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Sentencing: Law, Policy and Practice - LAWS8201

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Academic Program must be 9200 or 9210 or 9230 or 5740 or 9285 or 5285 or 9235 or 5235 or 9220 or 5750.

Excluded: JURD7601

CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to examine in detail one of law's most challenging topics. Sentencing has been called a "painful and unrewarding task". Integrating some rigorous analysis of doctrinal sentencing law with a broader interdisciplinary approach, the course will discuss questions such as - what guidance should judges be given in determining sentences? Can or should the punishment fit the crime? Does harsh sentencing deter crime? What can be done about persistent offenders? What should the role of appeal courts be? What, if anything, should public opinion have to do with sentencing? This course begins with a legal analysis of the rules and practice of sentencing and then explores more philosophical and sociological aspects.

LLM Specialisation

Criminal Justice and Criminology
Dispute Resolution

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

The objectives of the course are to:

Introduce the general principles of Australian sentencing law
Provide the intellectual foundation for independent research into specific aspects of Australian and comparative sentencing law
Develop the capacity to analyse and criticise legal and political arguments regarding sentencing in Australia
Identify and understand likely changes to the Australian sentencing system

Main Topics

The jurisprudence regulating the individual sentencing discretion
The principles governing the adjustment of the outcome of the sentencing decision in response to features of the broader sentencing system
The legal framework and debate over the techniques for informing sentencing decision-making
Sentencing theory and policy

Assessment

General class participation	Participation in class discussion	10%
Assigned class participation	5 - 10 minute talk	10%
Research assignment	At least 5,000 words	80%
Note: A pass mark (40/80 or higher) is required for the research assignment in order to pass the course.