Criminal Law and Procedure

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

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

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The subject studies the legal categories, judicial culture, and socio-historical contexts through which the contemporary attribution of criminal responsibility takes place. The topics covered in this subject include:

· theories of criminal law and of the role of criminal law in society;

· the formal structure of substantive criminal law;

· the institutional arrangements of criminal procedure and their respective rationales;

· the law of homicide and the law of defences;

· the law of the non-fatal offences against the person;

· the law of offences against property;

· extensions to substantive principles of criminal liability (examples may include strict liability, complicity and attempts); and

· the law of criminal procedure.

Throughout each of these topics, the emphasis is on both the theories and the practices of criminal law.

• the basic aims, structure and operation of the criminal justice system
• theories of criminal law and of its role in contemporary society
• selected aspects of criminal procedure, including the definition of crime
• the fundamental principles of substantive criminal law, and in particular, the elements of actus reus, mens rea and temporal coincidence
• knowledge of the areas of substantive criminal law studied in the subject
• key issues in contemporary criminal law reform

· Final examination: open-book. 3 hours writing time, plus 30 minutes reading time

· Court Visit: Compulsory but non-assessed court visit by students (in groups) with oral report by group to class on the visit

· Feedback Revision Exercise: Compulsory but non-assessed mid-semester exercise

· Rush and Yeo, Criminal Law Sourcebook (2 nd Edition)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

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

• Oral and written communication skills.
• Thinking skills: critical thinking, problem-solving, analytical skills.
• Capacities in information seeking and evaluation.
• Planning and time management.
• Working with and in different institutional and national cultures.