How a once-fashionable crime has fallen from grace

The decline of the English burglary

Writing

Discuss

Word study

(i) Group the words which are similar in meaning. Underline the words which sound violent.

pull shatter spread mark slash strew yank

saturate rip scatter stain smash pull apart

flatten hurl soak fling throw tread on

crush break tear dampen squash stamp on

(ii) How could you damage the following objects? Match possible verbs from the list above with the object(s).

armchair flowers wallpaper telephone hooks curtains vase pictures carpet window record-player

Why was the Muriel incident particularly sad?

Why do you think the burglars vandalised the house?

Has vandalism occurred to you or your friends?

Write Muriel's letter to a friend in which she explains briefly about the burglary, what she and Ron did about it, how she felt, what the doctor has said, what is happening now and how they have finally decided to move.

Reading 2

Whatever happened to burglary? In the late 1980s, it was as ubiquitous as baggy jeans. Everybody who was not be­ing burgled seemed to be burgling, or oth­erwise supporting the industry by buying cheap videos, no questions asked. But the housebreaking fad is now in danger of be­coming retro. Domestic break-ins have fallen by 45% in the past ten years, accord­ing to the British Crime Survey. The steep­est decline has been in trend-setting Lon­don, where burglary is now as rare as it was in the era of lounge suits and Abba.

Burglary still has its adherents, but, like other followers of out-of-date fashions, they are an increasingly sorry-looking bunch. "Burglars are not nearly as well pre­pared as they used to be. Many don't even bring a bag to the job," says John Kelly, head of crime at the Cleveland police force in north-eastern England.

Why the decline in numbers and skill? Improved security and low unemploy­ment rates have something to do with it, al­though not as much as boosters claim. Bur­glar alarms are more widespread than a decade ago, but only a quarter of houses have them - and they tend not to be in the most vulnerable areas. As for growth in the legitimate job market, that does not appear to have drawn the criminal element away from mugging.

The more likely reasons for the decline of burglary have to do with changes in the criminal marketplace. In the past decade, the housebreaking trade has suffered two shocks - one to demand for its products, the other to its labour supply.

The first problem concerns the kind of loot typically kept in houses. Video record­ers, DVD players and hi-fis are now so cheap, in real terms, that they are barely worth nicking. Televisions are a better bet, but the most valuable ones are so large as to present practical difficulties. Last year, just one in ten successful thieves walked off with one - less than half the proportion that did so in 1995.

Favourite targets these days are small items that are readily turned into money. Credit cards, cheque books and mobile phones are all increasingly popular, as is cash itself (taken in 39% of all burglaries). These are, of course, the same things that people tend to carry around in the street, which is not a coincidence. In the past few years, burglary has become less a distinct business with its own specialist workforce and associated occupations (such as fenc­ing), and more a proxy form of mugging fa­voured by the slow and timid.

That trend has also been pushed for­ward by changes in the criminal labour force. In the past ten years, police say, skilled burglars (who tend to travel widely and specialise in particular goods) have been largely replaced by casual operators. Stephen House, deputy assistant commis­sioner of the Metropolitan Police, explains that the specialist fences "professional" crooks rely on have increasingly been rumbled by paid informants. Intelligence­-sharing has made their lives more difficult, too. These days, the imminent release from prison of a skilled burglar will be preceded by a flurry of alerts to watch out for a par­ticular modus operandi.

The departure of skilled operators has left the burglary trade in the hands of des­perate, drug-addicted young men. They rarely specialise in housebreaking, and, when they do, follow a quite different pat­tern, raiding poorly protected properties within walking distance of their homes. Such men are probably as numerous as a decade ago - according to Mr Kelly, indeed, they are more numerous. But they are com­mitting fewer burglaries, in part because they simply aren't up to it.

Now that the police routinely test of­fenders for drugs, they are noticing that certain chemicals seem to be associated with certain types of crime. One Home Of­fice study of 3,000 arrestees found that those pulled in for burglary and shoplift­ing were more likely to test positive for her­oin than anyone else. Muggers and purse-­snatchers, though, were most likely to be cocaine or crack users.

Given the effects of the drugs, such pat­terns are not surprising. As Steve Hassall, a detective chief inspector at Greater Man­chester Police, puts it, a crack addict in need of a fix will be "climbing the walls" and hardly capable of planning a break-in. This has strong implications for criminal activity. As powder and crack cocaine overtake heroin as drugs of choice, bur­glary inevitably declines while street crime does not.

Thanks to years of epidemic rates, and the heinousness of the act itself, burglary has retained its status as the premier Brit­ish folk crime. But the image is increasingly out of touch with reality. If you return home to find the window broken and the television gone, be aware: you are looking at a piece of history.

Ex.5.6. Translate the following into Russian.

1) to fall from grace 2) no questions asked 3) to be in danger of (doing) sth 4) domestic break-ins 5) the steepest decline 6) trend-setting London 7) out-of-date fashions 8) an increasingly sorry-looking bunch 9) head of crime (at the police force) 10) improved security 11) to have sth to do with sth 12) booster 13) burglar alarms 14) vulnerable areas 15) the criminal marketplace 16) labour supply 16) hi-fies 17) in real terms 18) televisions are a better bet 19) a distinct business 20) the slow and timid 21) casual operators 22) deputy assistant commis­sioner of the Metropolitan Police 23) intelligence-sharing 24) a flurry of alerts to watch out for a par­ticular modus operandi 25) des­perate, drug-addicted young men 26) to follow a quite different pat­tern 27) shoplifting 28) a crack addict in need of a fix will be "climbing the walls" 29) the premier Brit­ish folk crime

Ex.5.7. Find words in the article above which mean:

1) (fml or joc) seeming to be everywhere or in several places at the same time

2) a fashion, an interest, a preference, an enthusiasm, etc that is not likely to last

3) an entry into a building using force

4) a supporter of a party or set of ideas

5) attacking and robbing sb violently, especially in a public place

6) buying and selling stolen goods

7) about to happen; likely to happen very soon

8) [sing] (Latin) a particular method of working or dealing with a task

9) to make a surprise attack on a building, etc in order to commit a crime

10) the act of taking goods from a shop without paying for them

11) (infml) to bring sb to a police station in order to ask them questions about a crime; to arrest sb

12) to increase in number or amount so as to be more than sth else

13) extreme wickedness

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