Behind the Crime

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Factual: Crime & Justice

Is it possible to prevent crime by understanding the root causes of offending behaviour?

Two forensic psychologists talk to people who have received court sentences for their crimes to understand what drove them to offend, and crucially, what might help them change.

As a society, we send close to 100,000 people to prison each year. Criminal behaviour costs the country around £60 billion every year, according to Home Office research. 

Is it possible to prevent crime by understanding the root causes of offending behaviour?

Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons.

Their role is to help people in prison to look at the harm they've caused to other people, understand why it happened and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they've been released.

In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand the life of someone whose crimes have led to harm and, in some cases, imprisonment.

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Behind the Crime: Behind the Crime: Khamran

Behind the Crime: Khamran

BBC Radio 4 - Behind the Crime, Behind the Crime: Khamran

Two forensic psychologists interview Khamran about his life and the crimes he committed.

Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken, two forensic psychologists working in prisons, interview people who have committed offences to understand their lives and the causes of crime.

As a society, we send close to 100,000 people to prison each year. Criminal behaviour costs the country around £60 billion every year, according to Home Office research. 

Is it possible to prevent crime by understanding the root causes of offending behaviour?

Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons.

Their role is to help people in prison to look at the harm they’ve caused to other people, understand why it happened and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.

In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand the life of someone whose crimes have led to harm and, in some cases, imprisonment.

In this second episode they talk to Khamran, who received a prison sentence as a teenager for a series of aggravated robberies.

Khamran was a boy who learned at school that putting on a cocky attitude was a way of deflecting some of the racist taunts and bullying that came his way. Sally and Kerensa get behind that front to discover what was really making Khamran tick. They pick up the key moments that could have changed the course of his life, and the lives of his victims.

The job of the forensic psychologists is to dig deep into Khamran’s story, to understand the sequence of external influences that got Khamran to the point where he was causing harm to himself, to others and to society as a whole.

Today, Khamran is married with a child and studying business alongside working part-time. 

For details of organisations that can provide help and support, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline

Producer: Andrew Wilkie
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Behind the Crime is a co-production between BBC Long Form Audio and the Prison Radio Association.

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