IELTS vocabulary practice crime

1
Look at this extract from a politicians speech and complete the gaps. In some cases, more than one answer may
be possible. You may need to change the form of some of the words.

Are you worried about crime? I am. We read it every day in the papers. A terrible crime has been 1.
c________________, the police have 2. a_______________ someone, he has appeared in front of a jury in 3.
t__________________, he has 4.p____________ his innocence but has been found 5. g_________________ of
his crime and he has been 6.s__________________ to ten years in prison. We are all very relieved that the
criminal is being punished for his 7.c____________, and law-abiding citizens like you and me can sleep more
safely at night.

But what happens next? We all hope, dont we, that the prisoner will benefit from societys 8.
r__________________, that a spell in prison will 9.reh___________ him and make him a better person. We all
hope that he will 10. ref_____________ and become like us. We all hope that when he is eventually 11.
r________________ and let loose on the streets, he will be a good character, the threat of another spell in jail
being a suitable 12. d_________________ which will stop him from breaking the law again.

But lets face it. The reality is usually very different. The prisoner may be released on 13. p________________
before the end of his sentence. He will try to re-enter society. But then he often becomes a 14. v_____________
himself, unable to find work and rejected by society. It isnt long before hes back in prison again.

So what alternatives are there, I hear you say. What can we do to the 15. o___________ to make sure he doesnt
commit another crime? There are alternatives to prison, of course, such as 16. c_______________
s_________, in which he will provide a service to those around him. Or he can pay a large 17.
f_________________. Alternatively, we would establish a more severe system of punishment, including 18.
cor____________ punishment and 19. c_____________ punishment, but we like to consider ourselves
civilized, and the idea of beating or executing someone is repellent to us.

The answer, of course, is far simpler. We need to be tough not on the criminal, but on the cause of the crime. We
should spend less of the taxpayers money funding the legal system and building ever larger prisons, and put
the money instead into supporting deprived areas which are the breeding grounds for crime. We believe that
everybody needs a good chance in life, and this is a good step forward.