Have You Ever Felt the 'Long Arm of the Law?'
2024-11-10



And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

Laws help to keep society running smoothly. They help to keep things in order.

So, when we talk about law and order, we are talking about how crime should be kept under control and how society should run.

The term law and order includes how police enforce laws and how the judicial system deals with criminals.

Law and order also describes a situation where most people respect and obey laws. They want to feel safe and to have a sense of public order.

Sometimes people use the term to describe a political candidate. For example:

If a city has problems with crime, candidates for public office might run a law and order campaign. They promise to put policies in place that reduce crime.

Now, when we talk about catching criminals, we can use another expression: the long arm of the law. This describes the ability of police to find and catch people who commit crimes. It further describes the power of law enforcement and the legal system to punish criminals and carry out justice.

So, the long arm of the law is the far-reaching power of police and the legal system. For example:

Criminals who are on the run are unlikely to escape the long arm of the law forever. If they make one mistake, they might get caught.

Now, let's talk about non-criminals. Sometimes people might do things that they do not know are illegal. For example,

A prank or practical joke played on a friend might seem harmless. But in the eyes of the law, it might actually be illegal.

When we say in the eyes of the law, we mean what a law actually says and how people who enforce the law understand it.

That leads us to another expression: ignorance of the law is no excuse. If we are ignorant of something, we don't know about it. However, simply not knowing if an action is illegal doesn't matter in the eyes of the law.

The long arm of the law will still reach out and uphold the law. Then we might find ourselves on the wrong side of the law. And that's a bad place to be. Being on the wrong side of the law means we have broken a law, or worse, laws.

So, if we want to be upstanding, law-abiding citizens and avoid the long arm of the law, we should stay on the right side of the law!

And that's the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________________________________________

Words in This Story

prank -n. a trick or joke that is played on a person

practical joke -n. a trick or joke meant to cause the subject embarrassment or public discomfort

ignorance -n. lack of knowledge, education, or awareness

uphold -v. to give support to

upstanding -adj. someone who is honest and respectable and is able to stand upright without shame or embarrassment

abide -v. to accept or live by a belief, rule or principle

Do you have a similar expression in your language? Let us know in the comments. Our comment policy is here. Or send us an email at LearningEnglish@voanews.com.