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Citizenship at key stage 4    (Year 10-11)

Unit 02: Crime - young people and car crime
Section 1: What do we know about the causes and effects of crime in our community?

QCA

Objectives
Children should learn:
  • about crime and fear of crime in the local community and how crime affects young people
  • about crime statistics and how to make comparisons
  • about national government policy on crime prevention and reduction and the ways in which local authorities respond

Activities

Outcomes
Children:
  • Pupils brainstorm the types of crime they think occur most frequently in their neighbourhood. They compare their views with those of the wider local community, using local authority community safety audit results and local crime statistics. If appropriate, pupils could also compile a questionnaire and conduct their own survey of members of the school and wider community - both adults and young people.
  • Ask pupils to compare actual crime figures with statistics on fear of crime and discuss why there is a difference between them.
  • Invite a member of the Community Safety Team from the local council or a police representative to visit the school. This visitor could answer questions that pupils have been unable to resolve through their research and could support the pupils in the other activities in this section.
  • Pupils consider which crimes, in their opinion, are most likely to involve young people, either as offenders or victims. Is there a difference between crimes committed by males and those committed by females? They compare their perceptions with information provided by their expert visitor or local crime statistics. They examine the local community plan to see what actions are being taken to address these issues, and they identify what other actions the local authority is taking in response to national government policy on crime prevention and reduction.
  • Pupils could make recommendations to the local authority on how it could involve young people in addressing community safety priorities.
  • Extension activities:
    • pupils could undertake a project on ways of reducing crime or fear of crime
    • pupils could establish a Youth Action Group, perhaps involving key stage 3 pupils, or, through Primary Action, they could support a group for pupils from a primary school
  • are aware of the extent of crime in the local community and how it affects young people
  • know the reasons why fear of crime can be different from actual crime
  • know how local agencies work together to address crime and disorder and recognise that they can contribute to local targets
  • understand how the local authority responds to national government policy on crime prevention and reduction

Points to note
  • Information about local crime and fear of crime is published on local authority websites, as is the local community safety strategy or crime and disorder strategy, including information on Neighbourhood Watch. Local police can supply crime figures, and the Home Office publishes crime statistics annually in Criminal Statistics in England and Wales.
  • Information on the criminal justice system can be found at www.criminal-justice-system.gov.uk.
  • Information on Youth Action Groups (for secondary age pupils) and Primary Action (for primary age pupils) can be obtained from www.crimeconcern.org.uk.
  • Link with geography: GCSE criteria: sense of place (2.1ii); geographical patterns (3.1iv).

Sections in this unit

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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
1. What do we know about the causes and effects of crime in our community?
2. Why do young people become involved in car crime?
3. What happens to young offenders?