Thomasso’s weblog

A Short talk on Transnational Organized Crime

June 10th, 2009 Thomasso

For the last six weeks during my summer classes one particular class has stood out so far form the others for me. This class is a special topics course on Transnational Organized Crime that focuses on many of the different facets of organized crime groups and their activities on a global scale. Our topic of discussion for the next couple of weeks, including our last class, is on human trafficking.

We have several readings that cover a wide verity of points on human trafficking, including human smuggling and various types and forms of illegal immigration. It was not until I started into the readings that I soon realized just how vast this topic really is. The reading only give a glimpse of what is actually happening because of the underground nature of these illegal activities so only cases that are met with some form of police or governmental intervention are capture into statistical data that can be documented. The rest is based on field research data that is qualitatively gathered and documented through peer review articles.

In the last class we were given some printed readings to be taken home and studied, one of which is called, “Human Trafficking: The Facts,” Written for United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, through the “Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking.” This article is written a story format where three stories are told about some individuals and a group of people, taken from three different countries where they are exploited in various ways. Although each story ends with the rescue of some of the victims, justice for the exploiters is somewhat ambiguous or extremely lacking. I urge you to take the time to read this document if you can because it says a lot about global conditions that do not get printed on the headlines of our daily media sources. In fact, this sort of crime seems to me to be rarely talked about in Canadian media unless it involves a dramatic investigation by police or some huge sting operation from multiple international police forces that touch our border.

Some of the types of human trafficking are: sex slaves, prostitution, forced labour, child trafficking, domestic trafficking, and so on.

To read the PDF version of the article, please go here: http://www.unodc.org/blueheart/en/campaign-tools.html, and click on the English version of the “Testimonials” for the stats and the three stories that I’ve read.

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

Reading Writing and Wondering: all at the same time!

May 27th, 2009 Thomasso

I have a few minutes before I call it a night. My homework quota just got increased because of an oversight—a small chapter just got turning into a big chapter resulting in four more hours of extra reading. What happened was the prof started to give us the homework assignment last week, and we ran over our allotted three hour time period for that class, so everyone started leaving the class she was telling us what was needed for next weeks class. She forgot to mention that we needed some extra reading that she was posting on the class website too. Some force, perhaps my subconscious, or academic intuition told me to check the web site one more time. Sure enough there was a new file sitting in the page titled with next weeks topic on it.

When I went to print it off, it was 33 pages of legalese in point 9 font. I thought to myself, “There goes the night…. Damn!”

I have not finished reading all of my texts yet. I guess this will be a case of reading right up until class. The only good that become of this is that the readings will be very fresh in my mind and my recall will be at its best. Other then that, sleep deprivation and sore eyes follow close behind.

At least I get to focus on one of my favourite topics which is tort law. As a criminologist, tort law takes on a different light when dealing with normative laws. I actually found a good argument in the textbook that talks about the argument of no-fault liability versus tort law. I automatically jumped to the conclusion of labour law and the WCB (In British Columbia) where in a growing frequency of cases where insurance that is given out for negligence is far to low in proportion to the damages that was caused. When I compare these two, I can see why keeping tort law is beneficial rather than having no-fault insurance. Perhaps Canada needs a further Right leaning government to achieve this? I think that is a great discussion topic.

Posted in Criminology, General, Homework and deadlines, Law, Law and Order, University classes | Comments Off

Yes, It’s my Friday: Finally.

February 8th, 2009 Thomasso

Because of the weird scheduling at work, today is my Friday, and I get Monday off, which makes this the end of the week for me. It has been a trying week because of the “special” projects that needed to done at work, and on top of that my own personal pet project, that took a lot out of me. I’m tiered, but I still feel good as everyone around me seems to be getting some sort of flu-bug. It’s awful knowing that I’m next….

Anyway, my personal special project involved a friend who was faced with the Landlord vrs Tenant dispute. In her case, she was the tenant or occupant who rented from a landlord who was not the friendliest guy in the world. As we went to court, this guy managed to prove just how low a person can go when telling fibs and doctoring evidence. The dispute was a claim against the occupant regarding damage to the dwelling after the termination of the agreement. In other words, he refused to give up the damage deposit.

What saved her “bacon” was that she followed the Safe Renter’s Guide, which regrettably I cannot find a link to it at this time, but it is a great document for both Renters and Landlords in British Columbia. She took lots of photos and signed an appraisal document, with the wife of the Landlord, before she moved in. The guide suggests that a walk-through be done before the Rental Agreement is signed. It should be noted that back during the housing shortage, many agreements were done informally and because of this today many of those disputes are going through arbitration, there is a long waiting list to get your case in. With her photo album and documents she walked into arbitration and went through the proceedings just as we rehearsed.

How did the proceedings go? In short, the Landlord was unbelievable and “stupid” for lack of a better word. He actually took “white-out” and covered key words on his copies of the documents. I saw one of the Arbitrators as looking positive, or understanding, during the Landlord’s explanation as to why his document looked so different from the Tenant’s. Fortunately that quickly changed when it was our turn for questioning.

I know this is cheep advice, but don’t give up if you are getting ripped off in a Residential Tenancy dispute. Keep trying. Make your case and stand by it, even when it looks like the most bizarre is taking place and the system seems like it is going to buy it—keep trying. She only talked for one eighth of the time during the whole two hour hearing, meaning that more fact than fiction is the way to go. Keep all of your records—everything–even photos. And if one party does not give you your documents, then keep hounding them for it. Never talk to them, always write letters! Verbal agreements are the stuff of Hollywood because Canada seems to be taking a different direction in these types of agreements now a days.

So from pencil-pusher to steel construction worker, my week took me all over the endless duties that I need to perform in my employment. I spent part of the last two days working on shelving for our warehouse. That is always a treat to do because it takes us so long, and none of us are any good at it. Picture two guys in clown suites with pipped circus music playing as they try to erect a steel “Conex” structure with no instructions and correct tools. Yes, that’s how I felt—foolish. ..but somebody’s gotta do it, right.

Posted in Bitching about work, General, Law | Comments Off

Man in the White Van

September 4th, 2008 Thomasso

It was 1:00pm on Tuesday when my friend invited the plumber in to fix his washing machine. The Plumber showed up on time and finished the job within a satisfactory period of time, but what he didn’t expect was the mess that was left behind from his labour and a machine that was worse than before.

When he phoned me to come over and have a look, I remember thinking that this must something insignificant, like a small pile of wire trimmings, or insulation and bits of tape. Anyway, I agreed to come over and see this for myself.

We walked down into the basement and then he led me over to the laundry room. I looked inside the room and on the floor were several rolls of wire, most in one metre lengths, several rags with oil and grease stains on them, and a puddle of rust and water covering half of the room’s floor.

His wife had tried the machine with a load of laundry and the machine did not perform as it did before it had broke. The noise that came from the machine made me run over and turn it off—it was a squealing sound from the belt, even though the machine seemed to be going through the wash cycle normally as it was intended.

He had phone the company that he hired and made a complaint. The person on the phone said that they would talk to their technician and see if they can resolve the “situation.” The agreement was that the company would phone them back later the next day to try and sort everything out. So my friend waited, and there was no call from them, so he called back the next day after. He was talking to a new person this time, someone who seemed less a where of their business’s activities, and she passed the message onto someone else—who would call my friend back as soon as possible.

Today, they hired another plumber from a different company to come and fix the washing machine. The plumber came over and looked at the machine and then gave them the estimate of cost. He said that the motor was damaged and that it needed to be repaired at once. My friend asked the plumber if he noticed anything else wrong with the belt, as they described the sounds it made. He said that the belt was OK, and that it seemed to be band-new.

This time, they checked to see if the machine worked before the plumber left and made sure that room was free of any debris from the work. The machine seemed to be in good running condition, and the room was cleaned. So they thanked him and he went on his way.

The previous plumber has not been heard from—yet. My friend is considering going to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to complain. Then they are considering some form of legal action because the machine was never fixed and about the state of the room after this guy left it. They are not holding their breath because they know how hard it can be to get their money back from a dispute in British Columbia. The best they can do is warn people and tell everyone to check with the BBB first before they commit to having anything done by a contractor in BC. And of course, it is not my intention to post names when a legal action is taking place—this is just a FYI for you all.

Posted in Events, General, Law | Comments Off

Happy, Yet Sad Day in our State of Justice Today

August 28th, 2007 Thomasso

Today is a momentous , yet dark day in Canadian justice as the aquittal of Steven Truscott who was charged with the murder in the death of Lynne Harper 48 years ago, where he was the youngest Canadian ever put on death row, will now be a free man. When I was a freshmen criminologist, I remembered studying the case and wondered how the Crown could uphold their case against Mr. Truscott, with blunder after blunder, while evidence piled up around him proving that he was not the killer. With shawdy police work, eye whiteness testimony based on fabricated evidence, I wondered why a stay of preceding, or an out right acquittal was never done during the early stages of his conviction by the Crown? Watching the television program The Fifth Estate by the CBC, made me suspicious that with just a reporter, armed with a nose for searching out possibilities, came up with so much new evidence and documentation, while the Ontario Police had empty pockets to show for it, yet they stuck to their ever weakening list of evidence.

The scary “fact,” and I do mean “fact,” is that the wheels of justice turn slowly; 48 years later the wheel has come full circle for Mr. Truscott. My hat goes off to the present day Ontirio Governemnt, the Attorney general, and the Jurors who showed great strength in issuing the acquittal with the unanimous decision today. The flip-side to the case is that now the murder of Lynne Harper may very well be an Cold Case as almost 50 years have pasted. This must be a very sore wound to have reopen again for her family.

Posted in General, Law | Comments Off

Humor Under Pressure: It’s a Good Thing

January 29th, 2007 Thomasso

I have sort of a side job that involves preparing and serving court documents to customers who are delinquent in their payments. This is work that no one wants because of its low-end costs, high overhead and small return. These jobs are left to the amateur because, well, it is Small Claims Court, and it should be kept simple and low cost–thus as the name implies. But for those who are not in the know, or who are terrified by the Court system, an helping hand is sometimes a good thing–but is can get expensive. So I’m doing some clerical work for the next few days to help a friend out.

As I was filing my Statement of Claims at the Registry this morning when something funny happened, but, well it was sort of tragic, but in the end I would classify it under “funny.” You are familiar with the term, “throw the book at him, ” when cops and other law enforcement officials are enforcing the law, and they want to charge that person with an offense? That actually happened, although there was no charge, nor an offense being committed, but the book did fly! I was standing in the line-up in front of the wicket; I was next in cue when something hit me in my leg and bounced off, and landed in front of me. It was a book, a Steno-pad with a thick elastic band wrapped around it. Moments later, a large man, dressed in a brown uniform, a sheriff, trotted over to me, his implements flapping around is belt, and the look of embarrassment on his face. Everyone in the court gallery was quite, speechless, you could hear a pin drop. “Oh m—I am sorry about that sir!” The sheriff said.

I laughed and replied, “No problem, I guess that one sort of got away on you, eh?”

“I didn’t mean to throw it…” He said, “I shouldn’t talk with my hands.”

I replied back, “I now know what is feels like to have the book thrown at me.” Everyone laughed.

Posted in General, Law, Social Justice | Comments Off