LAWS11060 - Criminal Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

LAWS11060 Criminal law provides knowledge of the procedures of and general doctrines of criminal law with emphasis on offences against the person (including murder, manslaughter and assault) and against property (including stealing) as expressed in the Queensland Criminal Code. Selective treatment is given to various defences and to the elements of criminal procedure. This unit meets the LPAB requirements for criminal law and procedure.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Corequisite: LAWS11057

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2024

Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Take Home Exam 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 26.88% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Positive feedback from students that the bail application was authentic.
Recommendation
It is recommended that Criminal Law continue to adopt authentic assessment tasks. Criminal Law is well suited for authentic assessment tasks given the practice of criminal law involves oral advocacy such as a bail application or a sentencing hearing and written advocacy such as an appeal.
Action Taken
This was retained.
Source: Student feedback, moodle and email
Feedback
Positive feedback from students that the feedback on the bail application gave them practical tips and suggestions for criminal law practice.
Recommendation
Authentic assessment tasks such as a bail application should give students feedback in two forms, the first is pre due date feedback in the form of practical discussions with students in the Zoom sessions and post submission feedback in the form of specific suggestions on how to improve legal advocacy in the criminal law context.
Action Taken
This was retained.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
In some Zoom sessions students had an opportunity to debate recent criminal law topics which students said gave them an opportunity to interact.
Recommendation
The UC will continue to develop moot topics in live Zoom sessions to encourage students to practice their legal argument (in a non assessed context) which is a key legal advocacy skill for legal practice.
Action Taken
This was retained where suitable for the weekly content.
Source: SUTE feedback
Feedback
Some students commented they would like a powerpoint to read in combination with the podcast/audio lecture
Recommendation
Develop lecture videos (as an alternative to podcasts) and provide powerpoints to the students
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE feedback
Feedback
Students appreciate real world practical examples and enjoy applying the law to problem scenarios, particularly as problem questions feature on exam papers
Recommendation
Ensure real world examples continue to be incorporated into lectures and workshops. Ensure problem questions continue to be a regular feature of workshop questions in preparation for the exam and IRAC is explicitly taught as part of the workshops.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Analyse and explain the elements of the criminal offence or defence, and the onus and burden of proof
  2. Research and apply principles of criminal law in Queensland as expressed in legislation and case law to the analysis of criminal law problems
  3. Apply skills in communication, critical legal thinking and reasoning.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Take Home Exam • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10