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LAW414: Criminal Law and Procedure

Seeks to combine the study of substantive areas of criminal law with the study of the procedural, organisational and contextual features of the administration of these laws. It is founded on the assumption that an adequate understanding of the criminal law cannot be arrived at by examining substantive legal doctrine, or general principles of criminal liability, in isolation. The unit looks at historical and contemporary aspects of the structure of criminal justice and punishment in Anglo common-law countries before moving on to consider particular areas of administration of the criminal law, including strict liability and corporate criminal liability, homicide, general criminal defences, assault and sexual assault, public order, property and 'inchoate' liability. Woven into this examination of substantive areas of crime is an examination of major aspects of criminal procedure and practice, including arrest and pre-trial detention and aspects of the law of criminal investigation (interrogation and confessional evidence), search and seizure, etc. The major aim is to explore the interaction of substantive, procedural and social organisational aspects of criminal law and criminal justice to produce an understanding of the role, purposes and effects of criminalisation within contemporary Australian society.