Wednesday, March 8. 2017

Today's schedule is B-A-D-C and we have a diversity assembly today so the block times look like this:

B - 9:20-10:20
A - 10:25-11:25
Assembly - 11:30-12:30
Lunch - 12:30 - 1:15
D - 1:15 - 2:15
C - 2:20 - 3:20

B Block Law 12 - Today we'll review the elements of a crime (with special attention focused on the Mens Rea - intent, knowledge, and recklessness). Actus Reus and Mens Rea come from Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea which is Latin for “the act will not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty.” I'll have you look at the R. v. Parks (1992) case and I'll have you and a partner work on the case questions (1-4) together. After I'll get you to look at the R. v. Williams (2003) case. In terms of the Williams case, another example of an HIV related aggravated sexual assault case involved former CFL athlete Trevis Smith. A review of the decision (sentenced to five and a half years in 2007 and was paroled in 2010) can be found here at CBC News. In terms of Willful Blindness, because of the Sansregret case, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the concepts of recklessness and willful blindness are not the same and that it is wise to keep the two concepts separate. The court then defined each concept as follows (Stuart: 211):

• Recklessness involves knowledge of a danger or risk and persistence in a course of conduct which creates a risk that the prohibited result will occur,
• Willful blindness arises where a person who has become aware of the need for some inquiry declines to make the inquiry because he does not wish to know the truth.

You'll need to work on the Review Your Understanding questions 1-5 on page 130 in the law textbook.

A Block Introduction to Law 9/10 - Today we will go to the library to begin our work on our case study project. An excellent on line resource that you can use is Forensic Magazine - Check out the "Learn" or "Topics" tab on the top tab. Click on the magazine logo below to go to the website.



You will need to imagine that you are a constable in the Comox Valley R.C.M.P. detachment specializing in criminalistics and crime scene analysis. You are going to create a crime scene dossier file that you would normally put together for the Crown Counsel. You have been called out to a crime scene here in the Comox Valley and when you arrive at the scene you need to begin your narrative report. What do you need to do?

•Create a crime (ex: murder, arson, kidnapping, assault)
•Choose eight pieces of evidence (from the list below) that you would find at the crime scene and either help you solve the crime or mislead the investigators
•Create a victim, a perpetrator, two other potential subjects, & witnesses (not necessary)
•Create a dossier file that contains the following: a walk through narrative; pictures of the eight pieces of evidence (with a description, a tag number, and an explanation of where it was found); a detailed crime scene diagram/sketch with pictures of what the crime scene looked like and the identification of evidence; forensics lab sheets for each piece of evidence that describes the evidence and explains what the evidence tells you; transcripts of any interviews conducted by investigators (including potential eyewitnesses or suspects); a narrative of how you "solved" the crime so that the Crown Counsel can move forward with laying charges and proceed to trial.

FMI look at yesterday's blog entry.

D  Block Criminology 12 - I'd like to share the CBC DocZone Documentary "Sext Up Kids" with you. The documentary exposes how growing up in a hyper-sexualized culture hurts our kids and sends the wrong messages that could potentially lead to sexual assaults. From the CBC site:

From tiny tots strutting bikini-clad bodies in beauty pageants to companies marketing itty-bitty thongs and padded bras to 9-year olds, images of ever-younger sexualized girls have become commonplace.  Add to that: ever-younger boys with 24-7 access to hard-core internet porn.   It saturates their lives - from skate parks to the school bus – by the time they’re eighteen, 80 percent of boys are watching porn online.

So we'll watch the documentary and use information from it to help with our blog entry from Monday.
After I'd like you to focus on two questions: one on Groth's typology of rapist and the other on the causes for sexual assault.

1. Explain the three types of rapist according to Groth (anger, power, and sadistic)
2. Identify and explain the causes for sexual assault

C Block Social Studies 11 - Today you'll have time to work in partners on two Charter case studies from the All About Law texts in the class...R. v. Keegstra (1990) SCC questions 1-6 from pages 38 & 39 and Irwin Toy Limited v. Attorney General of Quebec (1989) SCC questions 1-7 (however don't do 5b) on pages 45 & 46. Government section done! Test tomorrow. If done...prep.