Random children from some of the schools were then chosen to take part in the series being quizzed on crime by Ross on such topics as theft, drugs, alcohol and many other things.

The first programme (BBC One 9pm Tuesday 21 July 2009) looked at violent crime and revealed that almost all woundings involved victims who had been drinking or who had been assaulted by someone who was drunk, and took place close to a licensed premise.

Helmet cameras were shown and Spencer Chainey of the Jill Dando Institute at University College London described crime mapping, which uses geographic information systems.

The second in the series (Tuesday 28 July) explored the nature of acquisitive crime and proposed solutions to burglary, car theft and fraud.

Ross implied that society needs to accept human nature for what it is and focus less on how to penalise criminals and more on taking sensible precautions with tempting valuables.

A shoplifter who was caught by CCTV in a shop, stealing a £10 set of headphones, turned out to be a 19-year-old Polish immigrant who possessed no ID.

Household scams, of a ruthless and targeted similar nature, usually involved elderly people who would be cajoled into paying astronomical prices for unnecessary repair work done on their property.

Since crime peaked in the 1990s homeowners have halved burglary rates by locking their doors and windows, retailers and tackled shoplifting by guarding their open shelves with security devices, and vehicle manufacturers have made cars so difficult to steal that auto-crime is now largely confined to old bangers.

It was found that improved styles of architecture for estate housing and lit thoroughfares can reduce anti-social crime significantly.