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Committing Crimes – considering why people commit these crimes and what the best ways are to discourage people from committing them. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to discuss why crimes are committed and why crime is decreasing in major cities.
Time
30-40 minutes
Main Skills
Listening
Theme and topic
Experiences: Committing Crimes
Download Available
Audio Transcript
The date was the morning of February 14th, Valentines day, a day for romantic gestures. Though the 4 men walking down North Clark street hardly seemed to have got into the spirit of the occasion. Watch the video and answer the questions that follow.
Listen to the podcast about the reasons why violent crime is down in America's big cities.
This podcast 'Crime is down in American cities' is available online here.
Here are the keywords and phrases to learn:
- assaults
- commit crimes
- convict
- crimes
- criminals
- criminal organization
- criminal justice system
- gangsters
- gentrification
- keeping the code of silence
- killed in cold blood
- homicide
- illegal
- legal system
- massacre
- notoriety
- obscurity
- plainclothes detectives
- prisoners
- repeal of prohibition
- stolen shipment
- tougher sentences
- uniformed police officers
- unmarked banknotes
- violent crime
- Discuss the following questions with your friend. Why do people commit crimes? What are the best ways to reduce crime?
- Watch the scene of the St. Valentines Day Massacre and discuss how the filmmaker was trying to communicate the events through imagery and sound (Please note there are some scenes that may cause distress).
- Write an article for an international magazine about if we can do anything to prevent a crime from happening.
- Write an opinion piece for the school newspaper on crime, guns or violence.
- Debate one of the following statements: 'Guns don't kill, people do.' 'The procession of a firearm is a person's right.' 'All guns should be illegal in the United States.'
- Create a club at your school where you raise awareness about violence or crime in the local or global community.

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