Assault

In 1976 a drunk walked into a supermarket. When the manager asked him to leave, the drunk assaulted him, knocking out a tooth. A policeman who arrived and tried to stop the fight had his jaw broken. The drunk was fined 10 pounds.

Shop-lifting

In June 1980 Lady Isabel Barnett, a well-known TV personality, was convicted of stealing a tin of tuna fish and a carton of cream, total value 87p, from a small shop. The case was given enormous publicity. She was fined 75 pounds and had to pay 200 pounds towards the cost of the case. A few days later she killed herself.

Fraud

This is an example of a civil case rather than a criminal one. A man had taken out an insurance policy of 100,000 pounds on his life. The policy was due to expire at 3 o’clock on a certain day. The man was in serious financial difficulties, and at 2.30 on the expiry day he consulted his solicitor. He then went out and called a taxi. He asked the driver to make a note of the time, 2.50. He then shot himself. Suicide used not to cancel an insurance policy automatically. (It does nowadays.) The company refused to pay the man’s wife, and the courts supported them.

H Complete the text with the words from the list. What do the words in bold mean?

arrested caught fine innocent jury life sentence magistrate offence trial verdict

In the UK today if you are ¹________ doing something illegal/against the law, you may be ²________ by the police and later charged (officially accused) with the crime. If it is a minor ³________ you will be sent to a magistrate’s court and the ⁴________ will decide your sentence (punishment). You may have to pay a ⁵________ , do community service, or go to prison/ jail.

If the crime is serious you will be taken to a crown court where you will have a ⁶________. Your case will be tried by a judge and a ⁷_________ consisting of twelve people. When the lawyers have presented all the evidence and witnesses have been called, the jury will decide if you are ⁸________ or guilty. If the ⁹________ is guilty you will be sentenced. If not, you will be acquitted. The most serious punishment in the UK is a ¹⁰________. Capital punishment was abolished in the 1950s.

In the courtroom

1. The words and phrases in the box are all connected to the theme of law. Work with partner and put the words under one of the headings below.

crimes punishments people legal processes

sue libel suspended sentence jury the accused contempt of court judge counsel arson award damages community service manslaughter weigh up the evidence fraud speeding witness return a verdict cross examine solitary confinement

2. Use words and phrases from 1 to complete these sentences.

a What’s the difference between the two? Well, slander is when you say something about someone which isn’t true. _______ is when you publish it, and that’s when people generally take action.

b If a person is on trial for murder the press can’t refer to them as ‘the murder’. They have to say ‘_______‘.

c You’re guilty of _______ when you didn’t kill the victim deliberately.

d You _______ someone if you want to claim money from them because they have harmed you in some way.

e The jury has to listen to the case, _______ and then _______.

f A _______ , means that you don’t actually have to go to prison unless you commit another crime.

g ‘_______’ is a more formal term for a legal adviser.

h _______ can be anything from teaching kids to play football to cutting the grass. Obviously, it’s not paid.

3. Choose another three words or phrases from 1 and write three sentences like the ones above. Give them to a partner to complete.