Monday, March 27. 2017

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

A Block Introduction to Law 9/10 - Today we will continue our look at criminal forensics by looking at how fingerprints are "lifted" at a crime scene (including what AFIS is), what the "Four T's" are for marks at a scene, how fibres are used, and what ballistics is. We'll practice a bit by getting fingerprinted. We will all get one set of fingers (and thumb) on one hand fingerprinted (our non dominant hand) by using graphite pencils and scotch tape. You will need to identify whether or not your prints are loops, arches, or whorls and then place them up on the blackboard. You will need to identify the total number of loops, arches, and whorls for each finger (and thumb) for the class (for everyone's sets of prints) and then graph the data. The graph is a comparative bar graph. For each finger (thumb, index, middle, ring & pinky) count up the total number of loops, arches, and whorls and graph that out next to each other

B Block Law 12 - Today in Law we'll start looking at arrests and warrants in Canada. Our focus will be on the options police have if they believe a suspect has committed a crime. We'll talk about appearance notices & arrests (both warrantless and warrant arrests) and we'll also talk about the duties of police officers. From the All About Law textbook:

Police officers often have to make quick decisions to save lives - their own as well as others. They have to act reasonably because they are held responsible for their conduct and behaviour when carrying out their duties. If they break the rules of police conduct, their evidence may be refused, which can result in an acquittal. In rare situations, the officers involved can be charged under criminal law or sued under civil law (Murphy, Elliott, Mete and Glass; 2009)

This is relevant due to the 2014 lack of indictment by a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, on August 9th, 2014. Lawyers for Brown's family say the teen was trying to surrender when he was shot, while Wilson's supporters say he feared for his life and opened fire in self-defense. Brown was shot at least six times. Brown was suspected of having stolen cigars from a nearby convenience store shortly before the incident. Brown and a friend had been walking down the middle of the street when Wilson approached them. The grand jury could have indicted Wilson on charges of manslaughter or murder, however they concluded there was not enough evidence to charge him.

We'll talk about the rights of police officers in connection to the Brown case and we'll work in partners on the R. v. Clayton (2007) case on page 156.

C Block Social Studies 11 - Today we will look at the four underlying causes of World War One - Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism (MAIN). You'll focus on imperialism (competing Empires on a global scale) and militarism, highlighted by the British naval escalation (HMS Dreadnought) and the massive arms development in Germany. After this you'll review the system of alliances (Triple Alliance / Triple Entente) and nationalism (Serbian "Black Hand" and Austria-Hungary control over the Balkans). To end, you'll look at the spark, Gavrillo Princip and the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia.

First World War Causes

BBC History of WW1 - Causes

Canadian War Museum - First World War

 At the end of class today, you will need to work on questions 1 & 2 from page 24 along with question 2 from page 47 in the Counterpoints textbook.

D Block Criminology 12 - Today we are off to the library for our next blog assignment and I'd like you to tell me about auto theft. I'd like you to look up information on why people steal cars, where in Canada most cars are stolen from, what types of vehicles are most commonly stolen and I'd like you to tell me how much auto theft is actually happening in Canada (rates). Then I'd like you to tell me methods of protection (how to stop your car from being stolen). The Kanetix website below lists the top vehicles stolen in Canada and check out this article on the Macleans website for the article on the top 100 cities for auto theft in Canada. CTV News Vancouver has a short video on the top 10 most wanted auto theft suspects here and the Vancouver Sun did a nice piece on Auto Theft in the Lower Mainland (including interactive maps) here. Check out this great article on a high-tech Greater Toronto Area car-theft ring here.

Crime Stoppers Bait Car website
Auto Theft Canada
Kanetix.ca Auto theft in Canada