Tutor Notes
Front Page (1): The front page contains information useful for introducing the
pack to a young person or for information needed in the completion of
intervention plans/reports. There is room at the bottom of the page to write the
young person’s name or initials.
Notes on Kleptomania: Look out for a young person claiming this or potentially a
diagnosis; signs of this are uncontrollable urges to commit thefts with a relief
occurring following a theft. It is closely associated with obsessive compulsive
behaviours and therefore may be mixed with other issues such as gambling and
substance use, unfortunately it becomes hard to disentangle which is the cause
and which is the effect. Other key attribute of kleptomania is that the thefts will
not be of items that are of use or monetary value to the perpetrator, it may also
be a case that it is ‘out of character’ in that the stealing is at odds with an
otherwise pro-social and upstanding lifestyle.
Page 2: Types of Theft Offence:
This page looks at the range of different acquisitive crimes there are, ask the
young person to use the pictures in assisting them to name all of the different
types of theft offences. Below is a more extensive list of the different types.
Aggravated Vehicle Taking, Being Carried, Theft of a
Motor Vehicle, Theft from a Motor Vehicle and
Unauthorised Vehicle Taking (TWOC/TADA).
Robbery, Attempted Robbery and Armed Robbery.
Burglary in a Dwelling, Burglary with Intent, Burglary
in a Non-Dwelling, Burglary with Intent of a Dwelling
and Aggravated Burglary.
Fraud Offences
Blackmail Offences
Handling Stolen Goods, Receiving Stolen Goods,
Undertaking Or Assisting In The Retention,
Removal,
Disposal Or
Realisation Of
Stolen Goods, Or
Arranging To Do
So, Theft by
Finding and
Making off
without Payment.
Theft, Theft from a Person, Theft from a Shop or Stall,
Theft in a Dwelling and Theft of a Pedal Cycle.
Piracy/Copyright Offences
The aim of the page is to ensure the young person understands the range of different acquisitive crimes, how they
are differentiated by what, where and how something is stolen.
Page 3: Reasons for Thefts
Ask the young person what reasons someone might have for stealing/committing
a theft offence, get them to brainstorm these around the question. A selection of
potential answers with explanations are listed below.
Money/Debt – A need for money to pay debts or to purchase goods or services
that are not necessarily essential.
Accidental/Borrowed – Unknowingly taking something or having the intention to
return something.
Not viewed as a crime – Similar to above, but potentially not recognising it as an
offence such as a theft by finding or possibly copyright/piracy offences.
Misguided Righteousness – A belief that what they are doing is noble, that the
theft is the morally right thing.
Blackmail/Blackmailed – Either stealing something to blackmail someone or
being blackmailed into doing something.
To Order – The theft is for financial gain, but the item being stolen is already purchased by someone or has been
identified by another party.
Useful Item – The item being taken is specifically needed by the perpetrator.
Thrill/Buzz/Rush – The person enjoys the adrenaline release and subsequent effects when committing the offence.
Impulsive/Urge – A compulsion to take something, difficult to resist or control.
Revenge/Anger – The theft is committed with the aim of hurting the victim.
A good deal/Naivety –Sold something below its value and unknowing that the item is stolen.
To fit in – Gain acceptance or admiration from a group.
Test/See if you can – Curiosity regarding the ability to do something.
The next question is whether a particular type of offence may be done for particular reasons that are different to the
others; the reason for this question is to begin exploring attitudes in relation to different types of acquisitive crime,
the aim of this question is to be able to address the young person’s reasons for offending in future exercises, in
particular the changing thoughts to change behaviours exercise, as a general rule any of the different types of
offence could be committed for any of the varying reasons with no specific reason attached to a specific type of
theft, however by exploring this with the young person we can get an idea of how they may view different theft
offences and what they see as potentially justifiable reasons for committing an offence. The final question asks the
young person to select (using the work on the previous pages) the reasons for
their theft offence.
Page 4: Does it Matter **USE CUT OUT MATERIALS AND ONE VALUE OF REAL
MONEY**
The purpose of this page is two-fold, to continue to build a picture of the young
person’s attitudes in relation to theft, the questions can be probed and explored
and their answers utilised during the exercise on page 6 and also can be used
when completing ‘the perfect theft’ exercise in the final page.
The other purpose of this exercise is as a lead in to the following page and the
idea of ‘trust’. (Next page for explanation)
** This page requires a £1 coin or £10 note!
‘Does it matter how much?’ is the first question, place increasing values of
money (£1, £10 (one of which is real) and a picture denoting £100) on the
table in front of the young person ask them if it matters what value is taken
from someone by means of deception or theft.
** Leave the money on the table as you move on to the next question, does it
matter who from, place pictures relating to different people on the table,
again discuss if the person being stolen from or deceived matters.
**Leave all pictures on the table as you then ask if the reason for the theft is important, again place pictures relating
to 3 reasons on the table, discuss if any of the reasons justify the theft.
Sum up this exercise, discuss the choices they have made, there will be 3 answers which if placed together should
add up to what the young person views as the most acceptable circumstances for a theft, look at this combination
and ask questions probing the problems if this theft was seen as acceptable and not an offence.
**IMPORTANT** explain that on the next page there will be some videos, note that you have forgotten to bring
speakers or something that requires you to leave the room for a minute, at this point, look at the young person,
glance between them and the money on the table a couple of times before then picking the money up and only
the real money before leaving the room.
Page 5: Trust and Shopwatch **Square cut piece of kitchen foil attached over
bottom half of page**
Hopefully the young person will challenge you about taking the money off the
table as you go to leave, that leads you perfectly in to the discussion topic on this
page which is Trust, otherwise ask them the top question from the page ‘what
were you thinking…’, give the young person the piece of foil paper (TRUST prewritten in the centre of the piece of foil), ask the young person the questions on
the sheet and they must answer them on the foil paper using a marker pen.
At the conclusion as the young person to scrunch the foil up into a ball, explain
that trust is like a reflective surface, once it has been broken or lost, even if
repaired it will never be the same and the times in which it has been broken are
always remembered. Ask the young person to unwrap the ball of foil and get it as
flat and like it was as possible, their answers and the word trust will no longer be
a reflective surface like before.
The picture on the bottom half of the page is an explanation of the shopwatch
scheme in Darlington, in which all stores that subscribe to the scheme are linked
and share information on people who have stolen from them and when a person
is banned from one shop they can be banned from them all, this section is to
highlight a specific consequence related to acquisitive offending from shops.
Page 6: ‘Justification’ examples for use in Twisted Thinking Exercise…
On this page we will explore potential ‘reasons’ for thefts and the way in which
someone may justify their actions. Based on the reasons the young person gave in
the previous exercises (why why why commit a theft and the does it matter) we
will complete the ‘CBT Brain’ Exercise exploring the way in which particular
thoughts may have re-enforced their behaviour and made it happen. This session
requires planning and the thoughts used need to be as relevant and linked to the young person as possible. A
selection of possible thoughts to use includes;
Money, Debt
“Need it more than them”
“If I didn’t do it… then… would
happen”
“I had to do it”
“I was helping my family/friend
out”
“It is a job”
“Finders Keepers”
“It was a brilliant deal”
“Starving”
“I had no money”
“There is no way to get money
legitimately”
“My benefits were stopped”
Accidental/’Borrowed’
“Will give it back”
“They weren’t using it”
“They’ll have loads of them”
“I didn’t know I’d took it”
“I didn’t know it was stolen”
Misguided Righteousness
“They deserved it”
“They don’t deserve it”
“My benefits were stopped”
“There is no way to get money
legitimately”
“Everyone else has done it”
“Not hurting anyone”
“They’re insured”
“They make millions”
Not viewed as a crime
“They weren’t using it”
“They make millions”
“They’ll have loads of them”
“It is a job”
“I’m good at it”
“Finders Keepers”
“They’re insured”
“Not hurting anyone”
“They shouldn’t have lost it”
“It was mine!”
“They left it on show”
“Everyone else has done it”
“I didn’t know it was stolen”
Blackmail/Blackmailed
“If I didn’t do it… then… would
happen”
“I had to do it”
“I was helping my family/friend
out”
“They deserved it”
“This will help me”
To Order
“It is a job”
“I’m good at it”
Useful Item
“Will give it back”
“They’ll have loads of them”
“They left it on show”
“I didn’t know it was stolen”
“Starving”
“They don’t deserve it”
Thrill/Buzz/Rush
“I’m good at it”
“I was bored”
“Needed some excitement”
“This will help me”
“I enjoy the feeling”
To Fit in
“If I didn’t do it… then… would
happen”
“I had to do it”
“Everyone else has done it”
“This will make me look good”
“This will help me”
Impulsive/Urge – Stress
“I had to do it”
“I couldn’t help myself”
“I was bored”
“Needed some excitement”
“Starving”
“They aren’t protecting it”
“They aren’t stopping me”
Revenge/Anger
“I was helping my family/friend
out”
“They deserved it”
“They left it on show”
“It was mine!”
“They aren’t stopping me”
A good deal/Naivety
“It was a brilliant deal”
“I didn’t know it was stolen”
“Finders Keepers”
“They shouldn’t have lost it”
“Not hurting anyone”
Write these down on individual pieces of coloured paper, preferably pink/red and place inside a container. Label this
container “X’s Brain” or “Your Brain” (if you don’t want to make one each time you complete the exercise). This is to
represent the thoughts held by the Young Person regarding their theft. **Additional** If possible identify one of the
thoughts which will have been a particular pull on the young person’s behaviour, secure this piece of paper to the
bottom of the container using tape/blue tack. The session will also require a blank piece of paper in another colour
(Blue/Green).
Explain that in the session the young person is going to dip into their brain to remove
thoughts which have led to a particular behaviour and replace them with thoughts that
would have led to a better outcome.
The young person must remove the red thoughts and replace each one with a thought
which will have stopped the behaviour or led to a different more productive behaviour.
This is done until all of the negative thoughts are removed.
Ask the young person what actions the negative thoughts will have led to and subsequently
what the outcomes will have been for them, then ask what actions the new thoughts might
lead to and compare the resulting outcomes.
**Additional** the original outcome could be wrote out and placed next to the ‘brain’
container at the outset.
When the young person has generated the new thoughts an alternative outcome could be wrote out and the
benefits/negative consequences of the new action could be wrote at the bottom of the sheet.
The aim of the exercise is to explore how important our thoughts are in relation to our behaviour and how thinking
in set ways will lead to particular outcomes.
Page 7: Victim Impact and Ripple Effect
This page is a standard ripple effect exercise, the young person must identify the
different people affected by the theft, placed them closer to the middle if they
feel they were more affected and also indicated how they were affected using the
4 categories at the bottom of the page.
*Interactive Alternative* Compile the list of people affected and place their names
on pieces of paper, the young person must draw these out and are then asked a
series of restorative style questions aimed at eliciting the potential effects of the
offence on them.
**Interactive Alternative** As well as doing the above, turn the entire room in
which the session is being completed into the ripple effect by getting them to
place the names of each person around the room in relation to a piece of card in
the centre which will have ‘the offence’ written on it.
The aim of this exercise is to highlight the scale of the people affected and the different ways they were affected.
Page 8: The ‘perfect theft’
The final exercise is to highlight the repetitive nature of an offence such as theft,
particularly if someone is not held accountable for their actions. Very simply talk
through the questions on the page, bulk the questions out and build it into a story
rather than simple one word answers, so use open questions to get more
information. The aim is to highlight that no matter what is taken for a specific
reason, that reason will re-occur and therefore the behaviour (theft) will also reoccur (this will be the same for every ‘reason’ for offending).
The page sums up with an explanation of how if someone is not caught for an
offence, they will repeat the behaviour because they only got something positive
from it. At this point you can also use the previous page to highlight that if
someone has got away with an offence before they will have still affected the
majority of people on the ‘victim impact’ diagram despite them not being caught.
Thank the young person for completing the pack and score it out of 10.