Wednesday, September 16. 2020

 Today's classes are: 

9:15 - 11:50 A Block Criminology

12:30 - 3:05  D Block Social and Environmental Sciences

A Block Criminology - To start the class, we'll watch a really cool video on the roots of violence from NOVA called Inside the Mind of a Rampage Killer...

What makes a person walk into a theater or a church or a classroom full of students and open fire? What combination of circumstances compels a human being to commit the most inhuman of crimes? Can science in any way help us understand these horrific events and provide any clues as to how to prevent them in the future? As the nation tries to understand the tragic events at Newtown, NOVA correspondent Miles O’Brien separates fact from fiction, investigating new theories that the most destructive rampage killers are driven most of all, not by the urge to kill, but the wish to die. Could suicide–and the desire to go out in a media-fueled blaze of glory–be the main motivation? How much can science tell us about the violent brain?  Most importantly, can we recognize dangerous minds in time—and stop the next Newtown?

 

After we discuss what we've seen with the nature/nurture concept, we'll look at the difference between deviance and criminal behaviour (acts that are criminal but not deviant and deviant but not criminal). What is deviant behaviour? A simple explanation of deviant behaviour could be any action that violates cultural norms (formal norms like laws - or informal norms like nose picking). This is a difficult concept because what an individual or sub culture in society defines as deviant is contextually situated (meaning what I think is deviant may be different for you; it is subjective - influenced by personal considerations).

 
Take smoking in public. You may think that this behaviour is acceptable because an individual has the choice to consume a cigarette and they are merely harming themselves...no problem right? You may, however, think this behaviour is unacceptable. Second-hand smoke is hurtful to others because they could be harmed by someone else's behaviour. So what is deviant in many cases is subjective. What is criminal is the codification of what a society as a whole deems as deviant. Homicide is criminal because as a society we believe that taking another life is unacceptable and deviates from the accepted cultural norm that we wish our country to be like.

So using the text and your brains you need to come up with a list of things that are deviant but not criminal and a list of things that are criminal but not deviant. After you'll need to take one act from either list and explain why it should be criminalized or why it should be decriminalized. This should be based on an evaluation of harm...in other words how deviant or not is the action? If the action would cause great social harm then perhaps we should criminalize that behaviour. If the action causes minimal social harm then perhaps we should decriminalize that behaviour.

This will help us understand the Conflict, Interactionist and Consensus views on crime.

BC Open School Intro Sociology text Chapter 7
Relationship between Deviance and Crime (Jlaw)
Cliff Notes Theories of Deviance

Don't forget for Monday, you need to create your own theory of why crime happens. You can use the handouts I've given you and the following sites for help:

Theories and causes of crime (Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research)
Theories of the Causes of Crime (New Zealand Ministry of Justice)
Criminology Theories (Criminal Justice)
Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, Application (Oxford University Press Student Study Guide)

D Block Social and Environmental Sciences - Yesterday we started our look at worldviews and ecological value systems along with environmental assessment. Today, to start, we go outside. We are going to do an inventory and analysis field study of Towhee Creek, an intermittent or seasonal stream that flows between the Comox Valley Sports Centre and G.P. Vanier, through the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds to the Tsolum River.

Intermittent streams have flowing water periods during the wet season (winter-spring) but are normally dry during hot summer months. Ephemeral streams have less flow than intermittent streams, are typically shallow, and have flowing water for brief periods in response to rainfall. So Towhee Creek is an Intermittent, rather than an Ephemeral stream. Towhee Creek is important due to superior capacity for nutrient spiralling and fish habitat (particularly Coho and trout) providing winter habitat for Tsolum River salmon populations in the watershed. The headwaters of Towhee Creek is a rare 5.53 hectare Garry oak woodland behind G.P. Vanier Secondary School. This protected Garry oak woodland is a remnant of the most northern ecosystem of its kind in Canada. It also hosts a variety of unusual vegetation species.

The first part of the morning sees us look at the headwaters through to mid stream and tomorrow sees us look at the lower portions of the stream through the Exhibition grounds to the riparian second growth forests along the Tsolum River.

FMI Check out the SD 71 - Vanier Oak Property Ecological Assessment and Protection Plan  from Current Environmental, Raincoast Applied Ecology, and MDI Design Inc

When we're back in class...Yesterday Young asked you "So, what is your belief on environmental issues? What do you believe in and why?" Today we're going to start with this. An Environmental Value System helps to explain how a person sees or values environmental issues. An EVS is influenced by many factors including (but not limited to): culture, economics and socio-politics. Your job, the idea of accumulating wealth, your community, the social network of friends you belong to, schooling, the media you consume and your political beliefs all affect how you see or value environmental issues. So today I would like you to identify what your perspectives and beliefs are on environmental issues. To do this we'll take the New Ecological Paradigm questionnaire.

For each of the following 15 statements please indicate whether you strongly agree (SA), agree (A), are unsure (U), disagree (D), or strongly disagree (SD)

1.  We are approaching the limit of the number of people the Earth can support.   
2.  Humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. 
3.  When humans interfere with nature it often produces disastrous consequences. 
4.  Human ingenuity will insure that we do not make the Earth unlivable. 
5.  Humans are seriously abusing the environment. 
6. The Earth has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them. 
7.  Plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist. 
8. The balance of nature is strong enough to cope with the impacts of modern industrial nations. 
9.  Despite our special abilities, humans are still subject to the laws of nature. 
10. The so-called “ecological crisis” facing humankind has been greatly exaggerated. 
11. The Earth is like a spaceship with very limited room and resources. 
12.  Humans were meant to rule over the rest of nature. 
13. The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset. 
14.  Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works to be able to control it. 
15.  If things continue on their present course, we will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe

1/6/11 are about limits to growth; 2/7/12 are about anthropocentrism; 3/8/13 are about the fragility of nature's balance; 4/9/14 are about human exemptionaslism; and 5/10/15 are about the possibility of an ecological crisis. The seven even numbered items, if agreed to by a respondent, are meant to represent statements endorsed by the dominant social paradigm (DSP). The eight odd items, if agreed to by a respondent, are meant to reflect endorsement of the new environmental paradigm (NEP).

So, the NEP favoured responses show a tendency towards Ecocentrism, or a nature-centered worldview/paradigm. The DSP favoured responses show a tendency towards Anthropocentrism, or people-centered, and Technocentrism, or technology-centered, worldview/paradigm.