Criminal Law Policy and Reform provides law students with the opportunity to explore cutting-edge policy and law reform issues in the area of criminal law. Good lawyers do not merely know what the law is and how to apply it to facts; they also understand how and why the law changes and are able to help shape legal change. This subject is designed to develop students' understanding and skills in these respects. The subject starts with the foundational theme of criminalisation: what conduct ought to be criminalised by the state and why? With this question in mind, students then critically examine a number of topics in criminal law in which policy debates and law reform efforts have recently featured: sex offences, public offensiveness, blasphemy and religious vilification, drug offences, abortion, euthanasia, terrorism, and corporate criminal liability. Assessment tasks will be modelled on real world examples of policy development and law reform documents.

Subject rules