HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[kiiaaa]

Hey, guys!

Does anyone have any good notes for the legal/nonlegal responses for human trafficking and slavery? I just need articles/examples and how effective they were so I can use that info for short answers. the rest of my knowledge on the section is good just don't know any examples rip

Thank you soooo much guys

[Lumenoria]

Hey! I've never dealt with a question on one specific case, so take my advice for what it is worth. But normally, you wouldn't go into specific case details. Normally that is a no-no in legal essays. For your response though, it might be necessary, so I'd perhaps do a short body paragraph on it after the introduction?

Alright, thank you so much. Also, do you think the % sign in a statistic would be acceptable over writing the word 'percent' in an essay?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Alright, thank you so much. Also, do you think the % sign in a statistic would be acceptable over writing the word 'percent' in an essay?

nope don't worry about that, keep writing %

[Bubbly_bluey]

Hey guys! I found a brutual question that says to assess the role of law reform in the criminal justice system but you have to refer to the criminal trial process. The only thing i could think of is to write about the one punch laws and how the offered pleaded guilty which lead to a more lenient sentence and so on but its worth 15 marks... any more ideas?
thanks

[MisterNeo]

Hey guys! I found a brutual question that says to assess the role of law reform in the criminal justice system but you have to refer to the criminal trial process. The only thing i could think of is to write about the one punch laws and how the offered pleaded guilty which lead to a more lenient sentence and so on but its worth 15 marks... any more ideas?
thanks

Hey! This is a tough one, but the ones that I can think of are:
-Appeals
-Victim Impact Statements
-"Innocent until proven guilty", and maybe adversarial vs inquisitorial  system?
-Judge Discretion/Mandatory Sentencing/Maximum Sentences
-Right to legal aid
-Evidence

A case you should definitely include is R v Skaf 2000. He and his mates were sentenced to 50+ years for "aggravated sexual assault in company", but appealed his sentence twice down to 28 years.
The first trial was a mistrial because the jury visited the crime scene, so the victims had to face their attacker again. The reason the 50+ year sentence was reduced was because it was higher than murder but the law saw "gang rape" as a lesser crime instead of just increasing the penalty for murder.
Hope this helps

[Bubbly_bluey]

Hey! This is a tough one, but the ones that I can think of are:
-Appeals
-Victim Impact Statements
-"Innocent until proven guilty", and maybe adversarial vs inquisitorial  system?
-Judge Discretion/Mandatory Sentencing/Maximum Sentences
-Right to legal aid
-Evidence

A case you should definitely include is R v Skaf 2000. He and his mates were sentenced to 50+ years for "aggravated sexual assault in company", but appealed his sentence twice down to 28 years.
The first trial was a mistrial because the jury visited the crime scene, so the victims had to face their attacker again. The reason the 50+ year sentence was reduced was because it was higher than murder but the law saw "gang rape" as a lesser crime instead of just increasing the penalty for murder.
Hope this helps

Cool ideas! But im still not sure how law has been reformed for appeals, victim impact statements adversial system and legal aid. I always thought that they never changed.
 

[rodero]

Hey guys! I found a brutual question that says to assess the role of law reform in the criminal justice system but you have to refer to the criminal trial process. The only thing i could think of is to write about the one punch laws and how the offered pleaded guilty which lead to a more lenient sentence and so on but its worth 15 marks... any more ideas?
thanks

Neo gave some pretty good ideas. Here's what I would do in my personal opinion.

Pleas and charge negotiation: I would focus primarily on the case of R v Loveridge, which led to major reform. The new laws introduced mandatory minimum sentences for causing deaths with a single strike. It was also made mandatory that intoxication is considered as an aggravating factor when sentencing. While this proves to achieve some justice for the victim(s), the same cannot be said for both the offender and society. The Law Council states that mandatory imprisonment will only lead to the "individual engaging in more serious criminal acts down the track".

Partial defences: Focus would be on the case of R v Singh - husband kills wife after threats of deportation. He successfully used the provocation defence, allowing his charge to be reduced from murder to manslaughter. This lead to major outcry, with the NSW Law Reform Commission arguing that the defence be amended to 'Gross Provocation', requiring the action to be heavily provocative to be accepted. This isn't an ideal case, as it doesn't actually include law reform. However, you could say that the role of law reform is LACKING because further amendments must be made to achieve justice in this area

The role of juries: Kind of iffy on this one. The question is pretty damn tough, so I this might be stretching it a bit. I'd probably mention the amendments made so that jury votes no longer need to be unanimous. This achieves justice for the victim, as they don't need to go through the traumatic legal process all over again, and it achieves justice for society i.e. taxpayers. This therefore allows the values of society to be upheld more accurately.

Hope this helps, that question is damn tough

[Lumenoria]

nope don't worry about that, keep writing %

Aight, thanks x

[MisterNeo]

Partial defences: Focus would be on the case of R v Singh - husband kills wife after threats of deportation. He successfully used the provocation defence, allowing his charge to be reduced from murder to manslaughter. This lead to major outcry, with the NSW Law Reform Commission arguing that the defence be amended to 'Gross Provocation', requiring the action to be heavily provocative to be accepted. This isn't an ideal case, as it doesn't actually include law reform. However, you could say that the role of law reform is LACKING because further amendments must be made to achieve justice in this area

I forgot to mention this one.
This is a great point to make in relation to law reform, especially in recent changes to Queensland's "Gay Panic" defence to murder. This is in response to changing views on homosexuality since the 20th century that has led to this change. Basically, if a man made unwanted sexual advances against another male, he could kill him.
This defence still exists in South Australia.
The case metioned by rodero is a great one to use as it shows the limitations of the law in achieving justice.

[Bubbly_bluey]

I forgot to mention this one.
This is a great point to make in relation to law reform, especially in recent changes to Queensland's "Gay Panic" defence to murder. This is in response to changing views on homosexuality since the 20th century that has led to this change. Basically, if a man made unwanted sexual advances against another male, he could kill him.
This defence still exists in South Australia.
The case metioned by rodero is a great one to use as it shows the limitations of the law in achieving justice.

yea i think there's lots to talk about for this case in relation to the question. Thanks so much guys for these ideas! I've actually never heard of gay panic before but it sounds like an interesting case  to talk about.
Another quick question: is an amendment to a legislation the same as law reform?

[fantasticbeasts3]

yea i think there's lots to talk about for this case in relation to the question. Thanks so much guys for these ideas!
Another quick question: is an amendment to a legislation the same as law reform?

yea for sure! law reform is all about changing aspects of the law to suit the times, so definitely, amendments to legislation are an example of law reform

[Bubbly_bluey]

yea for sure! law reform is all about changing aspects of the law to suit the times, so definitely, amendments to legislation are an example of law reform

Awesome! thanks for the clarification!

[maria1999]

Hey, guys!

Does anyone have any good notes for the legal/nonlegal responses for human trafficking and slavery? I just need articles/examples and how effective they were so I can use that info for short answers. the rest of my knowledge on the section is good just don't know any examples rip

Thank you soooo much guys

hey!
I don't have any notes in specific I'm sorry (. But I know that Anti-Slavery Australia is amazing for examples of human trafficking. When doing short answers I always make sure to know their overall mission statement and goals in aiding victims of human trafficking, forced labour, sexual servitude, etc. The website is actually so good because they even have a database of all cases that have involved some aspect of slavery and human trafficking!!!!1 and their recent too! The salvation army is also really good for non-legal responses, I know that the salvation army has something like the human trafficking house where they give accomodation to people who are victims of trafficking. In terms of legal responses, I know that the main legislation is the (Slavery, Slavery-Like Conditions and People Trafficking) Act 2013 (Cth) which criminalises a few more offences under human trafficking I think? That's about all I can think of right now. I hope this helps!

[Mary_a]

Casually freaking out.... trials are next week, and I have no idea how I'm going to remember all my legal content.... help... please...

Thank you, Mary

[fantasticbeasts3]

Casually freaking out.... trials are next week, and I have no idea how I'm going to remember all my legal content.... help... please...

Thank you, Mary

totally random but i love your photo! didn't like cursed child very much though.

anyway, back to legal, i'm mostly memorising my examples (your LCMs) for all topics so there's not as much to remember. don't worry, most people, or even everyone's freaking out, i'm totally freaking out as well because i have the absolute worst trials timetable but really, just take it one day at a time