Strong and weak opinions on crime and punishment

Strong and weak opinions on crime and punishment

with crime and punishment collocations

Make opinions on law (crime, punishment, etc) with the sentence stems below and see if your partner agrees.  

Useful phrases to discussing strong and weak opinions “That’s exactly what I would say.” “I would go further and say that…” – “I wouldn’t go that far. I’d say that…” “I have (almost/ exactly) the opposite opinion. I would say that…”

Share one opinion that you agreed on with the class and see if other people have the same opinion.

Ask about any sentence stems that you couldn’t use, any options that you don’t understand the differences between, etc, working together to make suitable statements about law, crime, punishment, etc each time.

If possible without looking at the sentence stems, give similar strong and weak opinions on topics from the list on the following pages and see if your partner agrees:

Share one opinion that you agreed on with the class and see if other people have the same opinion.

Ask about any vocabulary that you couldn’t use, etc, working together to make suitable statements about law, crime, punishment, etc each time.

 

 

Strong and weak opinions language speaking

Everybody/ Virtually everybody/ Almost everybody/ The vast majority of people/ The majority of people/ Many people/ A substantial number of people/ Some people/ Few people/ Almost nobody/ Nobody + is/ are worried about/ concerned about…

I totally agree with/ I agree with/ I mostly agree with + punishing… by…

The authorities + really must/ must/ really should/ should/ should think about/ could consider/ shouldn’t/ really shouldn’t/ mustn’t/ really mustn’t + focus (a lot/ more) on…

The problem of… + would definitely be/ would almost certainly be/ would probably be/ may well be/ may be/ could possibly be/ could conceivably be + solved by/ improved by…

I fully support/ I strongly support/ I support/ I have mixed feelings about/ I oppose/ I totally oppose…

I strongly recommend/ I recommend/ I would probably recommend/ I wouldn’t necessarily recommend/ I wouldn’t recommend/ I can’t recommend + that prisons…

Crimes (like…/ related to…)/ The crimes of… and… + are + accelerating/ rocketing/ going up dramatically/ increasing rapidly/ rising steadily/ climbing slowly/ plateauing/ remaining stable/ slowly dropping/ falling considerably/ falling quickly/ plummeting (due to…)

The main cause of/ A major cause of/ One cause of + people committing… is…

There are far more pros than cons to…/ There are more pros than cons to…/ There are slightly more pros than cons to…

Legalising/ Decriminalising/ Allowing… would be + extremely controversial/ very controversial/ fairly controversial/ slightly controversial/ uncontroversial/ totally uncontroversial (because…)

Banning… is + absolutely crucial/ incredibly important/ very important/ fairly important/ not so important/ totally unimportant.

In order to reduce… + there is no option but to/ by far the best option is to/ the best option is to/ one of the best options is to/ one option is to…

… in this country is + completely different to/ almost completely different to/ very different to/ fairly similar to/ very similar to/ almost the same as/ virtually the same as/ totally the same as + in…

The issue of… (in…) gets + far too much attention/ more than enough attention/ enough attention/ not quite enough attention/ too little attention/ much too little attention.

I expect/ predict/ forecast + that… will… in the very near future/ in the near future/ in the medium term/ in the medium to long term/ in the long term/ one day.

Strong and weak opinions language presentation

Without any help, write phrases which are similar to those below but are stronger and/ or are weaker, e.g. adding or changing words to make a phrase which is just a little stronger or only a little weaker. Versions not above may also be possible.

• Almost everybody…

• The majority of people…

• I agree with…

• The authorities must…

• The authorities shouldn’t…

• The problem of… may be…

• The problem of… could possibly be…

• I support…

• I oppose…

• I recommend…

• I wouldn’t recommend…

• Crimes like… are increasing rapidly.

• A major cause of… is…

• There are more pros than cons to…

• Legalising… would be very controversial.

• Decriminalising… would be uncontroversial (because…)

• Banning… is incredibly important.

• In order to reduce… the best option is to…

• … in this country is almost the same as…

• The issue of… (in…) gets enough attention.

• The issue of… (in…) gets too little attention.

• I expect that… will… in the near future.

Use these mixed words to help with the stronger and weaker opinions task above.

absolutely                        by                       conceivably                     crucial                dramatically

extremely                         far                        main                                 more than          necessarily

really                                strongly totally                                vast                     very

virtually              well

Check above. Other phrases are possible, so check if you wrote something different.

Freer speaking with crime and punishment vocabulary

Give similar strong and weak opinions on topics from here and see if your partner agrees:

• affirmative action/ positive discrimination
• (car/ personal attack/ burglar) alarms
• alternative punishments/ non-prison sentences (community service, curfew, home arrest, electronic tagging, corporal punishment, etc)
• antisocial behaviour (noise offenses, drunk and disorderly, ASBOs, etc)
• appeals (to a higher court/ to the supreme court)
• bail
• bankruptcy
• banning…
• capital punishment/ the death penalty/ executions (death row, hanging, electric chair)
• causes of crime/ reasons for crime
• (excessive/ who decides) compensation payments
• (false/ forced/ signed/ taking into account) confessions
• corruption (bribery, collusion, nepotism, etc)
• crime and punishment in different countries
• crimes against humanity/ human rights violations (war crimes, ethnic cleansing, etc)
• crimes against property (vandalism, graffiti, arson, etc)
• (permanent/ accessing) criminal records
• criminology
• (workplace/ cyber-)bullying/ harassment
• dangerous driving/ reckless driving (drunk driving/ DUI, speeding, etc)
• data protection/ personal data/ privacy (fingerprints, DNA, etc)
• decriminalisation of/ legalising…
• (allowing/ controlling/ banning) demos/ riots (riot police, teargas, watercannon, etc)
• deterring crime/ crime prevention (CCTV, doorbell cameras, dashcams, speed cameras, etc)
• discrimination (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, ableism, etc)
• (no fault) divorce (alimony payments, parental rights, etc)
• domestic violence/ coercive behaviour
• (abuse of/ addiction to/ dealing in) (soft/ hard/ prescription) drugs
• economics and crime (poverty and crime, inequality and crime, etc)
• (use by criminals of/ authorities overriding) encryption
• (jobs for/ monitoring/ rights of/ reoffending by = recidivism by) ex-prisoners
• (political/ religious) extremism (terrorism, etc)
• families of criminals (upbringing of criminals, punishing parents, etc)
• family law (marriage equality/ gay marriage, pre-nuptial agreements, child protection)
• (on the spot/ speeding/ traffic) fines
• first offences
• free speech/ freedom of expression/ hate speech
• freedom of information
• (illegal) gambling (addiction) (mahjong, etc)
• guns/ firearms (for self-defence, gun licenses, concealed carrying permits, mass shootings, etc)
• (white hat) hacking
• hard labour
• immigration law (legal immigration, illegal immigration, becoming a citizen, refugees, asylum, etc)
• international law
• (length of/ recording of) interrogation/ questioning (by police)
• IP (copyright infringement, deep fakes, forgery, etc)
• (high court/ supreme court) judges
• juries (vs judges, jury duty, jury selection, etc)
• labour law (wrongful dismissal, industrial tribunals, etc)
• law firms
• (prosecution/ defence) lawyers/ attorneys/ solicitors/ barristers
• legal immunity (for politicians, diplomatic immunity, etc)
• libel/ slander
• miscarriages of justice/ mistrials/ false convinctions
• (police) no-go areas
• (prosecuting/ suing) offshore companies
• organised crime (street gangs, gangsters, mafia, bike gangs, etc)
• persistent offenders
• petty crimes/ minor offences/ misdemeanours (littering, jaywalking, etc)
• piracy/ hijacking
• police brutality
• (armed/ training of/ recruitment of/ diversity of) police officers
• (open/ high security/ women’s) prisons/ jails/ gaols
• private detectives/ private investigators/ PIs
• psychopaths/ serial killers
• punishing criminals
• rehabilitation (of drug addicts/ of prisoners)
• restorative justice (apologising to victims, etc)
• self-defence (pepper spray, Taser, etc)
• (lengths of/ shortening/ lengthening/ life/ suspended) sentences
• serious crimes (kidnapping, etc)
• (drug/ human) smuggling/ trafficking
• solutions to crime/ reducing crime/ eliminating crime
• (supervision of) spies/ espionage/ the secret service
• (treatment of/ press coverage of) suspects (who haven’t been charged)/ the accused
• theft (bag snatching, shoplifting, mugging, pickpocketing, burglary, kleptomaniacs, etc)
• (long/ public/ televised) trials/ court cases
• violent crime (assault, manslaughter, murder, etc)
• (treatment of/ protection of) whistle-blowers
• white collar crime (fraud, tax evasion, internet scams, conmen, identity theft, etc)
• young offenders

Crime and punishment collocations

Without looking above, join words on the left and right of the same section below to make vocabulary related to crime and punishment.

community                                                                              alarms               

home                                                                         arrest

electronic                                                                                bullying             

car/ personal attack/ burglar                                   confessions

corporal/ capital                                                                     driving

anti-                                                                                          payments         

death                                                                         prints   

compensation                                                          punishment

false/ forced/ signed                                                records

human                                                                                     rights violations

(permanent/ accessing) criminal                                         penalty/ row

workplace/ cyber-                                                                   service

dangerous/ reckless/ drunk                                   social behaviour

finger-                                                                                       tagging

riot                                                                                            arms    

tear                                                                                           cameras           

water                                                                                        cannon

crime                                                                                       divorce             

speed/ doorbell/ dashboard                                    drugs

family/ international/ labour                                    expression/ information             

no fault                                                                     extremism

alimony                                                                                   fines                  

domestic                                                                                 gas                    

soft/ hard/ prescription                                            labour

political/ religious                                                                   law

on the spot/ speeding/ traffic                                  payments

free/ hate                                                                                police

freedom of                                                                              prevention

fire                                                                                             speech

hard                                                                                         violence

copy                                                                                          brutality/ officers            

high/ supreme                                                          carriages of justice/ trials

jury                                                                                           court (judges)   

wrongful                                                                                  crime(s)  

industrial                                                                                 dismissal       

law                                                                                           duty/ selection   

prosecution/ defence                                             firms                            

legal/ diplomatic                                                                     gangs                          

mis-                                                                                           go areas

(police) no-                                                                              immunity

off-                                                                                             lawyers/ attorneys                       

organised/ petty/ serious/ violent                          offenders

street/ bike                                                                              -right infringement

persistent/ young                                                                    shore companies

police                                                                                       tribunals

open/ high security/ women’s                                -blowers           

private                                                                       collar crime

serial                                                                                        defence             

restorative                                                                              detectives/ investigators            

self-                                                                                           evasion

pepper                                                                                     justice  

life/ suspended/ non-prison                                    killers                

drug/ human                                                             lifting    

bag                                                                                          -men                  

shop                                                                                         pocketing

pick                                                                                           prisons/ jails/ gaols

(protection of) whistle                                              scams

white                                                                                        sentences

tax                                                                                            smuggling/ trafficking

internet                                                                                    snatching

con                                                                                            spray