Crimes and Criminals: Investigation, Trial, and Punishment

Essential vocabulary covering crimes, criminal investigations, legal distinctions, trials, and court punishments.

Commit a crime

To carry out or perform an illegal act that is punishable by law.

Witness a crime

To see or observe an unlawful act taking place.

Arrest somebody

To take a person into legal custody by authority of the police on suspicion of committing an offense.

Charge somebody with a crime

To formally accuse someone of a specific legal offense in an official police or court statement.

Accuse somebody of something

To claim or state that someone has done something wrong, illegal, or blameworthy.

An accomplice

A person who actively helps or cooperates with another person in carrying out a crime.

Collect evidence

To gather objects, physical traces, or information to establish the facts of a criminal case.

Crime scene

The physical location where an offense or illegal incident was committed.

Fingerprints

Unique friction ridge impressions left by human fingers that serve as physical forensic evidence.

DNA evidence

Biological genetic material gathered during an investigation to identify or link individuals to an event.

Plead not guilty

To make a formal declaration in court denying that one committed the charged offense.

Be convicted of a crime

To be officially found and declared guilty of an offense by a court or jury.

Acquit somebody of a crime

To formally declare in court that a defendant is not guilty of the criminal charge against them.

Sentence somebody to prison

To officially order, as a judge, that a convicted person serve a specified period of confinement.

Be released from prison

To be discharged and set free from confinement after completing a sentence or being pardoned.

Burglary

A criminal offense involving unlawful entry into a building, cited as the charge against a suspect in the lecture example.