Auto Theft in Canada

Of the rate of cars stolen on a global scale, Canada has some of the highest rates in the world. On average, there are about 400 cars stolen every day. However, car theft is a preventable crime and there are steps that you can take to avoid having your car broken into. But first, a look into why people commit auto theft in the first place. 

There are several reasons why someone might break into or steal a car. First, there might be something of value that is inside the car. This could be a laptop, smart phone, iPod or iPad, GPS or a wallet/cash. Anything they can get that is a quick sell is the primary target. Second, they could be after the car itself. It doesn't take long to strip a car for parts and get rid of it. Things such as alternators, distributors, tires, carburetors and radiators can all be removed from a car in a matter of less then an hour and are quick sellers. If it is a higher end car, such as Audi, Maserati, Mercedes, etc, it is likely that it is being stolen to be shipped over seas to Asia for cash as well.

However, as mentioned earlier, there are ways that you can prevent your car from being broken into. To start, don't leave valuables inside your car. If the crime isn't worth the punishment, chances are your car won't be broken into. Another, lock your doors and close your windows and sunroofs, if you have one. They aren't likely to break into your car if they are taking the risk of being noticed by anyone in the area by breaking a window. Another, park your car in well lit areas, or in a private garage, for obvious reasons. And last, never leave your keys in your car or ignition. 20% of cars that are stolen had the keys in the ignition at the time.

Does Hyper-masculinity lead to Sexual Assault?

Despite the Canadian governments attempts to minimize sexual assault, if you walked onto a University, you will like hear the same problem. People are using date rape drugs and sexual assaults are still a problem. Despite people trying to teach girls how to be safe, were teaching girls the wrong message. "Stranger Danger" isn't the problem, the majority of rapes that happen are committed by someone who the victim knows. This could be an ex-boyfriend, a fellow classmate, or even one of your friends. In a census done at a university, 35% of men said they would commit sexual assault if they knew they could get away with it. This being said, is it the way women dress or act, or is it the way men perceive things growing up?

Could this be from natural instincts? Looking into the animal world, the "head" lion in a pride pretty well has his way with the females in the group. If he wants it he gets it, and anyone else has to fight him to get it. To men, it could be seen as a sort of prize to "tap" a certain girl, or it could be to show that they have power over females. All of these examples could be classified under Hyper-Masculinity. 

Hyper-Masculinity is the perception of a male that he is above others, that violence is "manly" and in some cases, is he wants it he gets it because it is his. But the overall question, Is Sexual Assault tied to Hyper-Masculinity? Another question leading off of that, how do men come into believing the perception that Hyper-Masculinity is necessarily that right way of living? Answering the second question first, this could be tracked to back when men are younger. Violent Cartoons or TV shows can lead to desensitization, therefore beginning the base attributes of Hyper-Masculinity. Next they may see or hear a negative depiction of women through media, such as "slut" or "whore" in music, or watching models on TV wearing next to nothing, etc. The possibilities of creating the perception that Hyper-Masculinity is the correct way to live, can begin in endless ways. However you can stop it from progressing into sexual assault in 20 minutes.

You can't teach a woman how to stop sexual assault from happening. You can show her how to prevent it, but its not her decision to be raped. That leaves one other option for stopping it from happening. You teach men that rape is wrong.  If they are taught that men are not "things" for their use, you can neutralize the possibility of it happening. So in the end, is Hyper-Masculinity related to Sexual Assault? In my opinion, yes it is. 

Clifford Olsen vs. Marc Lepine

Of the murders and killers that are and have been in Canada, Clifford Olsen and Marc Lepine could possibly some of the worst in Canadian history. Clifford Olsen was a serial killer who was targeting kids of both genders in the Vancouver area while Marc Lepine was a Mass Murderer who over the course of about 20 minutes gunned down both women and men (the target being women) at the École Polytechnique at the University of Montreal.

 Clifford Olsen began his criminal behavior quite early on in life, commiting B&E's and thefts, etc. He was even a nuisance in prison, "buggering" the younger inmates in prison, and blabbing to the authorities about anyone doing anything, making him quickly unpopular among inmates and guards, which led to solitary confinement. When he was out of prison, he started targeting kids of both sexes, sexually assaulted them, and hid there bodies all over Vancouver and neighboring communities. After being charged with the murder of one of the victims, he made a full confession, even offering to sell the bodies for cash, the deal being he would give the location for each body for $10 000, or altogether, all of them for $100 000, the 11th body being a "freebie". I believe that the reason he commited these murders was due to his behavior when he was younger, this can be backed up from the fact that he favored Sexually Assaulting young inmates.

 Marc Lepine was a young man who had been bullied or laughed at most of his life. In 1989, at the engineering school École Polytechnique at the University of Montreal, he entered a classroom, fired 2 shots, and asked the men to leave the room, and ordered the women to line up against the wall. After explaining that he hated feminism, he shot the women, from left to right. Over a period of around 20 minutes, he shot several men and women over several different areas of the school, and when a fire alarm was pulled, shot himself in the head, killing himself. 

 The biggest question here is, can we stop people from committing crimes of this magnitude in Canada, and how so? In my opinion, we can't. Most criminals learn there behavior from when they are very young, and there is no possible way we can watch every single youth in Canada 24/7 to make sure they aren't being assaulted, being the assaultie, or being in some way shape or form, being involved in Criminal activity, whether it be from being a victim or a perpetrator. We can however, learn from these behaviors. We could research other criminal behaviors, and compare their crimes, etc to Marc Lepine and Clifford Olsen, and look for similar traits and actions vs. the crimes committed, and in this way look for similarities to see if there's similar reasons or something that might trigger something in their brains to make them commit these crimes.

Victimization- Short vs. Long term affects

Anyone can be a victim of crime. In the Law and Order episode, the victim was raped and because of it, went through long and short term mental effects. In short term, she was afraid to go anywhere by herself, or for that matter, afraid to be by herself at all. She seemed to see her rapist around every corner and was afraid to sleep. Her long term affects were she tried to block out that anything had ever happened and tried to convince herself and the agents that she was over it and had come to peace with what had happened. However, she had to sleep with the lights on and had to sleep while wearing running shoes. She didn't like making any kind of touch and she even tried changing her appearance.

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/12/02/photos_released_of_two_men_wanted_in_weekend_assault_of_beck_taxi_driver.html

In the news story above, 2 men severally beat a taxi driver in the early morning. The two men tried to walk away from the Taxi without paying which prompted the driver to follow them for payment. They proceeded to beat him. The police are currently searching for them.

The Long term vs. Short Term affects on the man could be a variety of things. In the short term, He may not trust people who look like the two men, may not like driving at night, all the way too he may not like people sitting behind him where he can't see them. In the Long Term, he is probable to try and forget it ever happened, which is a natural thing that your brain may try to do. He might end up looking in some form to take revenge on the two (unlikely but it happens)There's a chance that some of the short term affects still are affecting him as well, as he may not trust people that look like his the people that assaulted him. He might also certain quirk's that bother him he may not have had before he was assaulted.

Drug Trends in BC

There could be several reasons why British Columbia has some of the highest recorded drug reports in Canada. To start if you look at Victoria and Vancouver, which has had the highest rates in Canada since 1991, They are both right on an Ocean. There could be more drug busts recorded because it is much easier to traffic drugs on water then on land. These drugs could be coming up anywhere along the coast of the United States, or all the way down to Mexico and Columbia. This could also explain the increasing amounts of Cocaine in Canada.

As for Marijuana, it is extremely popular in the province of BC. It (in comparison) is inexpensive and easy to obtain. Almost anyone can be a dealer, from your Gangs (The Hell's Angels or The Banditos) all the way down to the teenagers roaming around the streets. Not only is it easy to obtain, it is easy enough for most people to grow given the right conditions, thus making it a popular way of making money.

On that note, I think the best theory that explains why people commit crime is Rational Choice Theory. The punishment for being caught with Marijuana is very low, and even so can be said the same for distribution, to a certain extent. If the payout of the crime will be higher then the risk, people are likely to take the easy path with the high payout and a higher paying "career" then what could possibly be a low or minimum wage paying job.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/police+bust+international+drug+ring/9063055/story.html

In the link above, the news article explains that a ring of people based out of Ottawa who were connected with BC Gangsters, were caught trying to smuggle $35 000 000 worth of Cocaine and Methamphetamine's out of Canada in furniture to Australia. In going back on the theory that I used earlier I believe that the reason people would have tried to pull something off like this is because they believed that the payout would be greater then the risk (however, they were wrong) and decided to try and pull it off, even though someone they were connected with tried to pull of a similar international drug traffic and was arrested in the midst of doing so.

Personal Gain Theory

      My theory on why crime happens is people commit crime because in some way, shape or form, they are going to gain something from it. People don't commit crime if they aren't getting something out of it. This could be money, an item that may have a certain value to the person, sexual pleasure, etc. People aren't likely to commit crime just because they want too, they will usually do it because they're trying to get a lot out of something but at the same time put very little work into it. For example, if someone robbed a liquor store, they might spend only a few minutes prepping for it, walk in and rob it at gun point, and for what was potentially very little work and low risk the crime could have a high payoff.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2013/11/18/21275371.html

    In the link above is of a recent "Rogue Dentist" who was doing dental work out of his own home, and 10 years previously he had been ordered by the Supreme Court too stop. When his home was searched, a client list of 1500 people was found and from the results of his work, put the said amount of people at risk to diseases and infections such as HIV and Hepatitis. I believe that the reason he ignored the court order was because of the potential payout for himself was large. Dentists do make large amounts of money and weighing the potential risk of his crime vs. how much he is going to make may have influenced the reason for his decision to continue his dental work, and risk the health of his patients.