To put (?) a crime upon someone

[milan2003_07]

It could happen that police want or make an innocent person acknowledge his imaginary guilt of a crime they haven't actually committed.

Which verb (presumably, a phrasal verb) can we use in English to say this?

If tranlated literally from Russian, it is 'to hang a crime upon someone'. Please help me find a suitable expression in English. Maybe 'to put a crime upon someone'?

 

[emsr2d2]

It could happen that If the police want or to make an innocent person acknowledge his imaginary guilt of admit to a crime they haven't actually committed, which verb (presumably, a phrasal verb) can we use in English to say this?

If translated literally from Russian, it is 'to hang a crime upon someone'. Please help me find a suitable expression in English. Maybe 'to put a crime upon someone'?

You can actually use "hang a crime on someone" but that's more like the police simply blaming someone for a crime even if that person didn't commit it. That person doesn't have to admit/acknowledge anything.
It seems to me that you're talking about the police eliciting a false confession from someone.

 

[Rover_KE]

In British English you could say they fitted him up for a crime, or they framed him.

 

[milan2003_07]

You can actually use "hang a crime on someone" but that's more like the police simply blaming someone for a crime even if that person didn't commit it. That person doesn't have to admit/acknowledge anything.
It seems to me that you're talking about the police eliciting a false confession from someone.

Thanks for approving of my suggestion!
I'm happy that I've guessed (deduced) the right word.

Eliciting a false confession is somewhat different to what I mean, but I understand this meaning, too. Thanks!

Thanks for correcting and improving my text!

 

[Flask]

In my experience, the phrase is "pin a crime on someone." Here is the related definition of "pin" in the OED:

4.c. transitive. To fix (blame, guilt, responsibility, etc.) on a person or thing; to fix or put blame for (a crime, error, etc.) on a person or thing. rare before 19th cent.

1. a1627
   

   You were pleas'd of late to pin an error on me.

   T. Middleton, Women beware Women iii. i, in 2 New Playes (1657) 145
2. 1819
   

   You seem too light of heart..To act the deeds that rumour pins on you.

   P. B. Shelley, Cenci i. iii. 13
3. 1866
   

   Ise pow'f'ly feard some ornry cuss am a tryin to pin that ar freak ore genus to my cotail on the sly.

   G. W. Harris, Sut Lovingood's Yarns (1966) 270
4. 1924
   

   Dorrisdale credits me with at least three [lovers], but they've never been able to pin it on me with anyone.

   ‘W. Fabian’, Sailors' Wives 34
5. 1942
   

   As usual, when anything sinister happened, his enemies tried to pin everything on Caillaux, who cleared himself promptly.

   E. Paul, Narrow Street xxi. 169
6. 1977
   

   ‘Can the Law connect her with you?’..‘No, they couldn't pin anything on me.’

   L. Meynell, Hooky gets Wooden Spoon xii. 150
7. 1993
   

   I'm going to pin the blame..on Mosaic, the publisher.

   Books in Canada April 9/2

 

[Tarheel]

The word "framed" would work in American English too.

 

[milan2003_07]

In British English you could say they fitted him up for a crime, or they framed him.

Do these expressions mean that they (the police) hanged a crime on him?

 

[probus]

This is not an answer to your last question @milan2003_07, but don't use hanged there. Use hung instead if you must although that wouidn't be quite natural. We use hanged only in reference the method of execution by hanging.

 

[tedmc]

What about " accuse/indict wrongly/falsely"?

 

[milan2003_07]

This is not an answer to your last question @milan2003_07, but don't use hanged there. Use hung instead if you must although that wouidn't be quite natural. We use hanged only in reference the method of execution by hanging.

Yes, sure! It was a misprint, I know the difference.
Thank you for pointing that out!

 

[jutfrank]

From your original post, it seems to me you're not talking about the police framing or pinning or fitting someone up, but rather about inducing (or eliciting, as emsr2d2 suggests) a false confession. That's quite different from framing someone.

 

[Tarheel]

Thanks for approving of my suggestion!
I'm happy that I've guessed (deduced) the right word.

Eliciting a false confession is somewhat different FROM what I mean, but I understand this meaning, too. Thanks!

Thanks for correcting and improving my text!

You could also say

What about " accuse/indict wrongly/falsely"?

Those are different things. An accusation is not a legal term. (Anybody can accuse somebody of something.) If somebody is indicted they are officially charged with a crime.

In my experience, the word "wrongfully " is used when somebody is convicted of a crime he/she did not commit.

 

[milan2003_07]

You could also say
Those are different things. An accusation is not a legal term. (Anybody can accuse somebody of something.) If somebody is indicted they are officially charged with a crime.

In my experience, the word "wrongfully " is used when somebody is convicted of a crime he/she did not commit.

Sorry for my misprint with 'different from' and thanks for correcting!

I understand 'wrongfully'. I think it can be used when the police have acknowledged that they have accused a person incorrectly. However, it can happen intentionally, when, for example, the police can't find the perpetrator and they deliberately accuse someone who isn't guilty of a crime just to make the illusion of solving the crime.

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know how my post got so messed up.

 

[emsr2d2]

With all this talk of framing/fitting someone up etc, we have veered a long way from one of your points in post #1, which was "make an innocent person acknowledge his imaginary guilt of a crime they haven't actually committed". That's the part that led me to "elicit a false confession". All the other suggestions in this thread don't involve the person acknowledging (or admitting) anything. They could be protesting their innocence from the rooftops but the police could still be framing them.

 

[Tarheel]

Wow! That's a mouthful!

I, like most people, would simply say he confessed to a crime he hadn't committed.