Criminal Law

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• how to state, with reference to the relevant statutes if necessary, the requirements of: any defence, whether generally or specifically to one of the selected offences, to criminal liability and the law concerning criminal causation (of harm or loss) and the proof, and onus thereof, of guilt;
• the legal and philosophical principles that can be used to justify decisions to criminalize or decriminalize conduct;
• how to explain the reasons for, the problems arising in, and the legal solutions for (actual and mooted) the key cases identified in the module.
• how to state, with reference to the relevant statutes if necessary, the requirements of criminal liability for selected key criminal offences;
• the key doctrinal building blocks of criminal liability and responsibility;
• the arguments for and against the use criminal law to regulate individual and social conduct;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• manage your time effectively.
• identify and analyse key issues in a previously unseen set of facts;
• think critically and develop coherent arguments;
• distinguish relevant from irrelevant materials;
• locate and analyse relevant legal and other primary and secondary source materials;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• identify and explain why particular facts, in an actual or hypothetical situation, might give rise to criminal liability, a defence to criminal liability, or a problem with criminal liability or a defence thereto (problem analysis).
• evaluate the given justifications for the criminalization or decriminalization of certain forms of conduct;
• identify the salient parts, for the purposes of determining criminal liability, of judicial decisions, (case law analysis);
• identify the requirements, for criminal liability, of a crime or defence in a statute or at common law, (statutory analysis);
• consider relevant doctrinal, social and policy issues, with reference to relevant data, in order to present a reasoned choice between alternative solutions, and assess the merits of particular arguments, regarding a mooted criminalization or decriminalization;
• identify and apply the key doctrinal building blocks of criminal liability in case study of selected offences;

• Legal and philosophical justifications for criminalisation or decriminalisation
• The strengths and weaknesses of criminal law as a mode of governance
• Introduction to the key doctrinal building blocks of criminal liability and responsibility
• Liability for Omissions
• Causation
• Intention
• Recklessness
• Homicides, murder and manslaughter,
• Offences against the person (sections 18, 20 and 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, section 1, or at common law,
• Sexual offences
• Property Offences
• Substantive and Partial Defences

Teaching methods include:

• Two hours of lectures each week and ten hours of tutorials per semester.

Learning activities include:

The objective for the lectures, and your independent work which will precede and follow them, is to provide an overview of the key primary and secondary sources on the topic and to identify key issues prior to you undertaking higher order applied work in the small group tutorial sessions. Skills, such as, legal problem analysis and critical analysis of law and policy, are developed incrementally. The emphasis throughout is developing these skills through practice and reflection. Formative exercises are designed to facilitate that learning.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Peer Group Feedback

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: - Individual written feedback: individual written feedback will be provided to all students who complete the formative coursework. - Individual oral feedback: subject tutors will be available to discuss questions arising following the written feedback with you if who request this. - Discussion of tutorial questions will enable you to self-assess your understanding and progress. - Peer-feedback: a system of peer review of formative exercises is integrated into the teaching and learning activities.
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.