KudoZ home » Spanish to English » Poetry & Literature

criminales públicos

English translation: Public enemies

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs
(or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

09:40 Jan 6, 2012

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Death Penalty

Spanish term or phrase: criminales públicos

Justicia es respetar la vida humana en cualquier circunstancia, incluso en el caso de un eventual culpable. También en el caso de criminales públicos: así, nunca se rebaja a la sociedad civil y a los estados al nivel de quien mata; y se evita legitimar al nivel más alto, el de la justicia pública, la idea de que se puede matar.

Are criminales publicos those who have committed crimes against humanity?

Lorna O'Donoghue KudoZ activity Questions: 1359 (10 open) (1 without valid answers) (28 closed without grading) Answers: 56
Local time: 06:22

English translation:Public enemies

Explanation:
Public enemies

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2012-01-06 17:52:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Traducción de 'acts of public enemies' en el diccionario gratuito de español. Más
traducciones en español para: of, acts, of the, public, lots of.

es.bab.la/diccionario/ingles-espanol/acts-of-public-enemies - En caché - Similares

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2012-01-06 17:55:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Búsqueda avanzadaAproximadamente 93,000,000 resultados
Todo
Imágenes
Vídeos
Noticias
Más
Search OptionsLa Web
Páginas en español
Páginas de México
Más herramientas Public enemy (disambiguation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term public enemy was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to
describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_enemy_(disambiguation) - En caché - Similares

Saludos
eski :))

Selected response from:

eski
Mexico
Local time: 00:22

Grading comment

Many thanks to all
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

public criminals

Lisa McCarthy

4 +1

Public enemies

eski

public murderers

Charles Davis

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

public criminals

Explanation:
Crimes committed against the public.

The use of force by the UK police was born out of threats to public safety. Neyroud (252-253) outlining the history of the UK police force has argued that the baton-days before the 1980s was inadequate in protecting the public against **public criminals such as in the case of the Hungerford Shootings and the Thames Valley where an armed man started to shoot in random killing two person and one injury. ***

http://www.ukessays.com/essays/human-rights/police-uk-force....

Lisa McCarthy
Spain
Local time: 07:22
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 92

1 hr confidence:

public murderers

Explanation:
A "criminal" is someone who has committed a "crimen", and a "crimen" is not just any crime, but a serious crime, usually a violent crime, and often, though not always, a murder. The standard equivalent of EN "criminal" is "delincuente". In many contexts, the difference between "crimen" and "crime" doesn't really matter in practice, and SP "criminal" can be translated EN "criminal", but not here, in my opinion.

"crimen.
(Del lat. crimen).
1. m. Delito grave.
2. m. Acción indebida o reprensible.
3. m. Acción voluntaria de matar o herir gravemente a alguien."
http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?TIPO_HTML=2&TIPO...

In this context, I think the difference really does matter. A public criminal could be someone who has committed quite a minor crime: a burglar, for instance. But a "criminal público" refers here to someone who has killed, and the point of the passage is to argue that not even public killers should be executed: "nunca se rebaja a la sociedad civil y a los estados al nivel de quien mata". If justice kills killers, it concedes that killing can be justified. A distinction is being drawn between "culpables", those guilty (of a crime), criminals, and the more extreme case of "criminales públicos".

For "públicos", I'm tempted to suggest "notorious", but I don't think that's what it means; I think it means those who kill members of the public rather than people close to them. The former (in the US, for example) are more likely to be executed, because those who kill privately (within the family, for example) are more likely to have extenuating circumstances, so I think it should be "public murderers".

"I like that there is an understanding of news agencies to not print the names of victims of sexual assault. There should be that same understanding of these public murderers. We shouldn’t know the names of the Columbine killers, JFK’s killer, or this horrible man from Arizona."
http://www.willhines.net/wordpress/page/2/

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2012-01-06 12:33:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You could perhaps say "serious public criminals". In some countries, people are executed for crimes other than murder, but always, by definition, for serious crimes. For the reasons I've stated I don't think just "public criminals" will do. I would stick with "murderers"; I think homicide is clearly implied, because of the point being made about killing: this applies to those who have killed.

Charles Davis
Local time: 07:22
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 80

8 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Public enemies

eski
Mexico
Local time: 00:22
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 20

Grading comment

Many thanks to all

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

Overview

Latest translation questions

Ask a translation question

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

criminales públicos

English translation: Public enemies

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

Answers

Sign in to your ProZ.com account...

Or create a new account

ProZ.com ideas

KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

criminales públicos

English translation: Public enemies

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

Answers

Sign in to your ProZ.com account...

Or create a new account

ProZ.com ideas

KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.