Thursday, April 19. 2012

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

D Block Criminology 12 - Yesterday we talked about the history of Criminology and looked at some important concepts and people (Beccaria, Lombroso, Durkheim) and we ended with the concept of "Anomie". This concept refers to criminology in that deviance comes from situations where people are confused or unclear about norms (expectations on behaviour). So, today 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.

C Block Geography 12 - Today we are continuing our work on the Medicine Hat Topographic map. You need your Canadian Landscape topographic map book and the Medicine Hat map can be found on pages 40-42. You will need to work on questions 1 a, b and d, 2 a, 3 a-e, 4, 7 a-d, 8 and 9. This work is due on Monday but you should get it finished by the end of class today. If you don't get this work finished and wish to work on this activity out of the class I would highly suggest you ask me questions ahead of time. You can find topographic maps of Medicine Hat on Google Maps (Type in Medicine Hat Alberta on a Google search and click on maps at the top and then choose "Terrain" as an option). Do not forget that you have a unit final test tomorrow. Please take all of your marked/corrected work out of the bin in the class and spend some time preparing this weekend.
For other maps and information on Medicine Hat that will help you with some of the topographic map assignment questions check out Tourism Medicine Hat

B Block Law 12 - Today is your Criminal Law mid-unit test. Your first order of business is to relax, then settle in and then dazzle me with what you know. The test should take the main portion of the class today but if you do finish early then you can work on questions 2 & 4 on page 154 of the All About Law text (the role of the police and the extent of their powers). If you prepared then I'm certain that you'll do fine on the test today. There are about two weeks left in the Criminal Law unit (finishing pre-trial and then moving into trial procedures and sentencing options) and after we'll begin our focus on Civil Law in Canada.

A Block Social Studies 11 -  Today with Ms. Krahn...