Tuesday, November 26. 2013

Today's schedule is C-AG-D-A-B

C Block Crime, Media and Society 12 - Today we'll begin the 48 Hours Mystery episode on the Highway of Tears. From CBS: Since 1969, at least 18 women have gone missing or have been murdered along Canada's infamous Highway 16. Locals call it "The Highway of Tears." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Highway of Tears task force, Project E-PANA, consists of 13 homicide investigations and five missing people s investigations. So we'll watch the episode and then I have a few things I'd like to talk with you about...

OK so after we watch the episode I'd like to talk about the story CBS chose to tell. What crimes the media choose to cover and how they cover those crimes can influence the public’s perception of crime. Editors and assignment editors make complex decisions about what crime stories they will cover (or not) and what the headline will be. Journalists and reporters, in partnership with their assignment desks and producers decide what information about those crimes they will include or leave out, what experts they may go to for input, what quotes from that expert they will include, and where in the story these facts and quotes appear.

1. What story do you think Investigative Reporters Bob Friel and Peter Van Zant wanted to tell and what role did producer Paul Larosa, field producer Ryan Smith, along with editors Ken Blum, Bob Orozovich and Gary Winter play in crafting the story?

2. Why did they focus the first part of the story on Madison Scott? Why did they then tell the story of Loren Leslie? Consider the follwoing post on the CBS News 48 Hours website about the showing of the Highway of Tears:

by RememberStolenSisters November 18, 2012 7:37 PM EST

I am stunned that there wasn't even a mention of the fact that the majority of victims along the Highway of Tears have been young Native women, and saddened that the was no connection made to the over 580 missing and murdered Native women in Canada, referred to here as the Stolen Sisters. I understand that wasn't the focus of this program, but to not even mention it feels incredibly wrong. You have not given the American public an accurate picture of what's going on up here, where young Aboriginal women are 5 times more likely to die a violent death than other women of the same age and more than twice as likely to be killed by a stranger than women of other races. There's a story you should cover.

3. Lastly, Why did the reporters, producers and editors to"frame" the story in the way they did?

D Block Law 12 - You will need to answer the following questions I gave you yesterday:

1. Define: absolute discharge, conditional discharge, probation, mitigating circumstances, aggravating circumstances, suspended sentence, concurrent sentence, consecutive sentence, intermittent sentence, indeterminate sentence, parole, day parole, statutory release, pardon, restorative justice, sentencing circle, closed custody, and open custody
2. Questions: page 298 Review Your Understanding questions 2 & 3; page 301 Review Your Understanding question 1; page 309 Review Your Understanding question 5; page 314 Review Your Understanding question 1; and page 315 Review Your Understanding questions 1, 2, and 3

When you're done, check the mark list to see if you've handed in all of your work; if not then you should complete what you've not finished yet.


A Block Criminology 12 - Today we'll start with our first quiz in the course; good luck. After the quiz, we'll crime trends and then we'll talk about the disparity (difference) between the public perception of violent crime and the actual rates of violent crime in Canada...hint take a look to the left. The crime data indicate that rates have declined significantly in the past few years and are now far less than they were a decade ago. Suspected causes for the crime rate drop include an increasing prison population, more police on the street, the end of the crack epidemic and the age structure of society. The data sources show relatively stable patterns in the crime rate. Ecological patterns show that crime varies by season and by urban versus rural environment, however there is evidence of gender patterns in the crime rate: Men commit more crime than women. Age is one of the largest influences on crime; young people commit more crime than the elderly (and there are fewer young people in society). Crime data show that people commit less crime as they age, but the significance and cause of this pattern are still not completely understood. Similarly, racial and class patterns appear in the crime rate. However, it is still unclear whether these are true differences or a function of discriminatory law enforcement. Today I'll have you work on three questions about crime trends:

1. Using pages 37 to 46 in the CRIM textbook outline and explain the crime patterns in relation to ecology, firearms, social class, age, gender and race.
2. What is a chronic offender and what is the significance of Marvin Wolfgang's discovery (why is identifying the chronic offender important)?
3. How would you explain the gender differences in the crime rate (why do you think males are more violent than females)? 

B Block Social Studies 10 - Today I'll have you read through “The Métis Move North and West” on pages 169-173 of the Horizons text. After you'll need to work through the “Analysis: Viewpoints in Conflict” handout (on the conflict between magistrate Clarke and the laws of St. Laurent) and complete questions 1-3 on page 173 of the text. NOTE: For question 3, you don’t need to work in partners I just want you to answer “What contributed the most to the Métis’ loss of land and political power in Manitoba and the North-West Territories”?