Devote energy in criminal's case (10)
I believe the answer is:
consecrate
'devote' is the definition.
(consecrating is a kind of devoting)
'energy in criminal's case' is the wordplay.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mcr).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'criminal's' becomes 'con's' (abbreviation for 'convict').
'case' becomes 'crate' (crating is a kind of casing).
'cons'+'crate'='conscrate'
'e' placed inside 'conscrate' is 'CONSECRATE'.
(Other definitions for consecrate that I've seen before include "Sanctify" , "Make holy" , "Make 18 [SACRED]" , "Bless" , "giving cause to be respected" .)