Victimless Crimes

Many societies have outlawed actions on the basis of religion or morality. Sumptuary laws, for instance, are regulations that restrict extravagance in dress, food, drink, and household equipment. And acts such as the practice of adultery and homosexuality have frequently been deemed crimes. Gambling, too, is outlawed in many places. Even drug abuse the use of banned or controlled substances have sometimes been called a victimless crime because it, like gambling, involves no attack upon either persons or property.

The term victimless crimes, however, is somewhat inaccurate. Gambling and drug abuse, like alcoholism, are now considered addictions. The person involved victimizes himself as well as his family and friends by his uncontrolled habit. Overcoming these addictions usually requires some type of therapy.

WORD STUDY

1. Make sure that you remember the following words and expressions:

battery; mayhem, cause/create/wreak ~; manslaughter, to admit/deny ~; negligence, criminal negligence, to sue (sb) for negligence; mercy (syn. euthanasia); maim, disfigurement, disfigured, disfiguring; statutory rape; subservient, subservient to, subservient role/position; embezzle, embezzler, embezzlement; forgery, to counterfeit, to counterfeit currency/money/goods/software, accessory after the fact; a fence

2. Match the words in Column A with their definitions in Column B. Make up your own sentences with these words.

A	B
battery	the crime of stealing money from the place where you work, especially over a long period of time
mayhem	when someone is killed to stop them from suffering
manslaughter	the crime of copying official documents, money etc
negligence	someone who buys and sells stolen goods
mercy	the crime of having sex with someone who is younger than a particular age
maim	the crime of hitting someone
disfigurement	to copy something exactly in order to deceive people
statutory rape	with the deliberate intention of doing something that is against the law
subservient	careless, so that you or other people are in danger
embezzlement	to wound or injure someone very seriously and often permanently
forgery	always obeying another person and doing everything they want you to do - used when someone seems too weak and powerless
to counterfeit	law the crime of killing someone illegally but not deliberately
fence	to spoil the appearance that something naturally has
malice	an extremely confused situation in which people are very frightened or excited

3. Match the words in Column A with the words in Column В to make up possible word combinations.

A	B
forgery of	rape
disfigured	killing
aggravated	mayhem
accessory	manslaughter
criminal	money
counterfeit	official documents
a mercy	negligence
to plead guilty to	face
statutory	after the fact
complete	battery

4. Choose the word that best completes the sentence and insert it in the correct form:

deprive, evidence, legalized, statutory rape, embezzlement, maim , counterfeit, mayhem, mercy, reckless, subservient, forgery, aggravated battery, disfigured, negligence, trafficking, manslaughter,

1. Linked to the Mafia he was also behind _________ currency scams and drug_________. 2. A deputy prime minister, Yulia Timoshenko, is facing criminal charges for tax fraud, smuggling and________. 3. Taylor left the country to escape charge of _________. 4. The waiter had an excessively ___________ manner that made us very uncomfortable. 5. The minister was charged with _____________________ in June. 6. The other three corpses are said to have been so badly ____________ that identification is proving difficult. 7. Landmines still kill or _________ about 300 people every month. 8. Under that provision no state can ___________ any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. 9. Frankly, it would have been a __________ killing. 10. PricewaterhouseCoopers is accused of ____________ in managing his affairs. 11. An additional 28 persons were suspected of drunken or ___________ driving. 12. The court decided there was insufficient _________ for a _____________ charge. 13. The consequent revaluations would cause____________, chaos and huge bills for those on the receiving end. 14. Originally charged with__________________, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of reckless homicide. 15. In the Netherlands euthanasia has already been________.