Room 611: Monday, May 1. 2023

Today's schedule is ABCD

A Block Legal Studies - We'll turn our attention today on violent crimes - specifically the categories of homicide in Canada. We'll learn the difference between culpable and non-culpable homicide and examine the levels of murder (first and second degree) as well as manslaughter (voluntary and involuntary)…all done through an interpretive play involving my swivel chair, the floor and possibly a garbage can.

R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46

229 Culpable homicide is murder

(a) where the person who causes the death of a human being

(i) means to cause his death, or
(ii) means to cause him bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause his death, and is reckless whether death ensues or not;

(b) where a person, meaning to cause death to a human being or meaning to cause him bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause his death, and being reckless whether death ensues or not, by accident or mistake causes death to another human being, notwithstanding that he does not mean to cause death or bodily harm to that human being; or

(c) if a person, for an unlawful object, does anything that they know is likely to cause death, and by doing so causes the death of a human being, even if they desire to effect their object without causing death or bodily harm to any human being.

231 (1) Murder is first degree murder or second degree murder.

(2) Murder is first degree murder when it is planned and deliberate.

(3) Contracted Murder is Murder in the First Degree

(4) Murder of peace officer is Murder in the First Degree

(5) Murder while Hijacking, sexual assault or kidnapping is Murder in the First Degree

(7) All murder that is not first degree murder is second degree murder.

232 (1) Culpable homicide that otherwise would be murder may be reduced to manslaughter if the person who committed it did so in the heat of passion caused by sudden provocation.

233 A female person commits infanticide when by a willful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child

234 Culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide is manslaughter.

There is a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment for being convicted of either first degree or second-degree murder. For first degree murder, life imprisonment comes with no possibility of parole for 25 years. For second degree murder, life imprisonment comes with no possibility of parole for a minimum of 10 years. There is no minimum punishment for manslaughter, meaning that it carries a very wide sentencing range. If a firearm is used, however, a mandatory minimum punishment of four years is in effect. Otherwise, there is only the maximum, which is imprisonment for life.

In 2021 there were 788 homicides in Canada, 29 more than 2020. The national homicide rate increased 3% from 2.00 homicides per 100,000 population in 2020, to 2.06 homicides per 100,000 population in 2021. Police-reported 190 Indigenous victims of homicide, 18 fewer than in 2020. Despite the decrease, the rate of homicide for Indigenous peoples (9.17 per 100,000 population) was approximately 6 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people (1.55 per 100,000 population). The rate of homicide for individuals identified by police as persons of a group designated as racialized increased 34% in 2021 to 2.51 homicides per 100,000 population. This rate was higher than for victims identified as belonging to the rest of the population (1.81 homicides per 100,000 population). In 2021, four in ten (41%) homicides were firearm-related. The firearm was recovered in 29% of firearm-related homicides. Of the 297 firearm-related homicides that occurred in 2021, almost half (46%) were considered by police to be gang-related.

Saskatchewan's homicide rate is once again the highest of all provinces. Saskatchewan accounted for 70 of the 788 homicides reported nationally, for a rate of 5.93 homicides per 100,000 people - the highest of all provinces and more than double the national rate. In 2021, Regina recorded the highest homicide rate among 35 census metropolitan areas: 15 homicides for a homicide rate of 5.67 homicides per 100,000 people. Thunder Bay, Ont., came next with a rate of 5.63 while Winnipeg, Man., finished at 5.39.

What factors might explain these high homicide rates?
Do any of these statistics surprise you?

We'll finish the morning by looking at R. v. Nette (2001) and answer questions 1-4 on the case together. In terms of the Nette case and causation the citation states:

A 95-year-old widow who lived alone was robbed and left bound with electrical wire on her bed with a garment around her head and neck. Sometime during the next 48 hours, she died from asphyxiation. During an RCMP undercover operation, the accused told a police officer that he had been involved in the robbery and death. The accused was charged with first degree murder under s. 231(5) of the Criminal Code -- murder while committing the offence of unlawful confinement -- and tried before a judge and jury. At trial, he claimed that he had fabricated the admission. He testified that he had gone alone to the victim’s house only with intent to break and enter, that the back door to the house was open as though someone already had broken into the home, and that he left after finding the victim already dead in her bedroom. The trial judge charged the jury on manslaughter, second degree murder and first degree murder under s. 231(5) of the Code. In response to a request from the jury that he clarify the elements of first degree murder and the “substantial cause” test, the trial judge essentially reiterated his charge. Overall, he charged that the standard of causation for manslaughter and second degree murder was that the accused’s actions must have been “more than a trivial cause” of the victim’s death while, for first degree murder under s. 231(5), the accused’s actions also must have been a “substantial cause” of her death. On two occasions, however, once in the main charge and once in the re-charge, he described the standard of causation for second degree murder as “the slight or trivial cause necessary to find second degree murder” instead of “more than a trivial cause”. The jury found the accused guilty of second degree murder and the Court of Appeal upheld that verdict. The only ground of appeal both before the Court of Appeal and this Court concerned the test of causation applicable to second degree murder.

The Nette case deals with "causation" and murder which helps with questions 3-4-5 on p. 221 that I'll have you work on for me.

B Block Criminology - Today, in the learning commons, I'll have you watch the first eight sections of the movie "The Corporation". Please do not forget that the documentary is an opinion piece...it is trying to persuade you that a corporation acts like a psychopath. Not all business is bad but we do need to understand the "corporate view" of white collar criminal activity. What is it that makes a successful business person and what kind of ethical behaviour is valued by corporate culture? You will need to work on the following questions on your blog site:

Is it fair to blame a single executive for the activities of a company that has thousands of employees?

Can Corporations Commit Murder? If a corporation is considered as a person in law (as it is in the US) who can be held liable (responsible) if a corporation kills people?

Recall 10 or more brands, their logos, their jingles, slogans, and any memory of the product (think Nike = swoosh = "just do it"). Do you know who owns the brand? What is your perception of this "brand"? Has the company/corporation committed any business legal violations? If so, for what? Does this change your perception of the brand?

The documentary raises important questions about ethics and personal responsibility. One of the fundamental messages in the film is that corporations are irresponsible because in an attempt to satisfy corporate goals, everyone else is put at risk. To what extent is a person responsible for what they do even when within a company? Is a person morally culpable for their actions when satisfying the goal of profit within a corporation? Why or why not?

For more on the movie go to the official site here

From the Business Ethics Forum blog site:

An outstanding in-depth article on the Value of Corporate Values can be found in an article by Reggie Van Lee, Lisa Fabish, and Nancy McGaw in this month's S+B. Based on a survey at 365 companies in 30 countries, the authors claim "increasingly, companies around the world have adopted formal statements of corporate values, and senior executives now routinely identify ethical behavior, honesty, integrity, and social concerns as top issues on their companies’ agendas". The highlights of the survey and article are:

A large number of companies are making their values explicit. That’s a change — quite a significant change — from corporate practices 10 years ago. The ramifications of this shift are just beginning to be understood.

Ethical behavior is a core component of company activities.

Most companies believe values influence two important strategic areas — relationships and reputation — but do not see the direct link to growth.

Most companies are not measuring their “ROV.”

Top performers consciously connect values and operations.

Values practices vary significantly by (continental) region.

The CEO’s tone really matters.

The article provides quantitative data about these 7 findings and concludes with "A commitment to corporate values may be in vogue, but the public will remain suspicious until corporations both understand and can demonstrate that they are committed to using values to create value". What we are looking at is what makes people abuse the public trust in corporations.

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll look at the key question, "Why Is English Related to Other Languages"? English is part of the Indo-European language family. A language family is a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history. Indo-European is divided into eight branches. Four of the branches—Indo-Iranian, Romance, Germanic, and Balto-Slavic—are spoken by large numbers of people while the four less extensively used Indo-European language branches are Albanian, Armenian, Greek, and Celtic. English is part of the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.

And to help you with language diffusion for Indo-European languages (remember the question about the nomadic warrior and sedentary farmer hypotheses?)

You have two charts to fill in a three questions to work on for me today and tomorrow.

D Block Physical Geography - Today we'll focus on coastal processes and land forms. We will look at how water erodes, shapes, and creates coastal landscapes by focusing on long shore current & drift.

We'll analyze the differences between an erosional coastline

and a depositional coastline

We'll try to make sense of the hazards of living along depositional coastlines (think Cape Hatteras, North Carolina). Some facts:

More than 155 million people (53 percent of the population) reside in U.S. coastal counties comprising less than 11 percent of the land area of the lower 48 states.
Roughly 1,500 homes are lost to erosion each year.
Nearly 180 million people visit the U.S. coast every year, and coastal states account for 85 percent of U.S. tourism revenues. The tourism industry is the nation’s largest employer and second largest contributor to gross domestic product.
71 percent of annual U.S. disaster losses are the result of coastal storms.
Close to 350,000 homes and buildings are located within 150 meters of the ocean. Within 60 years, one out of every four of those structures will be destroyed.

For additional information and help on your questions go to:

University of Regina Geomorphology Class notes
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Geomorphology from space site
USGS Coastal & Marine Geology program
NOAA: What Threats do Coastal Communities Face?
AGI Interactive Map of Coastal Hazards

There's a great article on the dangers of people moving to coastlines at National Geographic

These megacities are most at risk from rising sea levels, according to the UN secretary-general
Why so many people have moved to Florida – and into harm’s way

There's a great web page on the Graveyard of the Atlantic: Sable Island Nova Scotia. Check out more on Sable Island here

You can also find some very good before-after photos of the destruction caused to coastal land forms and human infrastructure by Hurricane Sandy at ABC News. Also FYI...how does an electricity generation plant utilize the tides to produce electricity? Are there any sites in North America? Where are they?" check out the following...