Choose the most comprehensive definition of “crime”.  

1. Commission of an act forbidden by law.

2. Deviant behaviour that violates prevailing norms.

3. Illegal activity in general.

4. A bad, immoral or dishonourable act.

5. Offence that is committed against individuals or groups of individuals with criminal intent.

6. The breach of rules or laws.

                                    

                                Text 1 Types of Offences

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           In criminal laws offences are usually categorized into minor offence, or misdemeanour, and felony. Any offence that will bring you less than one year in a county jail (for example, trespassing, drunken driving, theft (under a certain amount of money, which (in the US) varies from state to state), disturbing the peace, etc) is classified as misdemeanour. The term felony is applied to various offences of graver character than misdemeanours, esp. those commonly punished by imprisonment for more than a year (for instance, murder or burglary ).

    Stealing appears in various forms: theft, robbery, burglary, shoplifting, mugging and pickpocketing. If the things stolen are not very valuable (in the US less than $25-50), the theft is called minor or petty theft (petty/petit larceny). The theft is considered serious, or grand larceny when the things stolen are of considerable value, i.e. when the stolen property has a value equalling or exceeding a certain amount ($25-50). In some states of the USA the theft of property of any value taken directly from the person of the victim, but without the use of force (for example, art theft, vehicle/auto theft) is grand larceny.

    The word robbery is used to talk about stealing money from shops, banks, trains and so on, and about stealing artworks from museums. It often (but not always) involves the use of threat or force as opposed to theft/stealing. For example, we can say: the theft of the Mona Lisa. However, if using a verb we say Museum has been robbed or The Mona Lisa was stolen. Money or property that robbers have stolen is called haul or loot. As soon as they get their loot, robbers have to escape or to make a getaway. They make off with the loot often using a getaway car. Failed robberies are called foiling robberies in Great Britain and failed robberies in the USA. Hold-up or armed robberies happen at gunpoint, or at knifepoint. The words heist and raid are used for a spectacular robbery which involves several robbers usually driving a car. Smash-and-grab raid involves breaking a shop window or a showcase to steal things and running or driving away with them very fast. The term ram-raid is applied to breaking through the front of a building by driving into it with a car, and then stealing things in the building.

    Breaking in or breaking into houses or other buildings, entering them by force, in order to steal things is called burglary. Shoplifting involves stealing goods from the shelves of a shop. Muggers take someone’s money in the street with threats of violence. Taking money from someone’s pocket or bag in a public place without them noticing is referred to as pick pocketing.

    There are a number of types of killing or homicide. Murder is the deliberate and unlawful killing of a person and assassination is the killing of an important person for political reasons. We can speak of reckless or unintentional homicide, trying to distinguish it from attempted, premeditated or first degree murder. In aggravated murder cases, which show extreme indifference to human life (e.g. death by torture), death penalty is almost always sought. Even though manslaughter is the killing of a person by someone who does not intend to kill them, we have to bear in mind the difference between voluntary manslaughter, that is murder without premeditation, but not accidental (i.e. killing someone in anger), and involuntary, or accidental, manslaughter.

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