Unit 1 – Area of Study 2: The presumption of innocence

Outcome 2

Explain the purposes and key concepts of criminal law, and use legal reasoning to argue the criminal culpability of an accused based on actual and/or hypothetical scenarios.

Examples of learning activities

• ​As an introduction to the key concepts of criminal law, prepare a list of 15 legal and illegal activities that occur in our community.
  Refer to ​Appendix 3 – Are you a criminal? (docx - 70.18kb)
• ​As a class, develop a definition of a criminal sanction. Discuss and describe why criminal sanctions are necessary. Create a list of criminal sanctions used in Victoria and analyse the effectiveness of each in terms of community protection, deterrence, retribution, prevention and rehabilitation.
• 
  Research and prepare a report on ‘Children and Crime’ analysing juvenile crime and its effect on both the Victorian legal system and community.
• Using the Crimes Statistics Agency​ webpage, list the categories of crime.
• Construct a graph illustrating current crime statistics.
• Research and conduct a debate on whether the presumption of innocence is necessary in order to create justice.
• Collect and use a series of case studies to identify and illustrate the difference between both summary and indictable offences and indictable offences heard summarily. For each case study:
  • identify the type or category of criminal law
  • the purpose of the criminal law
  • the elements of the crime: actus reus and mens rea, and whether it was a summary, indictable or indictable heard summarily offence.
    Refer to ​Appendix 4 - Distinction between summary offences and indictable offences​ (docx - 71.07kb)
• Access the Victorian Crimes Statistics Agency webpage, research a range of offences against the individual such as homicide and assault. Analyse the number of offences in each category and ascertain whether the incidence of this crime is rising or falling in Victoria. Consider the main reasons why these types of crime occur and possible ways to reduce the number of incidents.
• Using the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research website, research a range of offences against the individual in NSW such as homicide and assault. Compare statistics between Victoria and NSW in relation to each crime category.

Detailed example

Children and crime

Research and prepare a report on ‘Children and Crime’ analysing juvenile crime cases in Victoria. Students could work in pairs.

Go to the Victoria Supreme Court section of the Australasian Legal Information Institute​ ​(AustLII), locate a recent case involving a young offender. It will not be overtly stated that the case is about a young offender, but look for initials or a pseudonym such as DPP vs. J O or Michael (pseudonym).

Complete a report including:

• A summary of the case.
• What crime and or offence/s the young accused was charged with?
• Which court heard the case?
• The key participants in the case such as the judge, prosecutor and defence.

Analysis:

• Outline the outcome of the case.
• Evaluate whether the outcome was appropriate. Justify your view.
• Discuss the impact of this offence on the accused, any victims and society as a whole.