See if you can't do the time, don't do the crime on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From do time (“to serve a prison sentence”).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime",
"name": "en-proverb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "proverb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
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},
{
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],
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{
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},
{
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"parents": [],
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},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Crime",
"orig": "en:Crime",
"parents": [
"Criminal law",
"Society",
"Law",
"All topics",
"Justice",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Prison",
"orig": "en:Prison",
"parents": [
"Buildings",
"Law enforcement",
"Buildings and structures",
"Crime prevention",
"Emergency services",
"Law",
"Architecture",
"Crime",
"Public safety",
"Justice",
"Applied sciences",
"Art",
"Criminal law",
"Society",
"Public administration",
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"Culture",
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"Government",
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],
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},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Time",
"orig": "en:Time",
"parents": [
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One should not carry out an action if one is unwilling to handle the consequences."
],
"id": "en-if_you_can't_do_the_time,_don't_do_the_crime-en-proverb-KKnh98xf",
"links": [
[
"carry out",
"carry out"
],
[
"action",
"action"
],
[
"unwilling",
"unwilling"
],
[
"handle",
"handle"
],
[
"consequence",
"consequence"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "crime doesn't pay"
}
]
}
],
"word": "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From do time (“to serve a prison sentence”).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime",
"name": "en-proverb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "proverb",
"related": [
{
"word": "crime doesn't pay"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English imperative sentences",
"English lemmas",
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"English proverbs",
"English rhyming phrases",
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"en:Crime",
"en:Prison",
"en:Time"
],
"glosses": [
"One should not carry out an action if one is unwilling to handle the consequences."
],
"links": [
[
"carry out",
"carry out"
],
[
"action",
"action"
],
[
"unwilling",
"unwilling"
],
[
"handle",
"handle"
],
[
"consequence",
"consequence"
]
]
}
],
"word": "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime"
}
Download raw JSONL data for if you can't do the time, don't do the crime meaning in All languages combined (0.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.