Room 611: Wednesday, September 22. 2021

Happy Autumnal Equinox! Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Physical Geography - We'll take some notes down in the week 3 package on core, mantle, and crust and then, you may use the Earth Interior web page or the Dynamic Earth webpage or the Lumen Understanding Earth’s Interior page or the National Geographic Earth Interior page or the Live Science Earth Interior page to help with questions 7 & 8 from page 366 of your Geosystems text (answers can be found between pages 334 and 336 of the text).

Use this diagram for your notes in the week

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnd...the Cumbre Vieja volcano is erupting on La Palma, Canary Islands. Check out the sweet drone footage of the AA "clinker" lava

A Block Criminology - We'll see what you think about crime trends and then we'll look at the BC Crime trends from 2009 - 2018 and then we'll talk about the disparity (difference) between the public perception of violent crime and the actual rates of violent crime in Canada....hint take a look to the left.

The crime data indicate that rates have declined significantly in the past few years and are now far less than they were a decade ago. Suspected causes for the crime rate drop include an increasing prison population, more police on the street, the end of the crack epidemic and the age structure of society. The data sources show relatively stable patterns in the crime rate. Ecological patterns show that crime varies by season and by urban versus rural environment, however there is evidence of gender patterns in the crime rate: Men commit more crime than women. Age is one of the largest influences on crime; young people commit more crime than the elderly (and there are fewer young people in society)

Crime data show that people commit less crime as they age, but the significance and cause of this pattern are still not completely understood. Similarly, racial and class patterns appear in the crime rate. However, it is still unclear whether these are true differences or a function of discriminatory law enforcement.

Although police-reported crime in Canada (measured by the Crime Severity Index CSI) increased for the fourth year in a row in 2018, the national CSI was 17% lower in 2018 than a decade earlier. Of note....the police-reported crime rate and the CSI include only those incidents that come to the attention of police, either through reporting by the public or through pro-active policing. Results from the most recent General Social Survey on Victimization found that just under one-third (31%) of violent and non-violent incidents were reported to the police.

Since 1962, Statistics Canada has collected information on all criminal incidents reported by Canadian police services through its annual Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey. In addition to the UCR, Statistics Canada also collects information on victims of crime through the General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), which is conducted every five years. Unlike the UCR, the GSS on Victimization collects data on self-reported experiences with crime which include incidents that may or may not have been brought to the attention of the police. These complementary surveys are the primary sources of data on crime and victimization in Canada.

Highlights of the Stats Can Report show:

The change in the CSI in 2018 was the result of higher police-reported rates of numerous offences. Ordered by their relative impact on the CSI, these offences include fraud (+13%); level 1 sexual assault, meaning without a weapon or evidence of bodily harm (+15%); shoplifting of $5,000 or under (+14%); and theft over $5,000 (+15%). These increases were partially offset by decreases for some other offences, including lower rates of breaking and entering (-1%) and robbery (-3%)

Today I'll have you work on three questions about crime trends:

Using pages 37 to 46 in the CRIM textbook outline and explain the crime patterns in relation to ecology, firearms, social class, age, gender and race.
What is a chronic offender and what is the significance of Marvin Wolfgang's discovery (why is identifying the chronic offender important)?
How would you explain the gender differences in the crime rate (why do you think males are more violent than females)?

CTV News Crime Severity
Canada's Most Dangerous Places Maclean's
Stats Can Crime Severity Index (Police Reported Crime)
Crime in Canada Charts
RCMP Crime Statistics Surrey, BC
Crime Statistics in British Columbia, 2018

D & C Blocks Social and Environmental Sciences - You start with Benton today, you'll do some awesome sciency things, maybe he'll reveal the mysteries of the universe with you (the answer is 42)...but really it looks like you'll continue your water sample lab and maybe start water purification (more on that Friday with Young). After, with Young, we’ll revisit our NEP-R scores and look at into the spectrum of EVS, from ecocentric through anthropocentric to technocentric value systems. Remember, an EVS is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual, or group of people, perceives and evaluates environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political contexts.

I will have some questions for you to answer:

Outline how assumptions, values and beliefs and worldwide views can influence individual value systems…in other words “What has influenced your personal Environmental Value System?
What is intrinsic value?
How can you attach value to the biosphere?
Which EVSs attribute intrinsic value?
Describe and evaluate how each of the three "pure" EVSs would feel about the intrinsic value of an old growth forest