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make one’s bones (New York slang 1969) to kill a person as a requirement for membership in a criminal gang

OLD BILL

One gang who know more about all this than most are society’s upholders of the law, who have a few tricks of their own up their sleeves:

flash roll (police jargon) a wad of money which is never actually used, but is flashed ostentatiously around to convince a criminal, e.g. a drug dealer, that one wishes to make a purchase, at which point an arrest will be made

Kojak with a Kodak (US 1970s) a policeman manning a radar speed trap

mule kick (US slang 2005) the act of standing with one’s back to the front door and kicking the door in

attitude-adjuster (US black slang) a club; a police officer’s stick

to get a fanner (Hobo slang) to be hit on the soles while sleeping on a park bench and moved on by the police

ghetto bird (US slang) a police helicopter

wiggle seat (US police jargon) a special lie detector that can be fitted to a chair and which will measure the bodily reactions of a suspect to various crucial questions

BAD APPLES

Upstanding members of society can only hope that their local rozzers are worthy of the power entrusted in them:

mumping (UK slang 1970) the acceptance by the police of small gifts or bribes from tradespeople

swim in golden grease (UK slang 17C) to receive many bribes

banana (UK street slang 1990s) a corrupt police officer (initially of the Special Patrol Group because they were, allegedly, yellow, bent and hanging around in bunches)

shoo-fly (US slang 1877) a policeman, usually in plain clothes, whose job is to watch and report on other police officers

accommodation collar (US police jargon) an arrest only made to raise the officer’s arrest record and thus improve his standing in the hierarchy

JUST DESERTS

There are some who would prefer that criminals were treated with the summary justice of yesteryear; without faffing around with all that tedious business of innocent until proved guilty:

alfet (c.1000) a vat of boiling water into which the accused plunged his arm in lieu of a trial

keelhaul (1626) to punish in the seamen’s way, by dragging the criminal under water on one side of the ship and up again on the other

ride the stang (UK b.1828) to be carried on a pole through the town on men’s shoulders and pelted with refuse for the amusement of a hooting crowd (a derisive punishment for a breach of decorum or morality, especially on the part of a married man)

corsned (Anglo-Saxon law c.1000) a trial by ordeal that required a suspect to eat a piece of barley bread and cheese to test his innocence (if guilty, it was believed the bread would cause convulsions and choking)

whiffler (underworld slang 1859) a fellow who cries out in pain

PETTIFOGGERS

Undoubtedly the intervention of the legal profession does complicate matters, and sometimes completely unnecessarily:

kilburn (police jargon) the offcial police notebook that is produced in court (rhyming slang: Kilburn Priory for diary)

gunner (US slang) a law student who always needs to volunteer an answer to show off how smart he are

ambulance-chaser (underworld slang 1897) a lawyer who attends scenes of accidents and hospitals to get business from the injured or bereaved, who are not in a position to resist

dock asthma (police and prison jargon 1950s) gasps of (usually feigned) surprise and disbelief by prisoners in the dock

boot-eater (1880) a juror who would rather ‘eat his boots’ than find a person guilty

PORRIDGE

A spell inside should be enough to make anyone think twice about reoffending:

oubliette (Scott: Ivanhoe 1819) a dungeon whose only entrance is in the ceiling

dry bath (1933) a search of a prisoner who has been stripped naked

broken arse (New Zealand) a prisoner who has sided with the authorities and thus ranked the lowest in the inmate hierarchy

carpy (1940s) locked away in one’s cell at night (from Latin tag carpe diem for ‘seize the day’)

to polish the King’s iron with one’s eyebrows (underworld