1. Unit 3: Criminal Law and Criminology
What is crime? Who are criminals?

2. The Sand Brothers Robert (b. 1978) and Danny Sand (b. 1980)
Albertan family
Father (Dennis), Mother (Elaine)
Father spent time in jail when he was young- after became a productive law abiding citizen (runs a business, member of community groups etc…)
As youngsters, were constantly in trouble (along with their friends)

3. The Sand Brothers only mixed-race boys in their town
difficulty in school, frequently suspended
at 15 Danny beat up another student- spent time in youth custody
*see description by Staples 2002

4. The Sand Brothers 1998 Robert- 7 year jail sentence for armed robbery
Danny also spent years in jail for several crimes, all violent (attacking a police officer)
Danny joined Robert in the same jail after ramming a police officer with a truck
Danny has a tattoo on his belly that reads “Fearless, Painless, Senseless” and on his knuckles- TCOB

5. The Sand Brothers
Oct Robert released to a halfway house- reunited with gf (Laurie Bell), who was a heavy drug user
Dec. 2001, Robert, Laurie and Danny, all on parole, left for the maritimes
Initiated a crime spree: robbing banks, B+Es, theft of vehicles
The spree led them to the town of Russell, Man.

6. The Sand Brothers
Dec Danny is stopped in his truck, with Robert and Laurie by RCMP
As the constables approached the truck, Robert fired several shotgun blasts at them
The RCMP fled to their car and attempted to get away- Danny chased them into town
Danny rammed the RCMP’s SUV in front of their headquarters, Robert jumped out, and fired at one of the constables who was trapped in the SUV- killed
RCMP tracked the trio to a motel back in Sask.- police sniper killed Danny; Robert and Laurie were captured

7. The Sand Brothers
Robert is serving a life sentence for first degree murder (see diary entry)- he attacked his own lawyer in the court room
Laurie Bell was convicted of manslaughter- was heard yelling “Kill Him”

8. Criminology Why did they lead such undisciplined lives?
Why did they pursue the RCMP officers instead of taking off?
Look at how Robert saw the world- why?
Is there anything that can be done to prevent this type of tragedy from occurring?
That is criminology in a nutshell

9. Crime
Even if we could solve those questions- the answer may not relate to other types of crimes
The case of Diego Zepeda-Cordera
The case of Conrad Black

10. Crime
The Sands’, Conrad Black and Zepeda-Corera have little in common, except for their criminal convictions
Criminal behaviour is diverse and the task of criminologists, police officers and social workers to deal with the diverse nature is incredibly hard

11. What is Criminology?
Body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon
Includes the process of making laws, breaking laws and of reacting to the breaking of laws
The objective is to develop a body of principles related to the above

12. What is Criminology?
Criminal behaviour and society’s response to the behaviour
The USA has a much higher rate of violent crime than Canada- they also have a much harsher justice system
Understanding crime before we reduce it
So...why is crime committed?

13. What is Criminology?
Study by R. Tremblay- boys whose violent behaviour did not mitigate by 16
Almost all were sons of young mothers with low levels of education
Government of Quebec has created programs for mothers who fit this profile to help reduce potential criminality of their children

14. What is Criminology? 6 major areas:
Definition of crime and criminals- who and what
Origins and role of law- why
Social Distribution of Crime- trends, rates
Causation- why do some people commit crimes and others don’t
Patterns of criminal behaviour- offenders, victims, circumstance, consequences, prevention?
Societal reactions- media effect, legislation, custody

15. Criminal Law
Crime is socially defined- can you think of a type of behaviour that is condemned by all?
Deviant behaviour is socially defined by the country, community and social unit- very different in many cases
Crime is relative- until this year assisted suicide was a crime
how about not reporting tips on your tax form?
Drawing the line between respectable people who do bad things occasionally and criminals is a tough act