, so you have two shots to get it right.

What do you think it will be?

Similar to the decision.

That's right, gave her "verdict", or you could say

"judgment". She gave her verdict or she gave her judgment, and I had

to go to jail. Okay?

What about the next one?

"In Canada you go to federal prison if your sentence is ____ ____ ____ ____ ____."

That's right, "two years plus a day". So if

you get two years-that's a long time, people-plus-and this is the important part-plus a day, you're

going to federal prison. That's the serious one where the guards carry stuff. Ugh. Not

a place you want to go and be for a long time. Okay?

Number three:

"If the charges are dropped you will be __________."

And I want you to think like the fish. Do you remember the fish?

That's right, you will be "released". They will let you go. You will be released.

And number four:

"The person who helps you in court is your __________."

In America, they call them "attorneys". What

do you think they call them in the rest of the English-speaking places?

Another word for "attorney"?

Your "lawyer", because your lawyer knows the law.

And I'd like to say thanks for doing the quiz, thank you for coming here. Knowing English,

I want to send you to a place where you can learn more English, and that's

www.eng, eng as in English, vid as in video.com (www.engvid.com), okay?

Go to engVid. We would like to teach you more English.

Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to subscribe

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Thanks a lot. Chow.