The subject of this study is the concept of «crime» from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. The object of the study is language as a cognitive mechanism involved in the representation and transformation of information. The objective of the research is to study the linguistic means used to represent the concept of «crime» in Russian and English, as well as to reveal common and specific features of the concept in question related to national specifics. The paper analyzes the terms denoting illegal and criminal acts. The authors come to the conclusion that the word «offense» is a generic term meaning any act that violates any legal norms in the Russian language, however in English, the broadest term is the lexeme «crime». Great attention is paid to the analysis of words verbalizing elements of the concept of «crime» in the Russian and the English languages. The paper considers lexical means reflecting various aspects of criminal activity such as types of crimes, their signs and stages, persons committing crimes, etc. These words form the public perception of crime and illustrate its significance by representatives of a particular nation. The study uses dictionary definitions to research the meaning of terms related to illegal acts; conceptual analysis to assess the structure and content of the concept of «crime»;a comparative analysis and an associative experiment to determine which components of the concept of «crime» are specific to Russian and English linguistic consciousness and which are universal. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the comparative analysis of the phenomenon of «crime» in the Russian and English linguistic worldviews by studying the linguistic means representing the given concept and conducting an associative experiment aimed at identification of universal and national-specific features of the concept of «crime». The main outcome of the work is the obtained data that the national and cultural specifics of the concept of «crime» is manifested at the level of the elements of the concept, in different ideas about the characteristic features of the criminal and the significance of the types of crimes in particular. For the first time, the relevance of conducting a linguistic analysis of the concept «crime» for law enforcement officers has been substantiated. Police officers' knowledge of the national characteristics of the perception of the phenomenon of «crime» and its components by representatives of certain cultures expands their possibilities for combating crime and allows for an accurate assessment of the public danger in cases where citizens of a certain nationality attempt to violate the law.