The Carrot Stick, and the Pay Cheque

May 4th, 2011 Thomasso

Today an old friend of mine from University popped by to discuss some research I did for her regarding some suspicions that she has about her current employer. It took me about fifteen minutes to hit pay dirt, or find the dark and dirty secrets of this individual. When I presented this information to her with the data, she was not as devastated as I thought she would be. But this exercise brings up many ethical questions about our ideological needs and social concerns when dealing with offenders, and how we react to them.

So here is the first question. Would you continue to work for an employer who has been convicted of a sexual assault in the past, if you just found out about it today, and you are a woman?

I was surprised by my friend’s reaction as I handed her the file to read. Now for me, I deal with this all of the time so I am some what tempered by the many types of people I work and deal with in the prison system. I have interviewed, worked with, and being involved with various programs that are centred around people who have committed very heinous crimes, so I am use to it. In the rule of law circles, the belief is, once a person has fulfilled their time and punishment, then they are free to rejoin society and we as the public should take them back with open arms. As a Criminologist, I know first hand that that is not the case. In most circumstances, the opposite happens. My friend was not as concern as I thought she would have been about this news that I gave her.

So, the next question is, would you quit your job if you found out your boss is a known sex offender who has served his time and has been released?

Sex offenders are held as the lowest of the low in Canadian society. With this mark, you do not have to go far to see the public outrage that is generated whenever an offender is released from prison after serving their time. When my friend decided that she would continue to work for this guy, I was shocked.

This beings up a very interesting aspect about our society. On one hand, we have a woman who just found out that her boss is a convicted sex offender, yet, because it is a job, she will continue to have this relationship with him. So this has got me thinking that there are some huge philosophical dynamics being played out here between someone’s moral and social values on this topic.

If she had know that this man was a convicted sex offender from along time ago, then she probably would have never worked for him. Yet, because she has just found out, and confirmed this, this changes everything. Her tie, as part of her relationship as an employer employee connection with him exists, it appears to be a far stronger tie than I would have expected. The level of merit between her and her boss has changed significantly. This change is so strong that she is even willing to forgo the fear and anger of what this man is in her mind, based upon his past, that she has told me that she will decide over time rather than making her decision based on anger on the spot.

I can see that this has changed the quality of the relationship between her and her work, as I can assume that she will be looking over her shoulders continuously now. But, before this, being employed by this man for roughly a year now, what has really changed?

I hope you, dear reader, can make your own informed assumptions about this post. I have left the names of both people out of this, but felt that it is an important topic to blog about. This is after all one of our biggest social fears today. Your comments are welcomed.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | 1 Comment »

VOTE! Get Your Butt to the Polling Station and VOTE!

May 2nd, 2011 Thomasso

Today is the big day. I’m excited. Later on today, probably around noon, I will head down to the voting booths and cast my vote, hoping that the guy I voted for gets in power.

I am keeping that information privileged. The guy I’m voting for will remain a mystery here on the old weblog. That is personal information and my own opinion, and I have learned over the years that you should keep that bit of your life personal unless you want it to be exposed to the public. I’m a private kind of guy with this sort of stuff. Only the trained, and keen individuals, can figure out who my true colours, and ideologies, are from reading this blog, but that is for you to make, and of course, that is your opinion too. I respect that.

I have spent most of the day so far reminding people to vote. I’m going to walk with a couple of people because they like to be with people when they go out into the public spaces. I know one of them suffers from agoraphobia, so timing and comforting is everything for him. As weird as it sounds, they (my two friends with phobias) do not like to venture often, or by themselves, so they travel in pairs, or with a group of friends. But hey, it gets them out to the polling station!

I’m even going to go over who the candidates are and what parties they represent for my friends. It will be hard to do this of course while being unbiased. But, on the same token, I don’t want to be too simplistic and contrasted so that they they build a false sense of impressions and become disillusioned.

So here is to the greatest privileged that anyone can have in our modern world, the power to individually choose and take part in the election process of our government!

And on a side note: Thank you Twitter! With out you, the lest vestiges of our government’s control have been taken away and reduced to nothingness! I thank you again for  making the world an even freer place to live! Now I think we can say we are living up to the standards set out by our constitutional law, not what a small group of people’s opinions are who interpreted this as so long ago in a long ago era. (I’m off my soap-box now).

Get your ass out there and VOTE!

Posted in Around Town, Events, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice, Twitter | 1 Comment »

Politics and That Bin Ladin Guy from 9-11

May 1st, 2011 Thomasso

I was reading some tweets from friends when I noticed a huge surge of tweets with the trending topic of Osama bin Laden in them. Around 7:30pm (pacific time) these tweets started popping up. Then the grand-daddy of all tweets coming from President Barack Obama, who tweeted that he was about to do  a rare late night public announcement live, streamed live on the web. So I waited with bated breath.

It was announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American forces, issued by the President (10:30 Eastern).

Oh Twitter. I laughed, I cried, and read with intent. There were so many perspectives on this event that I had to stop my stream to read them all in real time. As I type, our Prime Minster is speaking about the 9-11 and the death of Osama Bin Laden. His speech was short. I understand that he is, after all, in the twilight of an election.

Here is the President’s speech in its entirety:

So, I will continue to pick this up for tomorrow.

Election Fun:

On a Humours note, poking fun at the election, I present a YouTube clip of this acapella group, “The Tra La Las,”  poking fun at the Harper Conservatives. This is for some members of my family, who are staunch Conservative supporters–you know who you are… Heh heh heh. So get out there and VOTE tomorrow! Vote, it’s your right and privilege!

Harper is the Root of All Evil

As the night progresses, and if I have more energy, I will probably add more to this post. But I must get back to Twitter.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Events, General, Humour, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice, Twitter, Video | Comments Off

The Slut Walk in Toronto

April 5th, 2011 Thomasso

On April 3rd 2011, just last weekend of this writing, hundreds of women, men and youth rallied along Queens Park in down town Toronto to protest remarks made by one Metropolitan Police Officer. The officer in question said something to the effect that if you (women) want to be safe, then you should dress accordingly, directing his statement to women at a campus information session, at York University’s Osgood Hall (Slut Walk Toronto, 2011). This implies that women who dress in a so called way, deemed provocative, or dare I say like sluts, then subject themselves to being raped, sexually assaulted and treated in such a way as inferior.

Although the spotlight as being on the hundreds of women who have taken to the streets in protest, I have found that none of the commercial media outlets have focused on the real issue, and that is, this is a  men’s issue, or Male problem, of our society. The wrong doing here is that the Toronto Police officer  took an all to subjective point of view and a male chauvinistic stance on a problem that should have been driven towards the men in the audience. It is not the women who dress in such a way that is the cause of the problem, but the attitudes of men towards women who view them as subjective and perceive them as a specific stereotype. It is the men who should be given the attention of police in recognizing that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated in a free and democratic society such as Canada.

Yes, I am a male. A man who studies bad people, and social problems, for the last eight of my life. Academically, my field of expertise is in Criminology. My insight into various social problems has enlightened me to an understanding that I take seriously that deal with looking into root causes of problems. I pay close particular attention to the policing organisation in Canada. When I first read of this story, I was not surprised that an officer would make such accusation. This has happen in numerous occasion in the past, and more will continue into the future, but this is a social, and seemingly weak cultural norm, an attitude shared with many, from various groups, even today.

So, would an organisation such as the local police force dare tell an audience of its Male peers that it is they who should be warned, made vigilant and be reserved?  My point comes from an story a first year prof who told me of a case called the Boston Strangler, where police then proclaimed that a curfew of just women had to be made. The rational was that all of the victims were women who walked the streets after dark. The culprit was a male who first raped his victims, then strangled them afterwords. Instead, the curfew should have being for the men, not the women. The logic is, then only the one male would be walking the streets, and his capture would be better guaranteed.

I am on the fence with a public event of people like this.  I believe in education, starting a young age, then working it through all facets of society. However, sometimes it takes a march, or parade, to educate, and bring to light this social problems such as this. I believe that there are many cultural norms that need to be purged because of their underlying harms and discrimination that they ensue. The best example are the Gay Pride events. In less than forty years, homosexuality came from being a criminal offence, to a level of openness and acceptance in Canadian society today. There are groups today who wish to revert back to the days of darkness and run the world in ignorance, but hopefully the human race has risen above that for good.

LINKS

• CBC News: Toronto ‘slut walk’ takes to city streets April 3, 2011
• TheSTAR: Mallick: What to wear for SlutWalk March 30, 2011
• The Toronto Star: ‘Sluts’ march against sexual assault stereotypes April 3, 2011

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | Comments Off

The Final Week

December 5th, 2010 Thomasso

The fourteenth week of the semester will start tomorrow and my biggest concern is will I be ready for it. I’ve practised my French homework, and did most of the on-line activists for French. I’m psyching myself up for the Political Science final that is a take-home exam – those are often the toughest, so really it is sit down and go over everything again and again until I’m sick.

I spent more time doing my windows, putting plastic barriers up to help with the heating bill. I’ll have virtually no income for January and February, so I really have to pinch my pennies. So I’m doing everything I can to save money and live comfortable at the same time. It’s tough with inflation starting to ramp up.

Speaking about inflation, I cannot believe how expensive everything is getting? All my bills, including rent and electric have jump by about 4 percent. I was going to buy a new jacket for the winter, but I might have to stock with the one I got now and fix the zipper on it. This is a sign if how tight this season is going to be, so spending is going to be controlled even more. Last year I went through several cost cutting measures, but now I’m seeing that I have to go further, and back then, those were though cut-backs. Ultimately too these means cutting back on income-tax going to the government – sorry Gordon and Steven – you guys are going to have to find another sucker to support your lifestyle with. Snicker. The poor starving student does have some perks.

I have to raise a glass up to the founder and whistle blower of WikiLeaks. This guys has got some serious balls. But this has also made the government of Canada that much more accountable. Yes, I have found that once the leaks started surfacing, people who normally were passive about their government became active, and that I think is very healthy for a democracy. This now gives each and everyone of us a look at big brother , although most will forget about it by next week, just the few moments of reading WikiLeaks, getting people talking, was very healthy. I hope there is more. I therefore give my “stamp of approve” for WikeLeaks just on the bases of merit and truthfulness that is has brought to the public.

Posted in Diatribe, General, Homework and deadlines, Law and Order, Photographs, Social economics, University classes | Comments Off

Contradictions of High Expectations

October 21st, 2010 Thomasso

This post has taken me a while longer to conjure up than it would have normally in similar situations, but the lack of sleep has taken its toll on me and whenever I get the chance, I dive into bed for some high impact snoozing. So hang in there with me as I try and sort out my thoughts on this one.

The news has attracted me to two outstanding court cases that took place this week. First, the sentencing of Col. Russell Williams, for what could be said as Canada’s most horrific criminal case in modern memory as he Pleaded guilty to a total of 86 counts, two of which were first degree murder of women that he sexually assaulted and tortured to death. Secondly was the case of B.C., Rail, or the Basi-Virk trial, where corruption charges were laid and the two men pleaded guilty in Vancouver on Monday.

What is fascinating for me, as a Criminologist, is that one case was almost given total and exclusive media coverage, with the blessing of the court, mainly the Crown, while the other was done so discreetly, that no one will ever know just how far the corruption went. In comparing these two trials, I was left with an ago old question that is given to most people who study criminal law, which is, why do we treat these crime do differently? Obliviously, the punishment should fit the crime, and I think many would agree that this as being commonsense, but what if both categories of crimes are so outrageous that they should deserve the same level of treatment by all parties, such as the public’s right to know?

The Col. Russell Williams case we were hurled from the media the horrors that this man did to so many women, and the court felt that all Canadians should hear these accounts, no matter how graphic they are. Yes, everything that this man did were so outrageous that many probably could not watch, listen or read as each bloody graphic detail was spewed out through the media. The reasoning was, according to the Crown prosecution, was that this information needed to come out so that when, in twenty-five years Mr. Williams is eligible for parole, these accounts can be replayed and the court at that time will have full understanding just how vile his crimes were.

The Basi-Virk case, these two men pleaded guilty, but in their situation the court was closed in the sense that what really happened was not given to the public through the media. We will never know just how much wrong doing took place at the government level. For the government of today, they would like this to be quickly forgotten, especially with all the negative publicity so far this year. I agree with most who argue that of all the cases before the courts, this one should have had the public in mind. Sure, we could have a public enquiry, but I doubt that this will happen.

Remember that in both of these cases, millions of tax payer dollars was spent, and both cases, guilty please were given. One was semitransparent, while the other was almost blanked out.

I wish I had more time write about this.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, General, Law, Law and Order, Social Justice | Comments Off

An Eye In My Car

September 25th, 2010 Thomasso

The first time I saw cameras in a car was the RCMP’s bait car program that started in Surrey, BC a number of years. Since then I have started seeing the cameras in lamp standards and traffic-light poles, and in people’s homes too. Not surprisingly, cameras are becoming a regular facet of our lives as theft has become such a regular occurrence that calling the police about is, well, is a waste of time. Instead we just report it to the police, and hope for the best.

Three weeks ago I saw for the first time a van that had cameras mounted in three locations on the outside of it, and one camera mounted along the dashboard facing the driver. My first impression was, “wow, you got to be kidding?”

Since that day, I have now seen four more vehicles with on-board security cameras systems mounted both on the outside and inside of the vehicle.

You are probably wondering why have them on the  outside of the vehicle? Actually, more specifically, they are inside, but looking through the glass of the windsheild facing outwards. So technically the cameras are all inside.

It was explained to me that in British Columbia so many accents are going through a transitional phase in the law courts right now. With our state run insurance provider called ICBC, damages and fault are being split between both parties om a regular occurrence. One criticism of this is that ICBC appears to be making more money by awarding damages between the parties as oppose to just finding one person at fault. It was also explained to me that the victim would have to embark on a very intents period of litigation that would last of upwards to a decade before justice was served, and the risk of still being a victim even further is always a huge possibility. With both parties now having to pay higher premiums on their insurance, the insurance provider, ICBC, is the only party that wins.

Cameras are starting to paint a very different picture now on our roads. People tend to not tell the truth about their negligence, and sadly, some getaway with more than just a free accident from ICBC, they may also walk away without any criminal charges too. Now, if a camera sees them in their moment of negligence, well, it would seem likely that it would make the case more difficult for the law courts to ignore this as evidence? Only time will tell.

So, vehicle mounted cameras are popping up everywhere now. Not just for security, but for peace of mind when someone causes an accident. This would also mean that if you caused the accident, your camera could also spell doom for your insurance and your liability too. And if you steal a vehicle, or its contents, you maybe on candid camera. Peek-a-boo!

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, General, Law and Order, Social economics, Social Justice | Comments Off

Frustration With the Media: Sexual Violence

September 19th, 2010 Thomasso

It is one thing to be a victim of the violent crime, but it is another to be continuously revictimized 24/7. Only the Internet now gives us the tools to do this to a victim of a violent crime, and this now puts a huge ethical question on public vrs private values on the chopping block.

EDITED, Sept 20, 2010:

I was part of a really good discussion yesterday with a couple of old buddies from the University. We talked about the sixteen year-old woman from Pitt Meadows, BC who was gang-rape, and asked why some of those images of the criminal act were posted on face-book by one of the perpetrators who participated in the rape. During the discussion, we came to the conclusion that the media must take some of the responsibility for the sudden viral distribution of the images as we concluded that “if it were not for the 64 news bites by CBC Radio on September 17, 2010, alone, the further victimization of the young girl would have been minimal.” One of the members of the group discussion, a forensic computer scientist, stated that “following up on Google’s Search Engine patterns,” he said, “there was a significant increase in Intranet traffic of people searching for those images.”

And just to reiterate: it is a criminal offence in Canada to download, possess and redistribute, any images of people under the ages of eighteen that is in a sexual manner. This is called child pornography.

Another member from the group, a Sociologist, concluded that the media should be held countable for their part in the further victimization of the young woman, and he cited CTV and the CBC, and their affiliated radio stations as some of the most damaging for content. “The spectrum of the quality of the news that ran on this story was varied.” He pointed out that this was purely based on sensationalism, as the RCMP gave out little information, and the inferences made by the media were “troublesome,” in his opinion.  He recommended that the parents of the victim may want to consider launching lawsuits for damages as the conduct of the various media outlets crossed ethical lines. Of course, that is up to the parents, as further legal fights just add to the further victimization of the you girl.

Freedom of the Internet also means “being controlled” at the same time. Consider the lack of power that law enforcement agencies have with regards to the Intranet. Once those images were posted, they are there for life, and then continue to spread like a virus. Once the network has taken those images after they have being uploaded, the RCMP cannot guarantee that they can expunged them from the public view. As we have seen in the past, even countries with totalitarian governments cannot control the Intranet. It is up to the public, those who add to the organic organism we call the “Net,” to exercise self control. Self policing is truly the only way we have of stopping the victimisation of this person.

ADDED Sept 20, 2010: Sadly this post has gotten some extremely negative feedback from one reader who obviously did not take the time to thoroughly read it. If you are wondering why I did not post your comments, it is becuase you need to present a better, more thoughtful constructed argument, rather than the seven words of profanities you gave me today. I encourage you to take the time and try again, and maybe people will listen to your ideas. I have underlined the area from which you failed to understand that answers your query from your first comment.

Posted in Criminology, General, Law, Law and Order, Photographs, Social Justice, University classes | Comments Off

Bad Customers

September 11th, 2010 Thomasso

It has come down to being cheap, and giving a cheap price, and making the customer happy by going that extra distance. In both instances, you are hoping that you will have a repeat customer and network some more customers through your good word. There is a problem, you can’t have both worlds, especially in today’s economic climate.

First my pet peeve is about bad customers. This week, so far, I have told one customer to go fly a kite, and actually directed him towards another competitor that I hate. He wanted the Sun, the Moon, and all the stars for the discounted price that we have right now. On top of that, he wanted the extra guarantee that is offered for a small fee–for free.

Everything is clearly written on the agreement. You get what you pay for; what you see is what you get. But some people want the full deal for only half price, and today, some people actually have the balls to make demands beyond this arrangement and demand it, like it is their right. What is worse, when you say that there is no deal, and you walk away, the customer then tries to circumvent the process and then goes through a third party, lying about everything that went on previously, and makes one more attempt at getting what they see as fare deal.

On that day we had a special deal for a limited time only. You paid a thirty percent discount, and you get a package for that price. This one customer wanted some extra work done on top of the package, work that entailed a considerable amount of labour and materials to satisfy his request. We said no. He said that we must do the correct job or he will complain.

Complain to whom?

We told the customer that we did not want his business and ended the deal right there.

The next morning I got a call to have some materials ready, but a little alarm went off inside my head as the list of materials seemed awfully familiar. Sure enough, it was our cheap friend.

Sadly, a different technician went out to the customer’s place and was told nothing but lies, a total fabrication of the truth. Our technician then prepared the work and completed everything, exactly the way the customer wanted it.

Now, you are thinking, “great, the customer is always right,” and “finally, there is some justice for the consumer.”

Sadly, it was our technician who got screwed. The customer was happy. He got a great deal. When you calculated what the customer got, he got a full installation for less than twenty percent of the full price. As for the technician, he lost over $50.00, as in he did not make a profit, but paid out. The company will only pay him for the deal, nothing more.

Some of my favourite lines are:

• I want to talk to your supervisor

• Your boss is going to hear about this

• You will never get my business again

• I will report you tot he Better Business Bureau

• You will loose your business once I tell everyone how bad you are

• You are going to court my friend, to court!

Posted in Bitching about work, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social economics, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

Sleeping In Today

August 21st, 2010 Thomasso

Well the first of my marks came in. Not bad; not that great, but I can live with it. A letter grade of B+ was given to me for my efforts. My weakness: the presentations, and my thesis for my major paper. The argument was good, but the effort put into it was not, or at least worthy of a grade of A. So the total combined effort that course was rewarded with a B+.

[ADDED] My GPA seems to have only suffered a little bit. I lost a one hundredth of a point.

I am still waiting for more marks to trickle in. The term is not quite over yet. For my last course, the final paper just handed in last night, and is a group assignment, almost the equivalent of a final exam. So my heart is beating very lightly as the will marked this my Monday.

Today, this morning, I purposely slept in. It felt great not to worry about a starting time, and having responsibilities waiting for me when the alarm clock goes off. Though I did felt guilt when I opened my eyes, and forced myself back to sleep. It was cold, too. I had to grab another blanket to cover myself with. Could a early winter be around the corner waiting for us? No! Not so soon.

The Police came and dealt with my unruly neighbours last night. They were drinking, smoking drugs, acting like children with their loud voices and bad language. A car was damaged as it hit another car along the street. Everyone who was drinking was also driving. The police were vigorous this time around because there were little kids on the premisses while the drinking and drugs were being consumed. Not a very healthy atmosphere for children in a household to be in, eh?

[ADDED] It appears that I was not the only one who put their foot down and alerted the police about last night’s little episode. I now know of two others who did some phoning of their own. I guess I cannot take all the credit after all.

Am I the bad person for this? They seem to think so as I took away their fun. But what about the children, the safety of our roads, and my peace of mind? Maybe the drugs made them forget, or did they forget long before that?

My landlord is like an ostrich, who quickly buries its head in the sand hoping that the problem will work itself out and go away. I bypass them and deal with these issues myself. In the past I have sent the mounties over to their place too. Sad isn’t. They know, but they don’t care, only their reputations after the fact. If they actually thought about what they were doing before hand then all would be well today. That was a different story, told a long time ago.

The HST. I love how this roller coaster ride of a story is taking on a life of it own. I am a proud signer of the petition of the anti-HST protest. My argument is that it is not the tax itself, but the timing of it. Introducing a tax right in the middle of a recession has got to be one of the most sure ways of committing political suicide that there is. Canadian history is full of good examples of this. You don’t start taxing during rough times: you will loose your votes. Unless Prime Minister Harper and Premier Campbell decide that Canada should be a Fascist State and start running everything like Hitler did, then I will leave. They could start taxing all they want after that, I wouldn’t care. But in the mean time, I do not want them in power if they are going to crank up taxes to pay off the 2010 Olympics and Corporate Welfare pay-outs! Such apathy towards the people to feed only the big businesses at our expense —what happened to capitalism and the market economy? Yeah, it doesn’t work. I shake my head.

Well, time for that first cup of coffee, and then my morning surf for the news. Awh, to sleep in.

[ADDED] A cup of coffee turned into a full pot. I hit the coffee hard today, but sure got a lot done.

Until next time.

Posted in Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social economics, University classes | Comments Off