Criminal Law & Justice

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

Legal Method and Reasoning; Principles of Public Law; Torts; Legal Theory; Criminal Law and Procedure; or in each case their equivalents.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills, and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to providing support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/.

This subject provides students with an opportunity to study in depth current topics of criminal law in the Australian and international criminal justice systems. Specific topics will vary from year to year and students will be able to select research topics from across the full range of criminal law doctrines, institutions and theories. Topics will be chosen from both Australian criminal law and international criminal law. The topics will also be chosen from specific doctrines (eg intoxication, dangerousness, complicity), specific crimes (eg stalking, sexual assault, genocide, torture), specific institutions (eg specialist courts such as koori courts and drug courts; eg the international criminal court), and specific traditions and styles of criminal jurisprudence (eg common law; eg legislative).

The subject has two main aims:

1. To deepen and advance students’ understanding of the authority, institutions and values of contemporary criminal law;
2. To provide students with the opportunity to undertake and present a substantial piece of legal research.

• 5,000-word research essay (100%);
• Class presentation based on essay (hurdle);
• 75% attendance in classes (hurdle).

Printed materials will be available from the Melbourne Law School.

Students will be advised to consult the following two texts when beginning their research on specific topics:

• Simon Bronitt and Bernadette McSherry, Principles of Criminal Law (latest edition);
• Brown et al, Criminal Laws (latest edition).
  

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of the subject, students should have developed the following generic skills:

• The capacity for critical and independent thought and reflection;
• The capacity to communicate, both orally and in writing;
• The capacity for close reading and analysis of a range of texts;
• The ability to develop a research topic;
• The capacity to plan and manage time;
• Attitudes towards knowledge that include valuing truth, openness to new ideas and ethics associated with knowledge creation and usage;
• Intercultural sensitivity and understanding.