LAWS13021 - Criminal Law in Practice

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Criminal Law in Practice is delivered via intensive mode. The unit will build on your existing knowledge of criminal law with an emphasis on developing practical oral and written communication skills designed to assist you in the practice of criminal law. You will complete advocacy based assessment tasks that will require you to present legal argument, orally, via the use of zoom. You will analyse fundamental aspects of criminal law and apply the law using a practical methodology. In this unit you will study practical topics relating to specific criminal law issues including police powers and responsibilities in arrest and questioning, applying for bail, the registry committal and committal hearing process, procedures to ensure a fair trial, the role of the jury and verdict, sentencing of youth offenders and adult offenders and the appeals process to the District Court of Queensland, the Queensland Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia. The unit has a maximum number of students who can enrol due to the advocacy based assessment tasks.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites: 48 credit points of law units including LAWS11060 and

Co-requisite LAWS13010 

 

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. Practical Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 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 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 22.22% 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
Students gave positive feedback that all materials were available when Moodle went live.
Recommendation
The UC will ensure that all material is available the day Moodle goes live.
Action Taken
This was actioned.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students gave positive feedback that the unit materials and the design of assessment tasks were relevant to the degree and preparing them for legal practice.
Recommendation
The UC when updating the unit materials and designing the assessment tasks, will ensure the materials and assessment tasks are authentic and prepare students for legal practice, which can be achieved through criminal law scenarios.
Action Taken
This was actioned.
Source: Teacher reflection
Feedback
Student enrolments in 2023 and 2024 and student feedback indicate that the unit is popular and seen as beneficial for students' future legal careers
Recommendation
Consider running the unit every year rather than once every two years
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE results
Feedback
Further feedback on assessments
Recommendation
Review when and how feedback is delivered as well as the extent of the feedback.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Reflection of UC
Feedback
Include guest lectures from practitioners or judges
Recommendation
Include a guest lecture designed to provide insight into a day in the life of a criminal law practitioner.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Research and apply principles of criminal law from legislation, rules and case law to the analysis of practical criminal law scenarios
  2. Demonstrate persuasive written and oral communication skills in response to practical criminal law scenarios
  3. Apply critical legal thinking, analytical reasoning and professional judgment that demonstrate an in-depth understanding of criminal law issues.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Practical Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
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 • • •
8 - Ethical practice •
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