Hello, everyone.

My name is Miss Wyatt, and I'm so pleased that you could join me here on today's lesson.

Today's lesson will look at what reasons are behind criminal behaviour, from the unit What is crime? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain what a crime is and identify a number of factors that might influence criminal behaviour.

The following keywords will be used throughout today's lesson.

These are law, crime, and illegal.

Law is rules, usually made by Parliament, that are used to order the way in which a society behaves.

Crime is an illegal act that is punishable by law, and illegal is not allowed and forbidden by law, especially criminal law.

Today's lesson is broken up into two parts.

The first part of the lesson, we are going to look at who can commit a crime.

Laws are generally created in Parliament.

They are called an Act of Parliament.

When an Act of Parliament is passed and becomes law, all citizens must follow it.

Now, Parliament is made up of three parts, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the monarchy.

The House of Commons is where members of Parliament, or MPs, meet.

There are 650 MPs, and they are elected by us, the people.

Each MP represents a different part of the country, called a constituency.

Members of the House of Lords study the bills, or suggested laws, that have been voted for in the House of Commons.

They can vote to pass the laws or reject them.

And the last part of Parliament is the monarchy.

In a monarchy, a king or a queen is head of state and known as the monarch.

One of Parliament's key purposes is to make laws.

If a citizen does not follow the rules as set out in an Act of Parliament, they break the law and have committed a crime.

A crime is an illegal act that is punishable by law.

For example, Maddie takes her dog for a walk and fails to clean up after it has fouled on the pavement.

Dog fouling is an environmental crime under the Environmental Protection Act of 1990.

Maddie could face a fixed penalty charge of up to 1,000 pounds.

So this means that if you have a dog, or you're taking your dog for a walk and the dog fouls and you do not pick it up, you could be fined up to 1,000 pounds for not taking that responsibility.

And that crime is under the Environmental Protection Act.

In England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, we become legally responsible for our actions at the age of 10.

This is the age of criminal responsibility.

So after this point, you can be charged with a crime if you break the law.

So once you reach the age of 10 in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, that's when you can be charged with a crime.

In Scotland, it's the age of 12.

Not being aware of the law is not an excuse for breaking it.

For example, in Maddie's case, the law states that being unaware a dog has fouled or not having a suitable bag is not a reasonable excuse.

So because Maddie did not pick up after her dog, she can still be fined.

Even if she didn't realise or she didn't have a bag on her, it doesn't matter.

She has still broken the law.

So let's check for understanding.

Which of the following are true? Now, I will let you know that there might be more than one correct answer here, okay? So we have A, laws are created in Parliament and all citizens must follow them.

B, unawareness of the law is a valid excuse for breaking it.

C, a crime is an illegal act that is punishable by law.

Or D, in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years old.

So which of the following are true? Pause the video and make your choice.

Hopefully we said A, laws are created in Parliament and all citizens must follow them.

C, a crime is an illegal act that is punishable by law.

And D, in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years old.

Well done if you got that correct.

B, unawareness of the law is a valid excuse for breaking it, that's not true.

Unawareness of a law that you are breaking is not an excuse.

What makes a criminal? Very, very big question.

How might they look? How might they behave? Where might they live? Who might associate with them? Now, there is no real answer to these questions.

Whilst we all might have preconceived ideas about what type of person might commit a crime, we aren't always correct.

In truth, anyone who breaks the law commits a crime.

So going back to those questions, we might think, in my head, you might have an idea of what makes a criminal and how they look, how they behave, where might they live.

But in truth, there's no real answer to that.

We might have these preconceived ideas and we might prejudge certain things, but that's not right.

That's not always correct, okay? Anyone can be a criminal.

It's the circumstances around them that may influence them and their choices.

So anyone can commit a crime.

Compare breaking the law to breaking a rule.

So let's think about a time you broke a rule.

There will have been specific set of circumstances around it that led you to make that choice.

What were they? So think about a time that you broke a rule.

It might be in school, it might be at home, it might be in a club, it might be within your friendship group.

But think about a time where you did break a rule, and think about if there was a specific set of circumstances around that situation that led you to make that choice.

What were they? Were you having a bad day? Did you not get a good night's sleep? Did you feel pressure? There could be so many different circumstances around it that led you to make that choice.

So let's think about the circumstances that might make someone commit a crime.

For instance, lack of guidance.

So not having the correct influences around you or not being told, "This is not how you behave." Unemployment.

So you don't have your job, you don't have a job to go to, so your time is free.

Boredom.

You might simply just be bored and looking for something to do.

A lack of understanding.

Perhaps an addiction.

Maybe you're influenced by others or you're influenced by the surroundings, your environment that you live in.

However, just because you might experience some of these factors, it does not mean that you will become a criminal.

At this point in your life, you might be bored, you might be unemployed, you might have a lack of understanding for certain things, but I think it's important to note that this doesn't mean, because you experience these circumstances, it doesn't mean that you will become a criminal.

True or false, people who experience negative circumstances are always likely to commit a crime? Is that true or is that false? It's false.

Well done, everyone.

It's false.

Just because you might experience negative circumstances or factors, it doesn't mean that you will become a criminal.

Some people might be influenced by negative circumstances, and others might fight against them.

You might see in your area the lack of employment, boredom, lack of guidance, the wrong influences, but that might lead you to recognise that's actually not what you want and not what you want to become.

On this task, I would like us to have a go at writing one paragraph to answer the following questions about criminal behaviour.

So we need to cover what is crime and we need to cover can anyone commit a crime? I would like us to try and use some of our keywords in our paragraph.

We spoke a lot about them so far.

So we've got crime, illegal, and law, okay? So have a go at writing a paragraph that answers the following questions of what is crime and can anyone commit a crime? And try and use as many keywords as you can.

Good luck.

Okay, so Jacob wrote this paragraph for us.

We're gonna read through it and see if we managed to include some of the same ideas or similar ideas that Jacob did.

"When someone breaks the law by doing something that is illegal, they have committed a crime.

For example, not picking up after your dog, stealing, or damaging property.

In England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, you are legally responsible for your actions from the age of 10.

Anyone can commit a crime, regardless of who they are.

While certain circumstances, like unemployment, addiction, or being influenced by others, might make someone more likely to break the law, it doesn't mean that everyone in those situations will become a criminal.

People are ultimately responsible for their own actions." So I wonder if you managed to pick up on some of the same things that Jacob did.

If you did, well done.

We have now explored the question of who can commit a crime.

We are now going to move on to the final part of our lesson, which is what factors impact criminal behaviour? So there are three main factors that impact criminal behaviour: social, psychological, and environmental.

So these factors impact criminal behaviour and who commits a crime.

So social means the people around you.

What influences do you have in your life? Who do you look up to? Do you get guidance from the right type of people? Psychological is your brain.

Environmental is your surroundings.

So what area do you live in? Social factors are to do with the people around you, like your friends or peers.

They also include things like your education, employment status, and family background.

How might social factors impact criminal behaviour, then? So if someone is unemployed and unable to support themselves or they are living in poverty, they may turn to crime to meet basic needs like food and shelter.

If someone grows up with poor role models or no supervision, they might lack understanding of right and wrong, which could impact their choices.

Now, I think it's important to note that these are social factors that might impact crime, not that they definitely do.

Because you or the person next to you might grow up with a poor role model or no good supervision, but this doesn't mean that you are going to turn to crime or they are going to turn to crime.

It might impact your choices, but it definitely doesn't mean you're going to become a criminal.

The same with the first one, if someone is unemployed, unable to support themselves.

Just because you're unemployed or going through a time of unemployment doesn't mean that you will turn to crime.

It's important to note that all of these situations say they may turn to crime, they might turn to crime, okay? Psychological factors are to do with your brain, how you think and react to different situations.

So what things might impact psychological factors? Maybe you could have a think about this before we go through the answers.

So what things might impact psychological factors? If you think about your brain and how you react to different situations.

So mental health.

So people with certain mental health conditions might have trouble controlling their impulses or making good decisions.

So it might impact.

If you are dealing with a mental health condition, you might have trouble controlling your emotions and your reactions.

And substance abuse.

So people who are addicted or under the influence of certain substances might have trouble controlling their actions.

And then environmental factors, which is our third factor that impacts criminal behaviour.

So environmental factors are all about your surroundings and where you live.

So how might they impact criminal behaviour? So boredom, if you're simply bored.

Lack of facilities in the area.

There's no jobs, there's nothing for me to go and do, there's nothing for me to go and work on, there's nothing for me to learn a hobby or learn a new skill with.

Perhaps poor housing conditions.

A lack of safe places or high levels of crime within the area.

So let's check our understanding.

There are three main factors that impact criminal behaviour.

Which one is missing from the list below? So we have social factors and we have psychological factors, but what is the third factor that is missing? Hopefully we all said environmental factors, and this is to do with our surroundings.

True or false, high levels of crime in an area is an example of a psychological factor that could influence criminal behaviour? Is that true or is it false? It's false.

Well done if you said that was false.

It's false because high levels of crime would be an example of an environmental factor.

Remember, it's to do with your area, okay? And, therefore, it's to do with your environment.

The government collects data on arrest and crime statistics.

For example, men are six times more likely to be arrested than women.

In 2022 to 2023, arrests of children went up by 9%.

And average crime rates are lower in rural areas than urban areas.

So there is more crime in cities, for example, and built-up towns.

So we've got some statistics and data on arrests and crime, okay? We've got men are six times more likely to be arrested than women, arrest of children went up by 9%, and average crime rates are lower in rural areas.

Now, there are lots of different reasons why there is this data, okay? So which of the following factors is likely to lead to average crime rates being lower in rural areas than urban areas? So which of our three factors do you think? Pause the video and think about the question.

So the following factors are environmental and social, okay? These are likely to lead to average crime rates being lower in rural areas than urban areas.

Aisha says, "It's difficult to know for sure, but social factors, like access to education and jobs, could impact this.

So could environmental factors.

For example, if there was a lack of facilities and people were bored.

So for this task, I would like us to place each of the following factors that might influence criminal behaviour into the correct column of the table.

Now, the first one has been done for you, to give you an example of what we mean.

So we have social factors, we have psychological factors, and we have environmental factors, and these all impact and influence criminal behaviour.

So we have addiction, nothing to do locally, poverty, unemployment, lack of role models, gang culture, lack of safe spaces, and mental health issues.

Now, which factor do you think that these influences will go under, okay? So use addiction and psychological factors to get you started first, and then have a go at filling in the rest.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, we should have had a good go at that table, then, and we should have been able to place each of the following factors that might influence criminal behaviour into the correct column.

So under social factors, hopefully we recognise that unemployment should go there, lack of role models and poverty.

Our psychological factors, we should have addiction and mental health issues.

And environmental factors, we should have seen gang culture, nothing to do locally, and lack of safe spaces.

Well done if you got all of them correct.

Read the scenario below.

Michael lives in a busy urban area, which is quite run down, and many of the facilities that used to be open for people his age have shut.

His family faces financial difficulties, and he often feels stressed and frustrated.

He sometimes hang out with friends who encourage him to break the law.

Based on what you've learned about social, psychological, and environmental factors, what might influence Michael to commit a crime? Use specific examples from the scenario and explain how these factors could possibly influence criminal behaviour.

So pause the video, read back through the scenario, and try and work out what will influence Michael to commit a crime.

Try and use specific examples and explain how these factors could influence criminal behaviour.

Have fun.

Okay, you might have included some of the following in your answer.

We might have said, "Michael might be influenced to commit a crime due to several factors.

Socially, his friends encourage him to break the law, which could pressure him into making bad decisions to fit in.

Psychologically, Michael feels stressed and frustrated because of his family's financial difficulties, which might lead him to act impulsively or make poor choices to cope with his emotions.

Environmentally, living in a busy urban area with a lack of facilities for people his age might mean Michael lacks safe spaces to go and is often feeling bored.

He may feel like crime is his only option to escape his struggles or achieve success.

These factors combined could increase the likelihood of Michael engaging in criminal behaviour." So perhaps you picked up on some of the same influences as I did.

Well done.

Great efforts on this.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, and I would like to summarise our lesson into a few points for us.

If a citizen breaks the rules in an Act of Parliament, they commit a crime, which is an illegal act punishable by law.

In England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, people are legally responsible for their actions from the age of 10.

Anyone can potentially be a criminal.

It's the circumstances around them that may influence them and their choices.

There are three main factors that impact criminal behaviour: social, environmental, and psychological.

Social factors include influences from family, peers, education, and employment.

Environmental factors relate to your surroundings, like where you live.

Psychological factors involve how you think and react to situations.

So, remember, there are lots of reasons behind criminal behaviour, but anyone can potentially be a criminal.

Anyone can potentially commit a crime.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson as much as I have, and learned a lot about the reasons behind criminal behaviour.

I'd like to thank you for your efforts and engaging within this lesson.