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Criminal Justice: Drugs in Asia (LAWS50125)
Graduate coursework level 5Points: 12.5Not available in 2023
To learn more, visit 2023 Course and subject delivery.
Overview
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Initially the subject focuses on how drugs use, cultivation or manufacture and trafficking are regulated in Western countries. The subject will then introduce relevant international regimes and the national regulatory and institutional frameworks for illicit drugs law in each of the countries selected. The second half of the subject will comprise a series of studies of significant and/or high-profile cases from the countries selected, in which the practical application of the regimes examined earlier are investigated. A comparative approach will be applied throughout.
Principal topics may include:
- Drugs use, manufacture/cultivation and trafficking: regulatory choices;
- Delivering social policy through regulation and drugs law, including the interaction between punishment and health-based approaches to illicit drug use;
- The interaction between international human rights and drug control law and norms and domestic law and practice;
- Diverse approaches within Asia to the regulation of drugs, through detailed and nuanced examination of the relevant administrative, criminal and procedure laws, taking into account different legal systems, social, political and cultural traditions, structures and practices;
- The role played by different legal institutions in the regulation of drugs offences regionally, including courts, police, prosecutors, defence lawyers, NGOS etc;
- The contribution made to the regulation of drugs and drugs-related offences by international regulatory frameworks;
- The impacts of non-legal networks and institutions on the development, implementation and review of drugs laws in the region;
- Divergent attitudes and practices to the death penalty;
- Drugs-law-related reforms arising from the comparisons; and
- The possibilities for convergence or harmonisation of drugs law in Asia.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will have:
an advanced understanding of, and be able critically to analyse and explain:
- key regulatory approaches to socio-legal challenges in the 21st century.
- the diverse approaches within Asia to the regulation of drugs, through detailed and nuanced explication of the relevant administrative law and regulation, criminal and procedure laws, taking into account different legal systems, social, political and cultural traditions, structures and practices.
- the role played by different legal institutions in the regulation of drugs offences regionally.
- the contribution, if any, made to the regulation of drugs and drugs-related offences by international regulatory frameworks.
- the impacts of non-legal networks and institutions on the development, implementation and review of drugs laws in the region.
- divergent attitudes to the death penalty.
and will have developed a capacity to critically:
- compare and analyse the comparator jurisdictions' approach to the regulation of drugs offences, and to consider reform possibilities arising from those comparisons.
- evaluate the scope for and benefits of convergence or harmonisation of drugs prosecutions.
Generic skills
Students who successfully complete this subject will have developed and demonstrated advanced skills in the following areas relevant to the comparative analysis of criminal and administrative law and criminal procedure law, impacting drugs regulation in Asia:
- Capacity to identify, locate and critically reflect upon and evaluate relevant legal research materials (primary and secondary literature);
- Capacity to identify, locate and critically reflect upon and evaluate relevant non-legal research materials (primary and secondary literature);
- Capacity to formulate, manage and execute a regulatory research project from inception to completion;
- Capacity to persuasively communicate material relevant to the regulation of drug-related criminal law and policy (information and argument), harnessing appropriate sources and evidence; and
- Capacity to justify and interpret methodological approaches or theoretical propositions appropriate to comparative regulatory research and to communicate these with clarity.
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
All of
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50023 | Legal Method and Reasoning | Summer Term (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50027 | Dispute Resolution | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS70415 | Drugs and the Death Penalty in Asia | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
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: 30 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
An abstract, including a briefly annotated bibliography
| 10% | |
A research paper
| 90% |
Additional details
The due date of the above assessment will be available to students via the Assessment Schedule on the LMS Community.
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
Not available in 2023
Time commitment details
144 hours
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota.
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
- Specialist printed materials will also be made available from the Melbourne Law School.
- 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: 30 January 2024