Legal Studies
Legal Studies is an interdisciplinary field of enquiry that focuses on contextualising, exploring, and critiquing law, its nature, operation, and effects. The Legal Studies program at La Trobe encompasses both general Legal Studies and Criminology. The insights, theories and methods of various disciplines (including sociology, politics, media studies, cultural studies and history) are employed within Legal Studies to explore how law’s existence and operation involves the constant negotiation of complex and competing perspectives and demands. Legal Studies aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to analyse law’s place and role within broader economic, social and political contexts, and enables contemporary questions relating to law, social justice, crime and criminal justice to be pursued in a distinctive and rigorous way. The faculty offers Legal Studies in the Bachelor of Legal Studies and as a major within the Bachelor of Arts. Legal Studies subjects can also be taken as electives.
Legal Studies subjects, except those specifically offered only to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Legal Studies, are available to students enrolled in any faculty. The number of subjects that may be taken depends on the rules of the degree for which a student is enrolled.
Programs of Study
Legal Studies Major
To complete a major in Legal Studies students must complete:
- LST1LAS and LST1CCR
- LST2LJP and two subjects at second year level drawn from the list below and
- LST3LPC and three subjects at third year level drawn from the list below.
Students hoping to proceed to Honours in Legal Studies are required to complete either LST2RML or LST3RML.
| Teaching period | Subject title | Subject code |
|---|---|---|
| First year core subjects (15 credit points) | ||
| TE-SEM-1 | Law and Legal Consciousness | LST1LAS |
| Second year core subject (15 credit points) | ||
| TE-SEM-1 | Law, Justice and Power | LST2LJP |
| Third year core subject (15 credit points) | ||
| TE-SEM-2 | Law, Policy and Community | LST3LPC |
| Teaching period | Subject title | Subject code |
|---|---|---|
| First year subjects (15 credit points) | ||
| TE-SEM-1 | Law and Legal Consciousness | LST1LAS |
| TE-SEM-2 | Crime and Criminology | LST1CCR |
| Second year subjects (15 credit points unless otherwise stated) | ||
| TE-SEM-1 | Civil War to Civil Rights in the USA | HIS2CWU |
| TE-SEM-1 | Crime, Law and Culture | LST2CLC |
| TE-SEM-1 | Deviance, Criminality and Social Control | SOC2DCS |
| TE-SEM-1 | Drugs, Law and Social Justice | LST2DLS |
| TE-SEM-1 | Law, Justice and Power | LST2LJP |
| TE-SEM-1 | Research Methods in Legal Studies and Political Science | LST2RML |
| TE-SEM-1 | The European Union | HIS2EUU |
| TE-SEM-2 | Aboriginal Australia | ANT2ABA |
| TE-SEM-2 | Aborigines and the State | ANT2AAS |
| TE-SEM-2 | American Politics | POL2IAP |
| TE-SEM-2 | Australian Aboriginal History | HIS2AAH |
| TE-SEM-2 | International Law and International Organisation | POL2ILO |
| TE-SEM-2 | Law and Development in Comparative Perspective | LST2LDC |
| TE-SEM-2 | Law, Rights and Social Justice | LST2LSJ |
| TE-SEM-2 | Police, Law and Order | LST2POL |
| TE-SEM-2 | Social Policy, Welfare and the State | SOC2SWS |
| Third year subjects (15 credit points unless otherwise stated) | ||
| TE-SEM-1 | Civil War to Civil Rights in the USA | HIS3CWU |
| TE-SEM-1 | Crime, Law and Culture | LST3CLC |
| TE-SEM-1 | Deviance, Criminality and Social Control | SOC3DCS |
| TE-SEM-1 | Drugs, Law and Social Justice | LST3DLS |
| TE-SEM-1 | Reading Course A | LST3RCA |
| TE-SEM-1 | Research Methods in Legal Studies and Political Science | LST3RML |
| TE-SEM-1 | The European Union | HIS3EUU |
| TE-SEM-2 | Aboriginal Australia | ANT3ABA |
| TE-SEM-2 | Aborigines and the State | ANT3AAS |
| TE-SEM-2 | American Politics | POL3IAP |
| TE-SEM-2 | Australian Aboriginal History | HIS3AAH |
| TE-SEM-2 | International Law and International Organisation | POL3ILO |
| TE-SEM-2 | Law and Development in Comparative Perspective | LST3LDC |
| TE-SEM-2 | Law, Policy and Community | LST3LPC |
| TE-SEM-2 | Law, Rights and Social Justice | LST3LSJ |
| TE-SEM-2 | Police, Law and Order | LST3POL |
| TE-SEM-2 | Reading Course B | LST3RCB |
| TE-SEM-2 | Social Policy, Welfare and the State | SOC3SWS |
Subjects not available in 2012
| Subject title | Subject code | |
|---|---|---|
| Second or third year subjects (15 credit points unless otherwise stated) | ||
| Contesting Social Policy | SOC2CSP/SOC3CSP | |
| Discrimination and the Law* | LST2DAL/LST3DAL | |
| Displacement, Flight and Refuge | ANT2DFR/ANT3DFR | |
| Punishment in Context* | LST2PIC/LST3PIC | |
| Social Theories of Deviance | SOC2STD/SOC3STD | |
| Victimology* | LST2VIC/LST3VIC | |
| Violence and the Cinema | CST2VAC/CST3VAC | |
*Available in 2013
Honours
Honours consists of a full year of study and is available to students who have completed a three year Bachelor of Legal Studies and who have met honours entry requirements. In order to be admitted to Honours students must usually have achieved a strong B average in their second and third year Legal Studies subjects and, from 2013 onwards, will also be expected to have completed either LST2RML or LST3RML.
During honours, students must complete prescribed fourth year honours subjects as well as a 12,000-15,000 word research thesis. Research on the thesis is undertaken throughout the year in consultation with an approved supervisor. Prospective candidates are strongly advised to identify a thesis topic and potential supervisors before completing the third year of their degree. Students may enrol in honours on a full-time or part-time basis. Mid-year commencement is also possible. Entry into honours is by application. Students who are interested in pursuing honours are encouraged to speak with Legal Studies staff about their interests and to attend the advertised Honours information session which is held towards the end of second semester each year.
For further information about Legal studies, please email legalstudies@latrobe.edu.au or by telephone on (03) 9479 2690 or (03) 9479 1315.