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Murder (LAWS50106)
Graduate coursework level 5Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
For information about the University’s phased return to campus and in-person activity in Winter and Semester 2, please refer to the on-campus subjects page.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Please refer to the LMS for up-to-date subject information, including assessment and participation requirements, for subjects being offered in 2020.
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | February |
---|---|
Fees | Look up fees |
Murder is one of the most prominent crimes in the legal calendar, and it has provided a recurrent reference point for literature, cinema, television, photography, the arts and the humanities more generally. Using examples from legal and public culture, this subject examines in depth the ways in which we make sense of law, crime and killing.
The subject begins with the doctrinal history of murder and allied crimes in order to present the central concepts of the law of homicide and of this subject. It then moves to consider the processes of proof and punishment of murder, before turning to an in-depth study of a variety of specific legal and cultural forms of murder.
The overall themes of the subject are three: encounters between legal and cultural responses to the crime of murder; the nature of the difficulties that murder presents for criminal law and public culture; narratives of community, memory and responsibility constructed by responses to murder and its aftermath.
These themes will be explored through an in-depth treatment of the complex problems and forms of knowledge from a range of illustrative topics. In any given year, topics will be chosen from amongst the following:
- The public culture of murder, law and homicide;
- serial killing, public trials and pre-trial publicity;
- history and the changing patterns of homicide law;
- mercy, infanticide and child homicide
- literary representations of unlawful murder;
- proof, intention and circumstantial evidence
- defences such as self defence and provocation, mental impairment and diminished responsibility;
- family violence and conjugal homicide;
- sentencing and homicide;
- homicide, coroners and deaths in custody
- corporate killings and workplace deaths (including environmental disasters); and
- law reform of homicide.
Examples will be drawn from legal texts and judgments, and from podcasts, literature, film, and the arts more widely. In this way, the subject compares and integrates the responses of criminal law and public culture in making sense of law, crime and killing.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject should have an advanced understanding of the law of murder, as well as be able to critically analyse, engage with, and evaluate to a high standard the forms of representation, bodies of knowledge and practices that compose this specialised area of legal study. This specifically includes an expert understanding, analysis and evaluation of:
- A variety of representations of murder in criminal law and public culture, together with the complex concepts, knowledge-sets and values used in understanding them;
- The limits and difficulties of the concepts and categories of the law of homicide and allied offences, with specific reference to their various histories;
- The integration of and disjunctions between various contemporary and historical representations of murder;
- The distinctive shape of a variety of social genres and legal forms of murder, such as conjugal homicide, infanticide, murder and manslaughter;
- The complex interactions between the responses to murder by criminal law and in public culture; and
- Interdisciplinary approaches to law, specifically to the criminal law of homicide.
In addition, a student who has completed the subject will have obtained:
- A specialised and integrated knowledge of crime and the law of murder, and its intersections with other legal areas as well as public culture;
- In-depth knowledge of and research on at least one specific response to the crime of murder;
- A rich and nuanced appreciation of the complexity and variety of the current scholarship on murder, and its contribution to the current criminal law and public culture;
- The ability to analyse complex problems of criminal law from a variety of perspectives, as well as the capacity to exhibit a well-developed judgment on the worth of those perspectives for scholarly understanding; and
- The capacity to independently conduct further specialised research in criminal law, whether in higher education or in professional practice.
Generic skills
On completion of the subject, students should have developed and demonstrated their skills in the following areas:
- Specialist interdisciplinary knowledge of the representation of murder in law and public culture;
- investigation, analysis and evaluation of the institutional, representational, and ethical issues that are engaged by murder;
- an ability to respond to and effectively communicate – in both oral and written forms - cogent and nuanced arguments concerning the variety of ways in which law and culture intersect in particular substantive responses to murder;
- conducting in-depth research independently and at a high level, including the ability to generate complex ideas and form well-developed judgments as to the worth of those ideas for thinking about and understanding the law and culture of murder;
- carrying out interdisciplinary analysis based on jurisprudence and the humanities of a particular problem or topic that is germane to the legal and cultural understanding of murder;
- writing up research which presents an extended argument that is informed by and integrates current scholarship in criminal law and the humanities; and
- exercise professional judgment in responding to the questions of law raised by the legal and culture life of murder.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Successful completion of all the below subjects:
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50023 | Legal Method and Reasoning |
Summer Term (On Campus - Parkville)
April (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
LAWS50024 | Principles of Public Law |
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
June (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
LAWS50026 | Obligations |
May (On Campus - Parkville)
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
And one of:
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50027 | Dispute Resolution | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
LAWS90140 | Disputes and Ethics | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Due to the impact of COVID-19, assessment may differ from that published in the Handbook. Students are reminded to check the subject assessment requirements published in the subject outline on the LMS
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Topic statement (see below)
| 1 Weeks after the end of teaching | 20% |
Research Essay
| 6 Weeks after the end of teaching | 80% |
Additional details
The due dates of the above assessment will be available to students via the Assessment Schedule on the LMS Community.
Topic Statement
This topic statement consists of a written statement of proposed topic for the Research Essay and an evaluation of two articles relevant to the topic. It is required that this topic statement clearly identify the topic of the proposed essay; presents the themes of the essay; cogently demonstrate the worth of the chosen approach; as well as present a brief evaluation of two relevant articles with which the essay will engage in an advanced manner. Feedback on the submitted statement will be provided, indicating directions for further developing the topic for the purposes of the research essay, as well as areas for further work and improvement.
Research Essay
This research essay will be on a topic chosen and independently developed by the student and approved by the subject coordinator. This essay is expected to demonstrate a highly advanced understanding of the criminal law and public culture of murder. In particular, it is expected that students will generate complex argumentation, evaluate the forms and values of knowledge relevant to the subject, as well as demonstrate creativity and initiative in the development of their understanding of the issues addressed in the essay.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- February
Principal coordinator Peter Rush Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 27 hours Total time commitment 144 hours Pre teaching start date 8 January 2020 Pre teaching requirements Students are expected to access and review the Reading Guide that will be available from the LMS subject page and the subject materials provided by the subject coordinator, which will be available from Melbourne Law School. Refer to the Reading Guide for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 5 February 2020 to 12 February 2020 Last self-enrol date 13 January 2020 Census date 7 February 2020 Last date to withdraw without fail 21 February 2020 Assessment period ends 19 March 2020
Additional delivery details
This subject has an enrolment quota of 60 students.
Enrolments occur on a first come, first served basis up to quota, except for the timely re-enrolment period. Timely enrolments enter a selection process, and unsuccessful enrolments are withdrawn.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law School website for further information about the management of subject quotas.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
- Specialist printed materials will be made available from Melbourne Law School.
- Supplementary materials may also be provided online via the LMS.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Juris Doctor - Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 3 November 2022