Talking About Crime and Court in English - Spoken English Lesson

Hi, I’m Gina. Welcome to Oxford Online English!  

In this lesson, you can learn to talk about crime  in English. You’ll learn vocabulary you can use  

to talk about crime, criminals  and the justice system in English.

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Let’s start with part one, where you’ll hear a  conversation about being a victim of a crime. 

How was your trip?

My trip was good… But my house  was burgled while I was gone.

Oh no!

Yeah… I came back to find the back window  broken, and everything was messed up inside.

I’m so sorry to hear that.  Do you know when it happened?

Not exactly. Apparently there have been  several break-ins in the area recently, though.

Did they take much stuff?

Some electronics, a laptop, a few other  small things. It’s all replaceable,  

but it’s still not a good feeling.

I’m sure. Still, maybe the police will  catch them and you’ll get it back.

Maybe, but I doubt it. They  came and dusted for prints,  

but they said that there was almost  no chance of recovering my things.

Really?

They say that stolen goods tend to be moved  out of the city and sold somewhere else,  

so they’re very difficult to trace. The  detective told me that there’s a whole  

network of fences around the country,  and they move stolen items between them.

Sounds like big business.

Look at a sentence you heard  at the start of the dialogue. 

Do you remember the missing word? The word was ‘burgled’, from the verb ‘to burgle’.

With crime vocabulary, you often  need to learn words in threes. 

Do you know the noun forms? Here they are. 

You need to know one noun for the person,  one noun for the activity, and the verb.

Sometimes, some of the forms might be the  same. For example: murder, murderer, murder.

Sometimes, one of the forms might be a completely  different word, like this: steal, thief, stealing. 

Keep this in mind when learning crime vocabulary.

Let’s look at some other useful  vocabulary from the dialogue. 

Here’s a task for you: look at the definitions.  Can you match the words to the definitions?

Pause the video and find your answers. Could you do it? Let’s look! 

‘Break-in’ and ‘burglary’ have a similar meaning;  you could use either word in this sentence. 

‘Fence’ is a colloquial word,  but it’s useful sometimes  

as there’s no single word with the same meaning.

Let’s move on to part two. Don’t forget that  you can always review a dialogue or a section  

as many times as you need.

That was fun!

Yes, we should do it again some time.

By the way, how are you getting home?

I’ll walk through the park,  and then get the bus, I think.

Maybe get a taxi instead? My colleague  was mugged near here last week.

Really? I didn’t think there  was much street crime here.

No, me neither, but it’s better to be careful.  

She was robbed at knifepoint.  She’s fine but it was scary.

I bet. I know there’s a lot of  pickpocketing on public transport  

here, but I didn’t think  there was much violent crime.

Well, maybe it was just bad luck,  but better to be safe, I think.

Yeah, I’ll get a taxi.

Let’s see if you can remember the key  vocabulary you heard. Look at some sentences.

Can you remember the missing words?  Pause the video and think about it.  

If you want, go back and listen to  the dialogues again, and find them! 

Ready? Let’s look. 

Did you get them right? Next,  can you explain what they mean? 

Mugging is a kind of robbery. In general,  ‘robbery’ means stealing by using violence or the  

threat of violence. Mugging is robbery which takes  place on the street, or in another public place. 

‘Street crime’ includes crimes like mugging,  

pickpocketing, graffiti, and so on. In general,  it refers to crimes which are committed in public. 

‘She was robbed at knifepoint’ means that someone  threatened her with a knife. You can also use the  

word ‘gunpoint’. For example, ‘The gang held  the bank staff at gunpoint during the robbery.’ 

Pickpocketing means stealing from someone’s bag  or wallet, usually in a crowded public place. 

Here’s an important point: in English, there  are many different words for different types  

of stealing. You’ve heard some of  them already: burglary, robbery,  

mugging and pickpocketing. There’s also  shoplifting which means stealing from shops.

It’s more common to use these  specific words when possible,  

instead of using general words like ‘stealing’.

Don’t forget also to learn the three words for  each crime. For example: mug, mugger, mugging. 

Is there much street crime or  pickpocketing where you live?  

How can you protect yourself from this?  Think about what you could say on this topic. 

OK? Let’s move on.

Where’s John? He’s twenty minutes late!

He probably underestimated how long  it would take to get here on the bus.

Why’s he taking the bus?

Oh, you didn’t hear? He was done for DUI.

No way!

Yeah. He got a twelve-month driving ban, and  he has to do some community service, too.

Wow! He’s such a car nut, too.  That must really hurt him.

I’m sure. I think it’s worse because he  got a couple of speeding tickets last year,  

so he already had some points on his license.

Well, he can’t really complain.

Let’s see three sentences from the dialogue. What do these phrases mean? Could you explain  

them to someone? Try it now. 

Try to complete these sentences. Pause  the video and say your answers out loud,  

or write them down, or both. Could you do it? Let’s check!

‘Done’ is British slang. It means ‘convicted’,  meaning that you are found guilty in court. ‘DUI’  

stands for ‘driving under the influence’,  which means driving while drunk or on drugs.

If you wanted to say this in a more formal  way, you could say ‘He was convicted of DUI’.

If you want to say this in a neutral style,  you could say ‘He was arrested for DUI.’

‘Arrested’ and ‘convicted’ aren’t the  same. ‘Arrested’ means when the police  

first find you and take you to the police station.  ‘Convicted’ is when you are found guilty in court.  

However, in everyday conversation, people  might not use these words so precisely.  

People might say ‘arrested’ when the  real meaning is ‘convicted in court’. 

A driving ban means that you are forbidden  from driving for a period of time. 

Community service is a punishment,  usually for less serious crimes.  

It means you have to spend a certain  number of hours working for free.  

For example, you might have to  pick up litter on the street. 

If you have points on your license, you have been  caught breaking the law while driving before.  

Many countries use a points system. If  you, for example, break the speed limit  

and the police catch you, you get points on  your license. If you get too many points,  

you might lose your driver’s license, or you  might be banned from driving for some time.

Clear? To practise, try answering some questions. Think about your answers to these questions.  

Pause the video, make your answers, and say  them out loud. If you want extra practice,  

write your answers in the comments  and share them with other learners! 

Could you do it? Great!  Let’s look at one more point. 

Before you listen to the dialogue,  we have a challenge for you:  

try to find words with these  meanings in the dialogue. 

Got it? Try to find these words as you listen.

Could I ask a favour? Could I  take half a day off on Wednesday?

Should be OK. Can I ask what it’s for?

Well… I have a friend who  was arrested for shoplifting.  

She says she didn’t do it, and  for what it’s worth I believe her,  

but anyway, Wednesday is her court date  and I said I’d go along to support her.

Sure, no problem. How long is the trial?

It’s at the magistrates’ court, so as I understand  

it it’s pretty quick. It’s not a  full trial with a jury and so on.

Do you think she’ll get off?

I don’t know. Even if not, she has a  clean record so I don’t think she’ll  

get more than a slap on the  wrist, figuratively speaking.

Yes, I mean, I don’t think people  go to prison for shoplifting, right?

I don’t think so. At least, not  for a first offense. Anyway,  

that’s not really my concern. I’m just going  to support her, and whatever happens, happens.

Before you listen to the dialogue,  we have a challenge for you: try to  

find words with these meanings in the dialogue. Got it? Try to find these words as you listen. 

Could you do it? Let’s see the answers.

‘Get off’ is slang. More formally,  you could say ‘be found innocent’.  

So, in the dialogue I asked ‘Do you think she’ll get off?’  

In formal English, you’d say ‘Do  you think she’ll be found innocent?’ 

‘A slap on the wrist’ is an idiom. Often, it’s  used to refer to a punishment which is less  

serious than it should have been. So,  if some people commit a serious crime,  

but only receive a light punishment, you could  say ‘They got away with a slap on the wrist.’

Different countries have different justice  systems. In the UK, there are two levels of court:  

magistrates’ court and Crown Court.  

Magistrates’ courts deal with things like theft,  traffic offenses, minor assault, and so on.  

More serious crimes go to Crown Court, where  trials are held with a jury of twelve citizens.

There’s much more useful language relating  to crime and punishment in the dialogues,  

so we recommend reviewing them at least once,  

and writing down words or  phrases you want to remember.

Thanks for watching!

See you next time!