PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES
It is expected that students will:
• evaluate the changing nature of law and its
relation to social conditions of the times
SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
• Present to the class an example from history such as:
In 1750, a teenaged female servant in
Halifax stole some silverware from her
employer and received the death penalty.
Ask students to compare this event with what would
happen today to a teenager who stole some
silverware. Ensure that they account for differences
in the severity of punishment (referring to the Young
Offenders Act, the UN Declaration of the Rights of the
Child, and the Human Rights Act) and consider social
conditions of the time.
SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
• When students compare historical and modern penalties for stealing silverware, look for evidence that they:
- define the “crime” in terms appropriate for each time
- accurately describe relevant due process in terms of the Young Offenders Act
- identify social conditions and values that might account for the severity of punishment in the 1750s (e.g., crime-ridden streets)
- compare key features of society then and now in terms of crime, punishment, poverty, prevailing views of good and evil, and public perceptions of adolescenceRESOURCES
interactive site: Torture and the Truth: Angélique and the Burning of Montreal
(Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History series)
When Montreal caught fire in April 1734, suspicion fell on Marie Angélique, a Black slave accused of setting the fire to cover an escape with her White lover, a salt smuggler exiled from France. But if that was her motive, why did she stay to help her mistress save her possessions instead of fleeing. True, she confessed, but only after torture. Her punishment was to be hanged and then burned. But did she really start the fire? What does her story tell us about slavery, torture and fire in early Canada?
Sentencing Principles (Law Courts Education Society)
Case studies and teaching resources
Youth Justice Act (British Columbia)
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 to 1834 (For Schools)
A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
