Modern Crimes

Many acts became criminal acts by law as the modern business world came into being in the 18-th and 19-th centuries following the Industrial revolution. This period of great change made it necessary to regulate human conduct in many new fields. Laws were passed to regulate, among other things, industry, business, trade, labor, health, welfare, taxes, and banking.

In the 20-th century came a new type of crime, known as “white-collar”, or corporate crime. “White-collar” crimes are crimes committed by business people, professionals, and politicians in the course or their occupation. Examples include conspiring with other corporation to fix prices of goods or services in order to make artificially high profits, bribing officials to obtain manufacturing licenses, constructing buildings or roads with cheap, defective materials. The term “white-collar crime” is also used to describe fraud and embezzlement. This constitutes crime for profit by the individual against the organization.

It is assumed that most crimes are committed by the poor and members of the underworld (which is organized crime). It is true that housebreaking, robbery, and similar crimes are often committed by persons in need. But sometimes well-educated people with good incomes commit crimes, usually out of greed. They sometimes use their education and talents in illegal ways to get bigger profits.

Organized crime is often based on “protection rackets” where a racketeer forces a merchant to pay money by threatening him. These protection rackets are most common in the distribution of food, in the building trades, and in transport. By organizing themselves in groups, the racketeers get better results by widening their field of operation, setting up monopolies, and guarding against competition.

Another form of organized crime has do with gambling, horse- or dog-racing, illegal lotteries, and so on. There are legalized forms of gambling in many countries and in some states of the United States, but even in those places illegal gambling takes place.

A narcotic trafficking, especially in the United States, is carried out by international groups of criminals and by local and regional groups working with international suppliers.

Find the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations; memorize them:

1. по закону

2. преступление, совершенное служащим или лицом, занимающим высокое общественное положение

3. преступный мир

4. организованная преступность

5. совершать преступления из корысти

6. получать искусственно завышенную прибыль

7. покровительственный рэкет

8. заставлять кого-либо выплачивать деньги путем угрозы

9. азартная игра, запрещённая законом

10. торговля наркотиками.

Answer the questions: