Research Paper

Today we started the much anticipated research paper. The project will be our last assignment of the year. Think of it as your term paper as there will be no final exam.
Our discussion was based around finding a suitable topic to write about. Find something that interests you. Here are some possible topics that you might want to consider:

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Capital punishment 

Guns and violence

TV and Violence 

Prison Systems…do tougher sentences work?

Race and punishment in the Criminal justice system 

Use of eye-witness testimony

Racial Profiling 

War on Drugs

Marijuana ….legalizing drugs 

Broken window policy and the reduction of crime  New York

Pornography and its effects on society  (Sexual Assault) 

Social Class and crime

Race and crime 

Education and Crime

Are men more criminal than women

Once you have your topic we need to focus on your thesis. As discussed in class, make sure your thesis is disputable, focused and relevant. I handed out a package that will help you make sense of what to do. By next class I want you to have a workable thesis in place. From there we will look at how to properly reference using the APA format.

 Here is the website for the APA stuff I was talking about:

http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/rptemp.htm

Organized Crime

Today the different groups presented their findings on the different organized crime groups...some interesting information and some interesting choices. We then continued the discussion on what should the response be of the police. What can the police do to curb the rampant gang violence that we hear about on the news on a nightly basis. The following two videos illustrate what the police in the lower mainland are doing to combat gang violence.

Then we started a preliminary discussion on our year end research project....more to follow on Tuesday.

Organized Crime

Today we worked in the computer lab on the Organized crime assignment. Next class we will go over your findings...be prepared to discuss your findings with the class.
Also I started to talk about your research papers that you will be doing the in the near future. Remember to find a topic that interests you....anything in the field of criminology. We will talk more about this next class and begin the research part next week.

Organized Crime

Last class we discussed the lure of gangs. I showed the class three videos and had them discuss some common themes to all three.
We had a discussion about the differences between the lure of gangs here in BC and the lure for some kids in inner city schools in the United States. This ties into different theories of why people join criminal organizations.
The words Respect/Power/ seemed to come up a lot in the discussion. We looked at the following:
Correlates of a gang member....what they look like
What do gangs offer?
Where are kids recruited?
How do you stop kids from joining gangs in the first place?

Finally we will be looking at specific criminal organizations....in small groups I want you to choose a gang/organization that interests you and answer the following:
- explain the activities of the group
- what do they do? (what illegal activities)
- how were they formed?
- How do they do it....get away with it?
- Where are they based?
- What do they control?
- Associations with/enemies with
- Any other interesting/useful info.

Organized Crime

Organized crime is best described as the operation of illegal business entities whose members are bound together because of their group interest and their desire to profit from illegal activity.  Major organized crime groups include the Italian Mafia, outlaw motorcycle gangs (Hells Angels, Grim Reapers, Rock Machine), Triads, and other Asian crime groups, the Russian Mafia and Eastern crime groups; South American, Columbian, and Mexican Cartels; and other Canadian ethnic-based crime groups. These groups launder their illicit profits through countries whose laws are designed to protect bank and investment records.
Crime organizations establish territorial distribution areas and utilize extortion and corruption to develop regions under their control and to enforce and to enforce their rules. Laundered profits are invested in legitimate business, which provides the members in the upper levels with a cover and in turn, respectability in the community.
Last class we discussed what we know of organized crime.....what different groups might be considered as organized crime groups.
There was a booklet that I expect you to work on to help you get an understanding of what organized crime groups are and the theories that are attached to them.

Sexual Assault

Today we watched the second half of the CBC documentary "Sext up Kids". I found this very disturbing. I was completely unaware of the overt sexual overtones being bombarded on children everyday. I agree with some of you that the documentary focused too much on girls and not enough on boys....because boy also have many issues and pressures in adolescence. However, the discussion was very healthy and shows how society has changed over the years.
The purpose of this video was to further our discussion about why sex assaults occur. Does it relate to hypermasculinity in males?

Your assignment for next class was to do a blog entry on the following:

- Do you think that males who commit sexual assault are "hypermasculine"? Why and where do men learn "hypermasculine" behaviour?

- Find a news story about a sexual assault. You will need to try to explain the motivation and roots of the behaviour of the assaulter in the story.

Sexual Assault

Today we focused our attention on sexual assault. We looked at what the students thought was sexual assault....from touching somebody inappropriately to rape. This topic seemed to be of high concern for many of the students so I am glad we will get a chance to cover it in some detail over the next few classes.
We started off by getting the proper definition of sexual assault is. According to the Law in Action textbook, Sexual Assault can be defined into three categories:
Level 1 violates the victim's sexual integrity...usually involves touching of a sexual nature without
             consent
Level 2  sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm...involves
              sexual assault combined with threats or use of weapons that cause bodily harm.
Level 3  aggravated sexual assault...wounding, maiming, disfiguring or endangering the life of the
             victim
We held a brief discussion as to why the students thought sexual assaults occur. Some thought it was for power.....others thought control.....while others thought it was men who could not find sexual partners.
I had the students research info on Groth's typology for sexual assault. They looked at Anger/Power/Sadistic
They also formulated their own reasons based on some of the theories we have covered in the previous chapter.

Finally we looked at the following commercials and looked at societal values and how they have changed over the last 20 years.

Compare the two commercials and see how they reflect on society.

Finally we looked at the CBC Documentary Sext Up Kids....
Finish watching the video and we will have a discussion on the video during class tomorrow.

Presentations

Great job on the presentations last class. Those were really well done. The analysis of the psych/biological/socio reasons for the crimes was outstanding. Also the tie in to a major theory of crime was impressive. I am looking forward to assessing your projects in more detail in the coming days (or weeks to be honest).
Next class we will spent some time examining what sexual assault is and the reasons why it occurs.

Presentations

Thanks to the students who showed up today ready to do their presentations on TIME. I think I have said enough about the way feel about deadlines. We will continue with the presentations on Tuesday. If your projects are not complete by then....expect a mark no higher than 50%.