CRIMINAL LAW CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENSES No man is above the law and no man is below it. Theodore Roosevelt

 Start-up Discuss the following questions:

1. How does Russian criminal law classify offenses?

2. How does American criminal law classify offenses?

 Vocabulary

EXERCISE 1. Fill in the table according to the given example. Not all the forms will be used for each word. Use dictionary, if necessary. Translate the words into Russian.

Verb	Noun (thing or concept)	Noun (person)	Adjective
commit
punish
imprison
offend	offense	offender	offensive
classify
charge	charge
accuse
convict
indict			indictable
violate		violator
intend

EXERCISE 2. Choose the correct word from the list to complete each sentence. Translate the sentences into Russian.

imprisoned commit convict offender indictment

punished intention classifies charge accuser

punishable violence offense prisoner

1. Criminal law _________crimes into different categories.

2. An _________ is a person who accuses another of a crime.

3. The number of young people who_________ crimes has risen in recent years.

4. An_________ is a person who breaks the law.

5. Al Capone was _________ on income tax charges.

6. Murder is _________ by death in some countries.

7. He was arrested on a_________ of murder.

8. Driving while drunk is a serious_________.

9. _________is the purpose with which an act is done.

10. A person who has been found guilty of a crime and is serving a sentence for this crime is a_________.

11. The police used unnecessary_________ on the crowd.

12. The formal written accusation of a crime, made by a grand jury is_________.

13. A person kept in prison for some crime or while waiting to be tried is a_________.

14. Dangerous driving should be severely _________.

EXERCISE 3. Make these words negative by adding the appropriate prefix:

In, un, im, il, dis.

__capable __lawful __able __necessary

__intentional __agreement __voluntary __legal

EXERCISE 4. Match the legal terms with their definitions.

offender	the study of crime and criminals
offense	the breaking of the rule, a violation of the law; a crime, often a minor one
crime	a social harm that the law makes punishable
a criminal	a person who studies or is an expert in criminals and their crimes
criminal law	a person who has broken the law
criminologist	a person guilty of a crime
criminology	a branch of law that deals with unlawful acts which are offenses against the public and society generally

 Reading and language study Classification of Offenses

(I) In the USA the decision of how a crime should be classified rests with the individual jurisdiction. Each state has developed its own body of criminal law and consequently determines its own penalties for the different crimes. Thus, the criminal law of a given state defines and grades offenses, sets levels of punishment, and classifies crimes into different categories.

(II) The most common classification is the division between felonies and misdemeanors. This distinction is based primarily on the degree of seriousness of the crime: a felony is a serious offense and a misdemeanor is a less serious one.

(III) In the United States today, felonies include serious crimes against the person such as criminal homicide, robbery, and rape, or crimes against property, such as burglary and larceny. A felony is punishable by death penalty or imprisonment in a state or federal penitentiary (prison for felons) for more than one year. Misdemeanors include petty larceny, assault and battery, the unlawful possession of drugs, disturbing the peace or reckless driving. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine or imprisonment in the county jail (local jail for minor offenders) or both, depending upon state law.

(IV) *The felony-misdemeanor classification has a direct effect on the offender charged with the crime. A person convicted of a felony may be barred from certain fields of employment or from entering some professional fields of study, such as law or medicine. A person with a felony offender’s status might be denied the right to hold public office, vote or serve on a jury.

(V) Whether the offender is charged with a felony or a misdemeanor also makes a difference at the time of arrest. Normally, the law of arrest requires that if the crime is a misdemeanor and has not been committed in the presence of a police officer, the officer cannot make an arrest. This is known as the in-presence requirement. In contrast, an arrest for a felony may be made regardless of whether the crime was committed in the officer’s presence, as long as the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed the felony.

(VI) Another important effect of this classification is that a court’s jurisdiction often depends on whether a crime is considered a felony or a misdemeanor. A person charged with a felony must be tried by a court that has jurisdiction over this type of offense. Some states prosecute felonies only on indictment. This means that a person accused of a felony ordinarily has a legal right to a preliminary hearing and presentment of the charges by indictment of a grand jury or information.*

(VII) In addition to serious felony crimes and less serious offenses labeled misdemeanors, some jurisdictions also have a third category of least serious offenses called violations. These violations, ordinarily of town, city, or county ordinances, are regulatory offenses that may not require criminal intent. Examples include health and sanitary violations, unlawful assembly, public disturbances, and traffic violations. Violations are usually punishable by a fine or a short jail term.

EXERCISE 5. Scan the text and find definitions to these legal terms:

• Felony

• Misdemeanor

EXERCISE 6. Skim the text and make-up a list of:

• serious offenses

• less serious offenses

EXERCISE 7. Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. Who makes the decision of how a crime should be classified in the USA?

2. What is the most common classification of offenses in the USA?

3. What crimes do the felonies include?

4. What crimes do the misdemeanors include?

5. What is the third category of offences?

6. What do violations include?

7. How can a felony be punished?

8. How can a misdemeanor be punished?

9. How can a violation be punished?

EXERCISE 8. Read the text carefully and complete the sentences given below.

1. The most common classification is the division between _________ and misdemeanors.

2. A felony is punishable by ________ ________ or imprisonment.

3. A _________ is punishable by a fine or imprisonment.

4. A person convicted of a felony may ______ ________ from certain fields of employment.

5. A court’s __________ often depends on whether a crime is considered a felony or misdemeanor.

6. Some states prosecute felonies only on _________.

7. Some jurisdictions have a third category of least serious offenses called _________.

8. These violations, ordinarily of town, city or county _________, are regulatory offenses.

EXERCISE 9. Using the paragraph reference given in brackets, find words in the text which have a similar meaning to:

• offense, wrongdoing, an illegal act, violation (I)

• punishment, retribution (I)

• penalty, sentence (I)

• categorize, group, sort, grade (I)

• jail, penitentiary (III)

• be excluded (IV)

• need, demand, provision, order (V)

• reason, justification, motive, cause (V)

• power, authority (VI)

• aim, purpose, idea, plan (VII)

• disorder (VII)

EXERCISE 10. Put the words into the right order (subject–verb-object) to make up sentences.

1. over, state, the individual jurisdiction, of, offenses, has, each, classification.

2. misdemeanors, a division, is, between, there, felonies ,and.

3. the examples, felonies, criminal homicide, and, robbery , rape, of, are.

4. indictment, in, prosecuted, felonies, states, on, some, are, only.

5. a given state, punishment, set ,levels, of, by, are, of, the criminal law.

EXERCISE 11. Make up sentences using the following word combinations:

individual jurisdiction, penalties for the different crimes, different categories, be based on, be punishable, be charged with, be convicted of, be arrested for, be accused of, be tried, may require.

EXERCISE 12. Using the paragraph reference given in brackets, find in the text the English equivalents for these Russian legal terms and expressions.

• совокупность уголовно-правовых норм (I)

• быть запрещенным (IV)

• занимать государственную должность (IV)

• совокупность норм, регулирующих наложение ареста (V)

• произвести арест (V)

• необходимость присутствия (V)

• веские основания (V)

• предварительное слушание (VI)

• обвинительный акт, составленный Большим жюри (VI)

• обвинительное заключение, составленное прокурором без участия Большого жюри (VI)

• постановление муниципального органа (VII)

• правонарушения, находящиеся в юрисдикции регулятивных органов (VII)

EXERCISE 13. Translate the marked * passage of the text CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENSES into Russian.

EXERCISE 14. Read the text given below. Make up questions that may lead to further classroom discussion. Ask your questions to your classmates.