Excuse criminal getting cheated (7)
I believe the answer is:
condone
'excuse' is the definition.
(I know that excuse can be written as condone)
'criminal getting cheated' is the wordplay.
'criminal' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for 'convict').
'getting' says to put letters next to each other.
'cheated' becomes 'done'.
'con'+'done'='CONDONE'
(Other definitions for condone that I've seen before include "Approve, sanction" , "Turn a blind eye" , "Accept (wrong behaviour)" , "'Excuse, overlook (7)'" , "Overlook intentionally" .)