Course Coordinator:Jackson Orman-Ditchfield (jditchfi@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of criminal law and procedure, and develop your legal problem-solving skills. You will explore a wide-range of offences, excuses and defences available in Queensland.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Online Learning Materials | 1.5hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On-Campus Tutorial | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Online Learning Materials | 1.5hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Online Tutorial | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
In this course, you will learn about the definition of crime, elements of crime, elements of criminal procedure, the role of criminal law, sources of criminal law, classification of offences, overview of the criminal justice system in Queensland, elements of crime and criminal procedure, act or omissions, intention, recklessness, consent, negligence, criminal liability, strict liability, absolute liability, onus and standard of proof, trials of indictable offences, jury trials, summary trials and bail. In addition, you will learn about a wide range of offences such as fatal offences, non-fatal offences, sexual offences, property offences, drug offences, public order offences, traffic offences, attempts and participation in crime. Further, you will learn about a wide range of excuses and defences such as provocation, diminished responsibility, self-defence, insanity, intoxication, honest claim of right to property and mistake of fact.
All course topics may contain mature content due to the nature of the course.
100 Level (Introductory)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Analyse facts to identify legal issues within criminal law scenarios. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
| 2 | Explain the relevant laws, processes and concepts of criminal law to resolve a legal issue. | Knowledgeable |
| 3 | Utilize critical thinking, analysis, and sound judgment to apply legal knowledge effectively in diverse contexts, generating appropriate and practical responses to complex problems and ethical issues. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered Ethical |
| 4 | Demonstrate effective, persuasive, and contextually appropriate written and oral communication. | Empowered |
| 5 | Develop and demonstrate effective presentation skills, including proper referencing and citation techniques, to communicate legal information accurately and professionally. | Empowered |
| 6 | Reflect on and evaluate your personal responses to issues you encounter in a criminal law setting. |
Empowered Ethical |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Enrolled in UB008 or AD001 or AR013 or AR390 or AR391 or AR392 or AR396 or AR397 or AB310 or AB311
(LAW100 and LAW105) OR (LAW101)
LAW104
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
In the week 1-5 tutorials, you will be invited to engage in learning activities that support you to self-reflect on your learning and provide peer feedback on tutorial answers.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Activity Participation | Individual | 10% | Answers throughout the 2 hour tutorial |
Refer to Format | In Class |
| All | 2 | Journal | Individual | 40% | 1000 Words |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 50% | 3 Hours |
Exam Period | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Oral Answers to Tutorial Questions | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this individual task is to assess your ability to identify and verbally communicate legal and ethical issues in factual problems that may confront a criminal lawyer and your capacity to suggest an appropriate professional response. |
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| Product: | Activity Participation | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Oral answers to tutorial questions in Weeks 2 - 6. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Journal | ||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this individual task is to assess your ability to reflect on criminal law and procedure, and the roles of counsel, judge or magistrate in a real courtroom. |
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| Product: | Journal | |||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||
| Format: | Individual reflective journal using a provided template, following a visit to a courtroom. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Final Examination | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this individual task is to assess your ability to identify relevant criminal law and procedure issues in a factual problem, explain the relevant rules of criminal law and procedure derived from statute and case law, apply the relevant criminal law and procedure rules to a factual problem, and reach arguable conclusions. |
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| Product: | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | This assessment task is an online, open-book and invigilated exam. You will be required to attend a live Zoom session throughout the duration of the exam and need access to a working computer, a stable internet connection, and a webcam. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Kelley Burton, Thomas Crofts and Stella Tarrant | 2020 | Principles of Criminal Law in Queensland and Western Australia | 3rd | Thomson Reuters |
| Recommended | Kelley Burton, Thomas Crofts, James Duffy and Meredith Blake | 2023 | LexisNexis Questions and Answers: Criminal Law in Queensland and Western Australia | 3rd | LexisNexis |
This course meets the necessary content requirements for Criminal Law and Procedure under the Prescribed Areas of Knowledge of Schedule 1 of the LACC Uniform Admission Rules 2015 (the ‘Priestley 11’). Student will be required to visit a real courtroom in order to complete the Task 2 assessment.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
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For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
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