Skip to 0 minutes and 8 seconds‘Crime’ – it seems to be everywhere doesn’t it? Read the news, and you’re reading about crime – who’s committing it, who are the victims, who it affects, how much of it there is, whether there is more than there used to be, what should be done about it, and what we should do with the people who commit it. Listen to politicians and you’ll often hear them talking about crime, about how they understand that people are worried about it and about how they are going to respond to it. So crime is obviously something that society takes seriously.
Skip to 0 minutes and 46 secondsSaying that it is criminal to do something is a big deal, because that means it is off limits to people – they can’t do it without risking bad things happening to them. And saying that somebody is a ‘criminal’ is a big deal too. When somebody is a ‘criminal’ we are saying that they have chosen to do something which leaves them open to being punished – by society. So, ‘criminal’ is a label which we have to use carefully. That means that the processes which we use to determine whether something is a crime and whether somebody is a criminal are very important. They deserve scrutiny.
Skip to 1 minute and 20 secondsJoin us as we look at what crime means, and how the criminal justice process in England and Wales deals with it. We will track the journey of an allegation of criminal behaviour through the system. In doing so, we’ll look at some key institutions, processes and people which make up the system and learn about how they work. Crime is everybody’s business; and so how it is dealt with is everybody’s business. And how it is dealt with can be controversial – and we think that’s one of the things which makes it interesting. Join us and see what you think.