In the Criminal Offences Package, please only complete the following:

• Homicide
• Non-Culpable Homicide
• Culpable Homicide
• Three levels of assault

Everything else in between should be skipped.

The notes should include:

• Definitions in your own words
• Examples for each (your own, not from the reading)

The people absent today will need to see Ms. Hopkin in person to discuss the reasoning for the absence.

Today you are starting your Criminal Offences Package.  This is something we will work on consistently and add to throughout the next few weeks.  You will get to ask questions and clarify – the goal is everyone gets 100% on this so you can use it as a resource for the Trial!

Today you will be looking at Types of Offences.  These are important so please ensure you are being detailed in your own words – nothing should be copied/pasted from the text (unless no other option, then need to cite it).  All of the other elements of this package, as well as Criminal Defences we will work on later, are connected to these concepts.

Point form is the expectation here.  You may also choose to write by hand.  In that case, you will need to upload a photo of your work each day.  You will also need to write out the prompts/questions of the package as you go through.

Reading:

• Law in Action Chapter 8 pp. 220-223.
• Read the case R. v. Mitchell on p. 223.

Assignment:

1. Read the reading.
2. Complete the section entitled “Levels of Offences” on the first page.
3. Read the case R. v. Mitchell and respond to the three questions on that case.  I am also adding a fourth question you need to write out and respond to
   • How would the facts of the case need to change to fulfill the other Types of Offences? (e.g. if you picked Hybrid, how would it change to be Indictable?  Summary?).  This response will require exploration and creativity.
4. You can do everything in the package, or two separate files.  I unfortunately only managed to pre-make one assignment, so you will need to submit both there.
5. For the questions, make sure you use a quotation from the case as evidence.

Can always collaborate, but need to have your responses be your own work.

Please remember to write down any questions you have for when we go over it.

Due to Teams by the end of class.  Hope to see you all tomorrow.  Good luck Grade 12s on your CLC Interviews!

OVERVIEW

You will be researching one specialized area of Criminalistics or Forensic Science in a group of four (4) people.  It will be presented in the form of a PowerPoint presentation in a seminar style.  Your goal is to present the type of Forensic Science: what does it mean; how does it work in practice; investigation procedures and requirements; how they work with police, lawyers, and other law enforcement; what type of education is required; what does their work environment look like, etc?  After, you will connect your type of Forensics to some well-known fiction, such as a fairy tale or nursery rhyme (which you can tweak if necessary to fit your needs), and discuss how your Forensics would be applied to this case.  These questions are meant as prompts, you do not necessarily have to hit each one exactly and should not organize your PowerPoint based on these prompts as titles.

The main thing to keep in mind is that this is a Law class, not a Science class.  So, while there is obviously cross-curricular requirements for this assignment (yay!), you need to ensure you are tying it back to Law.

Furthermore, remember this is not a divide-and-conquer assignment.  This is something each person needs to know every, little, piece about and your presentation is clearly interwoven with all of you equally involved in all parts.

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SEMINAR REQUIREMENT

You need to be consistently interacting with your classmates, stopping here and there to ask open-ended questions.  This is called a “seminar style.”  If all you do is a presentation (talk at the class about your research), that would be not meeting expectations for this assignment.

A seminar style presentation does not mean one moment of interaction.  It means you are consistently engaging the class consistently and repeatedly throughout the entire presentation.  This can include big or small moments, such as:

• Asking the class questions.  Can be as simple as “What do you think?” Try keep them open-ended and not ones with an obvious answer.
• Creating an activity.
• Making some sort of handout to supplement what is going on and have them analyze it.
• Be creative!  Ask Ms. Hopkin if unsure, but it can honestly be a simple as just stopping and asking your classmates questions throughout.
• No Kahoots allowed!

As an audience, you are engaging constantly.  You should be ready to jump in and support presenters in their seminars.  You may also put your hand up at any point and ask the presenters questions.  Presenters should finish their thought, then answer when able.

Your interaction with your classmates will not count towards your time.  However, due to the need to have presentations done within a certain period of time, you will have a maximum of 20 minutes total per group, so try keep your interactions within 5-6 minutes total

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PRESENTATION ELEMENTS

Notice that it says PowerPoint.  As in Microsoft PowerPoint.  As in not Keynote, not Google Slides, not Prezi, not anything that is not Microsoft PowerPoint.

Ensure you include both images and text.  There should be a reasonable balance with each on your slides.  They should not be cramped full of things, nor should your slides be nearly empty.

Ensure your presentation is evenly balanced between each person in your group.  It should not be broken up to each person doing a “part.”  You should naturally be flowing back and forth complimenting each others’ words because you all know all of the information.  Each human in the group is allowed to have five (5) cue cards, one side only (the lined side).  These will be provided for you.

Presentations should be exactly between fifteen to sixteen (15-16) minutes.  A good strategy would be to aim for around 16-ish minutes since you always speak faster when you present.  You will have ample amount of class time, which means you will need to rehearse with your group to ensure you are within the time frame.  The requirement for the final class before presentation day (14 April 2023) will be the entire class must be spent rehearsing and timing.  You should also be gauging how the class will respond to your seminar engagement.

You are welcome to also have a timer going whilst you present.

Though given the nature of this type of research, it is still expected all images are school appropriate.  Just because you might be comfortable with something, does not mean everyone is, and there are plenty of ways to tastefully give this information.  If you are unsure, always check with your teacher.

How we are going to do this in our new and exciting age, is through Teams.  Once I have your groups, I will be making a channel for you within the Law 12 Team.  Just remember to tag your group members and NOT the name of the group.  Your groups will be public, so if you tag the group name, the entire class gets the notification.

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TOPICS

You will have a lesson on the topics prior to choosing so your group has time to come up with a couple of choices.  Everyone will be doing a different topic.  The topics will be decided by random draw.

• Forensic Serology.
• Forensic Odontology.
• Forensic Entomology.
• Forensic Anthropology.
• Blood Pattern Analysis.
• D.N.A.
• Forensic Investigation of Explosions.
• Ballistics and Firearms.
• Tool Marks and Impressions.
• Hairs, Fibres, and Paint.
• Fire Investigation.
• Forensic Toxicology.
• Document Examination.

 

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RESEARCH

Starting Research for You: The Criminalistics (Forensics) source from university days.  Lucky you!  This will be posted in a File in Teams.  You should read the chapter from this source on your topic first before any other source to get a thorough understanding and prepare you to research.  Again, each person individually reads the entire chapter – DO NOT DIVIDE AND CONQUER – get a good, comprehensive understanding, then move forward to find other corroborative evidence.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT ASK MS. HOPKIN HOW TO CITE THIS without thoroughly looking at the files provided for you in Teams from this source.

In addition, you need a minimum of ten (yes, 10) academic sources.  Five of these sources must be academic journal articles, which is how academic research, statistics, findings, and hypotheses are documented.  Since you are so fortunate, Pinetree has a subscription to the extortionately expensive Academic Search Premier (also known EBSCO Host), which has access to tens of thousands of academic journal articles.

Things that are studies on EBSCO typically say words like “Journal Article” or “Periodical.”

Apparently, you can also try contact the authors of the articles and they might send them to you!  (Not required!).

The rest of your sources may be any academic source.

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CITATION

You will be required to formally cite your sources in APA style citation.  Ms. Hopkin will be distributing APA Guide (in Teams already), and you will have one full lesson in class specifically on this topic with examples.

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ASSESSMENT

You will be graded holistically on this assignment.  From the moment you and your group set to work, your use of class time, to the content of your presentation, research capabilities, correct engagement of seminar style, to the professionalism and articulation of your seminar are all a part of your grade in addition to the content and your understanding of Forensics in Criminal Procedure and Evidence.  You will all be assessed individually, not as a group, though one aspect of that assessment will be how you work within your group.

Submission of Slides: End of class on Monday, 15 April 2024.  There will be an assignment upload on Teams.

Presentations will start on Tuesday, 16 April 2024 and likely continue until 18 April 2024.

 

Today, students got to practically apply their learning by being provided with evidence, gloves, and resources for documentation to correctly obtain and label evidence.  Great job, everyone!  That was fun!

Have a great weekend!

Remember: once your project is introduced next week (Monday or Tuesday, likely) the following days will be Midterm Grading Conferences!

What happened today?

• In person lesson only.  Please speak to classmate to get the notes.  Some reading can be done below.
• 911 to court: general overview.
• Centre.
• Perimeter.
• Types/levels of officers within departments e.g. patrol.
• Class and Individual Characteristics.
• Tentative and Positive ID.
• Chain of Custody.
• Pre-Trial Release.

Reading (if absent):

• Law in Action Chapter 7 pp. 190-196 (up to and including “Shoe Prints and Tire Tracks,” but not DNA as we will be looking at that next week), 209-210.

Students were assigned scenarios around arrest and detention to perform as skits.  Each discussed their scenario with the class to determine if there was a detention and if the scenario was legal or illegal.

In class only.  No way to make up assignment if absent.

Welcome back! 🙂

What happened today?

• Went over actus reus and mens rea case studies.  Students were expected to be following along and applying feedback.
• Introduced new area of study: investigation and arrest.
• Levels of Policing in Canada:
  • Municipal.
  • Provincial (Ontario and Quebec only).
  • Federal.
  • Indigenous Police.
• New vocabulary: Reasonable Grounds.
• Four stages required for arrest by a police officer.
• Searches (building off of what you already know from Charter), citizen’s arrest, warrants versus reasonable grounds.
• Tomorrow you will be “tested” in a fun way on the reading below.

Reading and Annotation:

• Law in Action Chapter 7 pp.185-188 (information covered in verbal lesson), 200-206 (do not read the cases, just the regular text on the white background).  Some of this will have been presented in verbal lesson.

 

Digital copies of the cases are in Teams under Files –> Class Materials –> Nature of Crime.  If you are one of the people who signed up for printed copies, there are spares in the handouts folder.

Create boxes as described in class:

• 2 boxes per page (filled to fit that half page).
• 1 box per case (seven cases total).
• For each actus reus and mens rea: top boxes are “What was it?” and bottom boxes are “How do you know?” or “Evidence.”
• You will need to speak to a classmate or see Ms. Hopkin if you were away to explain this assignment.

Sample here of what your page should look like.

Due at the end of class on Thursday, 14 March 2024.

What happened 7-8 March 2024?

• Nature of Crime.
• Offences.
• Mens Rea and Actus Reus.
• This was an in-person lesson only. There is no way to make it up outside of class before your project is due.  Please speak to a classmate to get the notes.  Reading Chapter 6 pp. 159-160, 162-164 will help, but will not be sufficient to make up the lesson.  This was not an ideal one to miss. =( However, speaking to a classmate (if they are comfortable sharing) should be enough to help keep you on track!

End of PowerPoint

At the end of the PowerPoint, there was some reading discussed to deepen your understanding of actus reus and mens rea.  Here is further info below.  You will have 15-20 minutes class time tomorrow to work on this, but can start early if you so choose.

• Law in Action Chapter 6 pp. 164-169 (do not read cases in between).
• You need a definition in your own words and an example for each of the following.
  • Actus Reus.
    • Act.
    • Omission to act.
  • Mens Rea.
    • Intent (General and Specific).
    • Knowledge.
    • Criminal Negligence.
    • Recklessness.
    • Wilful Blindness.

Involvement in a Crime

• Law in Action Chapter 6 pp. 173-177.  As usual, do not read the cases in between, just the text on the white background.
• Have a definition and example for the following:
  • Perpetrator.
  • Aiding.
  • Abetting.
  • Counselling.
  • Accessory After the Fact.
  • Party to a Common Intention.
• Also have a definition and example for “incomplete crimes:”
  • Attempt.
  • Conspiracy.

Please submit separately to the respective assignments in Teams by the end of class.

Relevant part of Law in Action in Chapter 9 are pp. 264-265, 275-276 (read up to and including “The Verdict”).

Lesson on Juries, Jury Trials, and Jury Selection.

Vocabulary:

• Sequestered.
• Foreperson.
• Plea.
• Unanimous.

Assignment: Steps in Jury Selection:

Put the steps in order.  Do not just write the numbers.  Literally type/copy out the sentences and put them in order on your Word Document.  Due before the end of class to Teams.

1. Names of the people on the jury panel are written on cards that are put into a ballot box and selected at random.
2. Some people are challenged for a cause and dismissed.
3. Some people are dismissed on a peremptory challenge.
4. On the fifth day of deliberation, the jury reaches a unanimous verdict of “guilty.”
5. You receive a summons from the court, requesting you for jury duty.
6. The murder trial begins, and you listen carefully to the evidence.
7. All the jurors leave the courtroom and go to the jury room to pick a foreperson to guide their deliberations.
8. You take the juror’s oath.
9. The judge explains to you and the other jurors what will take place during the trial.
10. After hearing closing statements from Crown and Defence counsel, the judge charges the jury.
11. As you and the other jurors enter the courtroom, you notice other court participants, such as the judge, the lawyers, the court recorder, and the sheriff.