Overview

The aim of this unit is to provide students with an understanding of sentencing law principles and practices across Australia. It also provides students with deeper knowledge of criminal law, especially the rules and principles relating to criminal appeals and the criminal principles in each Australian jurisdiction. The unit will also focus on the evolving nature of sentencing law, with an emphasis on appropriate and necessary innovations in this area.

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
29-July-2024
27-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
11-August-2024
Census date
31-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
13-September-2024
Results released date
03-December-2024

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Conduct effective legal research using both primary and secondary materials
  • Explain contemporary debates about the appropriate manner in which to deal with criminal offenders
  • Describe the political, social and economic influences that shape criminal and sentencing law
  • Describe the efficacy of the law to attain the key sentencing objectives in the form of deterrence, rehabilitation and community protection
  • Develop and communicate recommendations about innovative and technological changes that should be made to sentencing law
  • Work efficiently and effectively with other people to develop coherent solutions to problems

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Online
Lecture		1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		9.50 12 weeks 114
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
AssessmentIndividual 50 - 60% 1,2,3,4,5 
AssignmentGroup 40 - 50% 1,2,3,4,5,6 

Content

  • The aims and role of the criminal law
  • Key legislative criminal law provisions in each Australian jurisdiction
  • The objectives of sentencing law and practice
  • The principal of proportionality
  • Aggravating sentencing factors Privacy and institutional/social media
  • Mitigating sentencing considerations
  • Imprisonment
  • Intermediate sanctions
  • Mandatory sentencing
  • Offenders from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds
  • Innovations to sentencing law
  • Sentencing and technology

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.