This week I’m teaching our final unit for the semester on Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure. For followers of this blog and, particularly, for my students of Legal English, here are links to previous posts for those interested in exploring the terminology of these legal disciplines:

1) General Terminology of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure

• Terminology of Criminal Procedure: The Top 40 Verbs You May Need to Know
• “Legal” Verbs and Prepositions (Criminal Procedure) (fill in the blanks)
• Terminology of Criminal Procedure in English: 20 Verbs (and Their Prepositions)
• 20 Questions: Terminology of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure; and 20 Answers (to those 20 questions)
• Terminology of Spanish Juvenile Justice (and how it differs from the terminology of criminal procedure applied to adult offenders)

2) Confusing Terms, Strange Expressions and False Friends in Spanish-English Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (and suggestions as to how to translate them)

• “Bail” vs. “bailiff” and “bailment”
• Libertad condicional vs. libertad provisional
• Denucia vs. querella
• Antecedentes penales vs. antecedentes policiales
• Víctima; agraviado; ofendido; perjudicado
• Alevosía
• Agravantes; atenuantes; eximentes
• Tipicidad; antijuricidad; culpabilidad; punibilidad
• Ley penal en blanco
• Elevar a definitivas
• Condena; condenar; condenado
• Actor civil
• Arresto vs. “arrest” and detención vs. “detention”
• Absolución vs. “absolution”
• Autor vs. “author”
• Actor vs. “actor”

3) Specific Offenses

• Ciberdelitos (including “cybergrooming”)
• Cohecho vs. soborno
• Prevaricación