Law and Criminality

LO - Identify and describe simple patterns and trends in data and information- Understand the influence of social, geographical and historical contexts on

perspectives

Law and Criminality

• What is the law?• What are the current patterns and trends in

crime?• What do official statistics from the internet

show

Starter – news report on Crime

On the night of October 30, Arab Spec-Ops soldiers broke into the house where Kazakhstan citizens lived and arrested 14 people including 12 Kazakhstan nationals. A week earlier, another Kazakhstan citizen was arrested at the Dubai International Airport. The incident was reported to Uralskaya nedelya by a friend of one of the detainees who was living in the UAE. The informant who refused to identify himself is a native of western Kazakhstan.

 The identities of the arrested Kazakhstanis are yet to be determined. According to the source, all the detainees were working for a firm that imported used cars to Kazakhstan. The names of two of the arrested Kazakhstanis are Asylbek Shukranov and Nurym Kuanysh. One of them is the director of the firm. Yet according to other sources, the detainees were on student visas and were studying at a madrasah.

 The local UAE police chief denies arresting any Kazakhstan nationals.

 The mother of Kuanish Uteshev share some details of the arrest with a local newspaper Moy gorod: “On October 23 my son and daughter-in-law with their three children left for their two week vacation in Dubai. They stayed at my daughter’s place. On the night of October 30 people claiming to be the local police burst into the house. Some of them were wearing masks. My son and son-in-law went to open the door. Both of them were knocked down, handcuffed and told to produce their IDs,” Gulzhan Utesheva said.

What is this story about?

What are two perspectives?

Who are the people involved?

Why is it important?

Is there any evidence of a crime?

What is law?Law is the system of rules that a country or community uses to regulate the actions of its members. It may use penalties to.Early and the most important laws were

Code of Hammurabi Ten Commandments of MosesThe Magna CartaThe Universal Declaration of Human RightsThe Constitution of Kazakhstan

In groups use the internet to find information on one of the above and write a brief summary of these laws. One member of your group will report what you find to the rest of the class.

What are the current patterns and trends in crime?

Use the information in the statistics provided on the school website to

Identify and Summarize the features and trends from different countries on each continent . Choose different countries from other members of your group.

Identify trends in the types of crimeIs the trend increasing or decreasing? Is there a difference by sex?Is there a difference in age groups?Is there a difference in reporting?Is there a difference in rich and poor countries?

When you are finished compare your summary with the other members of your group.

Did they reach the same conclusions?

Use the data and maps provided to come up with conclusions about what the maps show

World Homicide rates

Questions

• What are the six most frequent crimes?• What are the trends in these crimes?• What types of people are most likely to commit crime?

(gender, age, ethnicity and class)• What types of people are most likely to be victims of

crime? (gender, age, ethnicity and class)• How is the data collected?• What is the difference between official crime statistics and

victim studies? • Which type of data is likely to be the most accurate? What

are the strengths and weaknesses of each type of data?• What is meant by the ‘dark figure’ of crime?

Research – evaluating official statistics from the internet as evidence

Using the information, statistics and maps that you have used so far, draw a poster to highlight the information that you think is most important.

You must be able to come up with reasons and evidence.You must include two perspectives.You can work in your group or individually.Your peers will judge the best work!

Practice Essay

• Individual learners write a short essay titled, ‘Crime statistics provide an accurate picture of the amount of crime in society.’

• Outline and assess this point of view. • The essay should be supported by data and

sources discovered in the research. • These should be cited and referenced with a

bibliography.

SurveyUsing Kwiksurvey, carry out a survey on crime in the class then on a larger survey group, include:

• Perspectives and opinions• Degree of concern over crime• The just level of punishment for crimes• Methods of reducing crime

• You should consider crimes like– Terrorism– Murder– Violent crimes– Non violent crimes– Theft– Alcohol related crimes

Aanalyse the results and reach preliminary conclusions at this stage of the research

Webpage Blog• Create a blog for the ‘Law and Criminality’ unit.• Use your survey results to describe your and other peoples personal

perspectives and opinions on law and crime. • Describe your and other peoples opinions on the level of punishment

for crimes• Explore the degree to which you and other people thinks that

individuals should be worried about crime and deviance.• Describe and explain the methods of reducing crime.• Identify aspects of law and criminality that you would like to know

more about and explore further. • This should include suggestions for methods and sources of evidence.• Have your blog peer reviewed by another student.