Crimes and criminals

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Hello and welcome to Learn English Vocabulary. My name is Jack and I’m making this podcast for you to learn or revise English vocabulary. There is a transcript of this podcast on the podcast support site LearnEnglishVocabulary.co.uk. You can find the transcript on the page for this podcast.

Introduction

Today, I’m going to talk about crime and criminals. I’m going to talk about acts that are against the law. This podcast is aimed at B2 or upper-intermediate learners, but quite few of the words for crimes I’m going to talk about are more advanced than that, but they will all make sense in this context. I’m going to describe 10 different crimes and I want you to try to work out what crime I’m talking about, what the word is for the crime in English and what if any special name we give to the person who commits this crime.

Crime number 1

This one is easy. This is the crime of taking something that belongs to someone else and not giving it back. There are lots of different types of this crime. This is like the umbrella term or parent term; the superordinate. If you go out for a ride and stop to buy a drink and leave your bike outside the shop, if it’s gone when you come back, you have fallen prey to this sort of criminal.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The answer is theft. The crime is theft and the criminal is a thief. 

Crime number 2

This crime involves burning things. Most of the time, when people do this it’s because they want to pretend that the fire was an accident so they can claim money from an insurance policy. It’s a strange word.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The answer is arson. The crime is arson and the criminal is an arsonist. 

Crime number 3

This is related to crime number 2. Sort of. This crime is committed by business people. It’s sometimes called a white-collar crime. Technically, the crime involves getting money off people by deceiving them. Sometimes this is used to describe people who have benefited from a lie – not always by getting money, perhaps by getting a job or being elected.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The answer is fraud. The crime is fraud and I don’t think that there’s a specific word for a person who has committed this crime, but conman is pretty close. We have an adjective that comes from this word: fraudulent. This is used when someone tries to benefit from a situation by claiming something that isn’t true. So if someone applies for a loan and they lie about their income or job, then the application is fraudulent – I like the word because it’s nice to say.

Crime number 4

This is the crime of copying music or films or computer software and selling or distributing it. I like this word because it has another meaning which involves attacking boats at sea and trying to steal their cargo. It is still used to talk about criminals in boats, but that’s much less common these days, I think. 

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The crime is piracy and the criminal is a pirate. I think that this is one of the most common crimes these days. You used to be able to see people selling pirated cds and dvds all over the place. It’s less common in the UK now because of things like netflix and spotify.

Crime number 5 

This is one of the worst crimes, possibly the worst. This crime involves making a plan and then killing someone. Thankfully, I think that this crime is very rare. Among young people, this crime is mostly carried out by men, but among older people, it’s usually carried out by women. 

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The answer is murder and a person who commits this crime is called a murderer. I think I mentioned this in a podcast about 6 weeks ago, but a group of crows is called a murder of crows. It’s not a term that’s used much – in fact, I imagine it’s most frequently used when people tell each other that a group of crows is called a murder of crows. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say: hey! Look at that murder of crows over there. Let’s move on.

Crime number 6

This is a bit like murder, but it’s not quite as bad because it’s not planned. There are two types of this crime. The first is when someone does to hurt someone and the person dies. So if someone gets into a fight and the person they are fighting falls and hits their head and dies, this is the crime. The second type is when someone does something stupid and it kills someone by accident. 

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The crime is manslaughter. I don’t think that there’s a special word for this type of criminal. The word slaughter means to kill. We use it to talk about the way that animals are killed for meat and also for horrible events when lots of people are killed. The spelling is tricky manslaughter is spelt m-a-n-s-l-a-u-g-h-t-e-r, it looks like mans laughter. 

Crime number 7

This is similar to theft. I think it’s a type of theft. It involves taking something that belongs to someone else and not giving it back, just like theft, but this time it means taking it from someone. To do this, the criminal threatens to hurt or even kill the person that they are stealing from. The most well-known form of this crime involves stealing from a bank or holding up a bank by going in with a gun.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The crime is robbery and the criminal is a robber. If you rob a bank, you are a bank robber.

Crime number 8

This is a devious crime. To commit this crime, you need to have information or perhaps images or video or a person that the person doesn’t want anyone to know. This could be information about their past, perhaps something they did wrong when they were younger or it could be a photo of them doing something illegal or compromising in other ways. If you have this information or compromising materials and threaten to release it to the public or show it to people to make someone do something for you, usually give you money, then you are committing this crime. I think that secret intelligence organisations try to catch politicians in compromising positions so they can do this crime to make them do things, perhaps vote in certain ways or share classified information.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The crime is blackmail and the criminal is a blackmailer. 

Crime number 9

This crime involves taking a person and holding them somewhere and then sending a message to the person’s family demanding a ransom, that is money to release the person without hurting them. Usually, it’s the children of very rich or powerful people who are taken and then the criminals demand thousands or even millions of pounds to release the child.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The crime is kidnapping and the criminal is a kidnapper.

Crime number 10 

This is another crime that’s a type of theft only this time, it involves being sneaky. To commit this crime, you have to sneak and break into a house or museum or gallery at night and steal valuable things. It’s sometimes called housebreaking. There are some great films about these types of criminals, but in real life, it’s usually drug addicts who are desperate to get money to buy drugs.

Do you know what the crime is and what the criminal is called?

The crime is burglary and the criminal is a burglar. There is a special word for burglars who break into museums and galleries and steal valuables without anyone noticing. The word is cat-burglar.

Conclusion

There you have 10 words for crimes and the words for the criminals who commit those crimes. I hope you find them … er … useful.

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please leave me a comment or a review and don’t forget that you can read the transcript for this podcast and complete some language activities on LearnEnglishVocabulary.co.uk.

Thanks for listening.

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5 Comments

  • Susana
    Posted 10/09/2020 at 2:49 pm

    Great podcasts and fabulous work. Thank you so muchfor doing it!

    • admin
      Posted 10/09/2020 at 3:13 pm

      Thanks Susana – I’m glad you like them.

  • Paola
    Posted 13/10/2020 at 3:14 pm

    thanks a lot for all your podcast!!
    I always listen to you when I ride my the electric scooter on my way to work.
    It help me a lot!!!!

    Paola

    • Jack
      Posted 13/10/2020 at 3:31 pm

      That’s great Paola. Please take care riding and listening at the same time.
      Thanks for your comment.

  • Tiziana
    Posted 30/11/2022 at 3:54 pm

    That’s great Paola, is e good exercise of listening and reading , but also it is the best way to remember this vocabulary . Thanks a lot for the podcast.

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