Festivals, death, suicide, Drumming, Fire Keeping, Spirituality, Pagan, Paganism, Brighid,
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
Probably Mrs Smith grade 5. Sadly she commited suicide. But she was a teacher who actually read novels like Lord of the flies and The Hobbit to our class every Friday afternoon, just because she could. Why is it the teachers who share the most seem to burn out the fastest?
Assignment 2 – Application of Theoretical Explanations for Crime
Kevin McLaughlin
COR1923 450: Introduction to Criminology
Professor Jennifer Zubick
Date: 03/18/24
The crime drama movie I have chosen for this assignment was released in 1967 and told the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow; it is Titled “Bonnie and Clyde.” While the movie itself is not factual i in its storyline and does not accurately reflect the lives of these two individuals. Interestingly, this deviance from fact reflects people’s perceptions of these persons and the continued romanticizing of the Barrows Gang.
Bonnie Parkerii: Born in Rowena, Texas, on October 1, 1910. Birth Order child number 3 of 3. Her father died in a construction accident when she was approximately four years old. Their siblings were Hubert (Buster) Parker and their younger sister Billie.
Bonnie was an honor student academically. At the Age of 15, she met Roy Thornton, whom she later married at the Age of 16. Thornton, for the lack of a better classification, was a small-time career criminal. Their marriage collapsed after Thornton was sent to prison for five years for a failed robbery attempt. Shortly after Thornton’s incarceration, she met Clyde Barrow.
Clyde Barrowiii: Born Telico, Texas, on March 24, 1909, Birth Order child number 5 of 7. In conclusion, the story of Bonnie and Clyde is a reflection of the social and economic circumstances of the time. The social disorganization theory and social strain theory provide a framework for understanding how the circumstances Bonnie and Clyde found themselves in led them down the path of crime. The lack of opportunities, combined with the social pressures to achieve predetermined goals, created a perfect storm that ultimately led to their demise. While the movie may not accurately reflect the lives of Bonnie and Clyde, it does provide a glimpse into the social and economic conditions that existed during that period. Overall, this assignment has provided a deeper understanding of criminological theories and their application to real-life scenarios.Attended school until 16, Had aspired to become a musician and could play the guitar and saxaphone. The family farm failed in the 1920s drought, so they moved to West Texas. An area that became known as “the Devil’s Back Porch.”iv
Setting the Scene
The 1920s and 1930s were a tumultuous time in Texas; after the end of the 1st world War in 1918, many jobs were lost due to a downturn in manufacturing, and soldiers returning from the war effort found they had no employment opportunities. 1929v saw the stock market crash again, causing more hardship and job loss. In combination with the crash, we also see the beginning of the “Dustbowl.”vi which caused many farmers to lose their farms to banks as their crops failed, and they could no longer afford to make loan payments. These displaced farmers migrated to urban areas, further exacerbating the unemployment issues that were already present. Although not displaced by foreclosure, many walked away and moved to the cities hoping to find work.
1920 saw the 19th amendment enacted, which allowed women to vote in the USA. This was closely tied to the Women’s Temperance Movement, which saw the enactment of prohibition months prior to its adoptionvii
The government’s failure to deal with the unemployment issues, coupled with the stock market crash, disdain for financial institutions and the devalued dollar, and prohibition led to a complete lack of trust by the people in everything.
The Devil’s Porch is the area where Bonnie and Clyde met. Its name says it all. This was otherwise known as West Texas, a part of Dallas County, a free campground for migrants to settle. This untended area received little to no civic services and little to no policing. It was compromised mainly of disenfranchised, out-of-work, out-of-money families. Some were single-parent families. Upon arrival, some, such as the Barrow family, had nothing to shelter their heads while they slept at night besides the wagon that brought them there.
Their geographic demographics fit well within the theory of social disorganization, satisfying low economics, transient composition, different ethnicities, and a significant number of single-parent families.
Social theory being the pressure that individuals feel to reach socially determined goals.viii
Bonnie and Clyde were at the right time and the right place in history to fit in with this theory; both were born into a time when the opportunity to achieve a normal life was difficult. Both came from dislocated families. Bonnie was from a single-parent family. Although she herself was very intelligent, the opportunities to excel in life were limited. She was unemployed for a year prior to meeting Clyde Barrow. While not overtly intelligent, Clyde had aspirations of a better life than the one he was dealt with. Both Bonnie and Clyde started life knowing a better life than the ones they were currently leading and aspired to return to that life, but the opportunity to do so was limited.
West Dallas, AKA The Devil’s Kitchen, was a portion of Dallas County that was set aside for the transient migrant. As stated previously, it received little to no civic funding. Law enforcement, basic amenities such as sanitation, availability of clean water, medical facilities could have been more present. West Dallas was created to keep the undesirables out of the more affluent neighborhoods. There was no social control within the limits of West Dallas.
The story of Bonnie and Clyde provides an insight into the social and economic conditions that existed during the 1920s and 1930s, and how they contributed to the path of crime for these individuals. The application of criminological theories such as social disorganization theory and social strain theory helps us understand the factors that led to their criminal behavior. The lack of opportunities, combined with social pressures to achieve predetermined goals, created a perfect storm that ultimately led to their demise. Although the movie “Bonnie and Clyde” is not factual in its storyline, it reflects people’s perceptions and continued romanticizing of the Barrow Gang. Overall, this assignment helped in gaining a deeper understanding of criminological theories and their application to real-life scenarios.
ihttps://texoso66.com/2017/06/22/bonnie-and-clyde-film-1967-and-historical-facts/
iihttps://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/parker-bonnie
iiihttps://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/barrow-clyde-chesnut
ivhttps://blog.smu.edu/engagedallas/resource-library/history-of-west-dallas/1920s-unwanted-families-including-clyde-barrows-settle-in-untended-part-of-dallas/
vhttps://texasourtexas.texaspbs.org/the-eras-of-texas/great-depression-ww2/
vihttps://static.pbslearningmedia.org/media/media_files/d3e5842c-42af-4eee-97c2-de65c4771875/6eaf612d-0a69-488c-a423-0ddcef9be7da.mp4
viihttps://time.com/5501680/prohibition-history-feminism-suffrage-metoo/
viiihttps://brightspace.algonquincollege.com/d2l/le/content/615498/viewContent/9221470/View
What is your favorite drink?
Coffee…. Keeping people safe for millennia!
Kevin McLaughlin
COR1923 450: Introduction to Criminology
Professor XXX
Date: 02/05/24
Persons who suffer from a loss of or damage to property, emotional or physical harm, or financial loss as a result of the commission of an offense are victims of the offense committed. Under current legislation, these individuals are entitled to assistive services and programs. This study shall look at services and programs available to those individuals who have become victims to the growing issue of Fentanyl trafficking. This issue has multiple facets when identifying its victimology as it has many bi-lateral victims.
“Upper Ottawa Valley OPP have charged 11 people following a major drug bust in Pembroke. Police say they executed two search warrants at homes on William Street last week. They reportedly found suspected fentanyl and cocaine, along with scales, money, drug paraphernalia and cell phones.” (myFM News, Jan 31, 2024)
Assessing the Need For Victim Services
Let us talk about what is available for services for victims of crime, bearing in mind that persons involved may also be victims of it. First and foremost is the Victims Fundiii This is primarily to assist in setting up programming by facilitators who, in turn, are able to use that resource to provide aid to victims. With this aid, many of the programs available are possible. About drug use in itself, several resources are available, such as the Addictions Treatment Helplines in Canadaiv or Wellness Togetherv both are good starting points and can point someone to a more local resource for assistance. For example, in the Pembroke area, there is the Renfrew County Addiction Treatment Systemvi which can facilitate a road to recovery.
Identifying the victims of drug trafficking can be challenging. It is even more so when one considers the overlap between its victims and perpetrators. Drug trafficking has far-reaching implications; it reaches into the sex trade, human trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism in all forms. It is a domestic and international issue. While we must deal with the implications of committed offenses, and the impact those offences have on the general public, we need to deal with the genuine possibility that those who commit drug-related offenses are, very well, indeed, its victims. While there are those who feel that drug traffickers cannot be victims, this belief may be far from the truth and is evidenced in this case reported by CBC in February of 2021. It outlines the story of a young person who became a dealer as a result of debt and need caused by their addiction. The Judge for this matter felt that jail is not the answer for people dealing fentanyl. To quote this article “In a ruling likely to send shockwaves through B.C.’s justice system, Campbell River Provincial Court Judge Barbara Flewelling last week broke with years of precedent set by the province’s top court — suspending a sentence for a woman facing up to three years in jail for trafficking in fentanyl and placing her on probation instead.”vii
ihttps://www.grc-rcmp.gc.ca/en/news/2023/rcmp-rnc-jfo-west-talks-impacts-drug-trafficking-including-increased-violent-crimes-and
iihttps://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/res/pub/ROV-ROV/index.html#_Toc121406416
iiihttps://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/cj-jp/fund-fond/index.html#:~:text=The%20Victims%20Fund%20provides%20grants,available%20to%20victims%20of%20crime
ivhttps://www.ccsa.ca/addictions-treatment-helplines-canada
vhttps://www.wellnesstogether.ca/en-ca/
vihttps://www.renfrewcountyaddictiontreatment.ca/
viihttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/judge-drugs-addicts-sentencing-1.6275724
The most important invention in your lifetime is…
It is a toss up between the atm, the cell phone, or MRI machines
Kevin McLaughlin
COR1923 450: Introduction to Criminology
Professor Jennifer Zubick
Date
Persons who suffer from a loss of or damage to property, emotional or physical harm or financial loss as result of the commision of an offence are victims of the offence commited. As such these individuals under current legislations are entitled to assistive services and/or programs. This study shall look at services and programs available to those individuals who have become victims to the growing issue of Fentanyl trafficking. This issue has multiple facets when identifying its victimolgy as it has many bi-lateral victims.
“Upper Ottawa Valley OPP have charged 11 people following a major drug bust in Pembroke. Police say they executed two search warrants at homes on William Street last week. They reportedly found suspected fentanyl and cocaine, along with scales, money, drug paraphernalia and cell phones.” (myFM News, Jan 31,2024)
Drug trafficking has many victims from the general public to even those who are directly involved in the actual act of traffickingi. Crime related to this endeavour range from property related damage, theft, human trafficking, home invasion, homicide, threats, money laundering to name a few. With such a wide range of offences it may become difficult to assess who is the victim and who is the offender when they can be one in the same. The trafficker may not be a willing participant, they may be a victim as well. For example the individual selling the drugs at street level may only be doing so as a result of threats against their person made as a result of an indebtedness to the dealer they once procured drugs from for their own drug habit. That same victim may as a result of this indebtedness perpetrate other offences such as theft in order to get out of debt. In summary what can be done here if the committer of the offence is also the victim of said offence. The technical terminology for this is the victim-offender overlapii In this instance we need to shift our way of thinking and recognize that although yes this person may have committed this offence but they may also be a victim to it as well. I wish I could find some study done to co-relate my work here however none seem to exist. And this in itself I believe is a problem. It means that no one of note feels that this merits a case study, no one of note recognizes the need to deal with the victim offender overlap that exists within the drug trade.
Assessing the Need For Victim Services
Let’s talk about what is available for services for victims of crime bearing in mind that persons involved may also be victims of it as well. First and foremost is the Victims Fundiii This is primarily to assist setting up programming by facilitators who in turn are able to use that resource to provide aid to victims. Without this aid many of the programs available would not be possible. In relation to drug use in itself several resources are available such as the Addictions Treatment Helplines in Canadaiv or Wellness Togetherv both are good starting points and have the ability to point some one to a more local resource for assistance. For example in the Pembroke area there is the Renfrew County Addiction Treatment Systemvi which can facilitate a road to recovery.
Identifying the victims of drug trafficking can be challenging. Even more so when one considers the overlap between its victims and its perpetrators. Drug trafficking has far reaching implications, it reaches into the sex trade, human trafficking, organized crime, terrorism in all forms. It is a domestic and international issue. While we must deal with the implications of committed offences I also believe we have the need to deal with the very real possibility that those who commit drug related offenses are very well indeed its victims.
ihttps://www.grc-rcmp.gc.ca/en/news/2023/rcmp-rnc-jfo-west-talks-impacts-drug-trafficking-including-increased-violent-crimes-and
iihttps://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/res/pub/ROV-ROV/index.html#_Toc121406416
iiihttps://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/cj-jp/fund-fond/index.html#:~:text=The%20Victims%20Fund%20provides%20grants,available%20to%20victims%20of%20crime
ivhttps://www.ccsa.ca/addictions-treatment-helplines-canada
The one thing that never seems to get done, well there are many, but in the grand scheme of things they all roughly equal one thing, and that is take care of myself… all things seem to boil down to that.
Not getting baking done = not taking care of yourself
Not getting groceries done = not taking care of yourself
Not getting medication, medical assistance not doing the thinks on the list all boil down to not taking care of yourself
What do you think about APA formatting? Do you think it adds to a paper or does the need for attention to form detract from the ability to demonstrate knowledge of a subject? I had one professor who was so hung up on formatting that he completely disregarded the content of what I wrote as a result. If it were not for doing well on the class quizzes, I would have failed simply because not enough emphasis is placed on demonstrated knowledge, which makes me wonder if there were people who spewed absolute garbage and managed to pass simply on the form?
What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?
Take on new business, and ending business relations/contracts. Both can damage a professional image.
I have done both in the last three months. Taking on the challenge of a new client, followed by ending the business relation with that very same client.
What do you complain about the most?
Simple ‘the unwanted room mate’ you know the one who does not understand boundaries, does not follow the house rules, always runs out of food and cigarettes but some how manages to keep himself in booze and pot. Is never in the wrong unless you catch him dead to rights, and even then is not at fault.
Unplugged Pagan 