LAW3423 Criminal Law B
| Semester 2, 2013 External Toowoomba | |
| Units : | 1 |
| Faculty or Section : | Faculty of Business and Law |
| School or Department : | School of Law |
| Version produced : | 11 April 2013 |
Staffing
Examiner: Eola Barnett
Moderator: Michael Maguire
Requisites
Pre-requisite: LAW1202 and LAW2205
Other requisites
Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/ict/students/standards/default.htm.
Rationale
A law graduate is required to have a broad knowledge of, and skills in, criminal law for admission into practice in accordance with the Law Admissions Consultative Committee Uniform Admission Rules (Priestly 11) and the Law Learning and Teaching Council Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Project: Bachelor of Laws learning and teaching academic standards statement December 2010. This course seeks to comply with these standards and is a core course within the Law degree program.
Synopsis
This course will build upon the understanding of the fundamental principles of criminal law and procedure acquired in Criminal Law A. Specifically the aim of the course will be to complete the criminal law picture by further exploring criminal law in Queensland. The course will focus on a range of indictable offences against the person that fall principally within the jurisdiction of the District and Supreme courts, and associated excuses and defences. The course will also cover: parties to offences, attempts, double jeopardy, and advocacy.
Objectives
On successful completion of this course students will be able to:
- deconstruct and understand selected Criminal Code (Qld) offences against the person, and a range of criminal law defences and excuses
- understand the nature of the party, attempts and double jeopardy provisions in the Criminal Code (Qld)
- understand the relationship between criminal offences and case law, and the role of counsel, judge and jury
- demonstrate an ability to apply, using appropriate problem solving methodologies, the criminal law to problems on selected offences in order to determine the likely outcome to issues
- demonstrate satisfactory written and oral communication skills within an advocacy context
- demonstrate an ability to apply methods of legal citation and referencing
- demonstrate an ability to locate, through research, and analyse primary law and secondary materials, relevant to topics considered in this course.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Selected fatal offences against the person | 11.00 |
| 2. | Selected non-fatal offences against the person | 11.00 |
| 3. | Advocacy skills | 17.00 |
| 4. | Provocation and self defence | 11.00 |
| 5. | Sexual offences and evidentiary matters | 11.00 |
| 6. | Accident and act independent of will | 11.00 |
| 7. | Insanity, diminished responsibility and intoxication | 11.00 |
| 8. | Parties and attempts | 11.00 |
| 9. | Double jeopardy | 6.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from USQ's Online Bookshop (unless otherwise stated). (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/bookweb/subject.cgi?year=2013&sem=02&subject1=LAW3423)
Please contact us for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/contact/)
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Colvin, E & McKechnie, J 2008, Criminal law in Queensland and Western Australia: cases and commentary, 5th edn, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, New South Wales.
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Devereux, J & Blake, M 2012, Kenny criminal law in Queensland and Western Australia, 8th edn, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, New South Wales.
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Shanahan, MJ, Smith, PE & Ryan, S 2012, Carter's criminal law of Queensland, 19th edn, LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney, New South Wales.
(available online via LexisNexis AU.)
Reference materials
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Bronitt, S & McSherry, B 2010, Principles of criminal law, 3rd edn, Thomson Reuters, Rozelle, New South Wales.
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Burton, K & Mackenzie, G 2006, Butterworths questions and answers: criminal law in Queensland and Western Australia, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, New South Wales.
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Douglas, H & Harbidge, S 2010, Criminal process in Queensland, 2nd edn, Lawbook Co, Pyrmont, New South Wales.
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Australian guide to legal citation (latest edition).
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LexisNexis concise Australian legal dictionary (latest edition).
Student workload requirements
| Activity | Hours |
|---|---|
| Assignments | 40.00 |
| Directed Study | 50.00 |
| Private Study | 75.00 |
Assessment details
| Description | Marks out of | Wtg (%) | Due Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADVOCACY EXERCISE | 40 | 40 | 16 Jul 2013 | (see note 1) |
| WEEKLY QUIZZES | 0 | 0 | 16 Jul 2013 | (see note 2) |
| EXAMINATION - PART A | 10 | 10 | End S2 | (see note 3) |
| EXAMINATION - PART B | 50 | 50 | End S2 |
NOTES
- Submission dates will vary.
- Weekly quizzes will be available weekly through Study Desk. No marks will be entered in Gradebook. Marks and feedback are provided on Study Desk when completing the assessment.
- The examination is scheduled to be held in the end-of-semester examination period. Students will be advised of the official examination date for exam (parts A and B) after the timetable has been finalised. The total working time for exam (parts A and B) is 2 hours.
Important assessment information
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Attendance requirements:
If you are an international student in Australia, you are advised to attend all classes at your campus. For all other students, there are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration. -
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.) -
Penalties for late submission of required work:
If students submit assignments after the due date without prior approval of the examiner, then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded. -
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course. -
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the weighted aggregate of the marks (or grades) obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course. -
Examination information:
This will be an open examination. Candidates may have access to any printed or written material and a calculator during the examination. -
Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
Any Deferred or Supplementary examinations for this course will be held during the next examination period. -
University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au/portal/custom/search/category/usq_document_policy_type/Student.1.html.
Assessment notes
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Referencing in assignments:
Students studying this course as part of a Bachelor of Laws program must use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) style. Students who are not enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws program may use either Harvard (AGPS) or the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. For AGLC style guide enquiries, consult the AGLC manual from the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/referencing/default.htm, or contact the Law librarian. The Harvard (AGPS) style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/referencing/default.htm.
Other requirements
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Computer, e-mail and Internet access:
Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/ict/students/standards/default.htm.