Introduction to Criminal Justice in Australia
Overview
Assessment 2 involves answering three (3) short-answer questions. Short-answer questions test basic knowledge and understanding. Given the responses are short in length (around 500 words per question), you need to make sure your response is completely on-task, relevant to the question, and importantly, answers the question. Anything tangential or peripheral to answering the question is just ‘wasted words’, which is something you don’t want to be doing particularly given the relatively small word count allocated to each question.
NOTE:
Question 1 asks you to ‘describe’, Question 2 asks you to ‘define’ and ‘describe’, and Question 3 asks you to ‘discuss’. These all have slightly different meanings. For example: – describe – spell out the main aspects of an idea or topic (or the sequence in which a series of things happened) – define – make a statement as to the meaning or interpretation of something, giving sufficient detail as to allow it to be distinguished from similar things; – discuss – investigate or examine by argument. Examine key points and possible interpretations, sift and debate, giving reasons for and against. Draw a conclusion.
Marking criteria
Criteria
Relevance: How well the submission responds to the question. The submission provides an impeccably well-articulated and robust critical awareness of the topic. It responds to the
Conceptual: How well the submission uses key concepts/ideas from the subject to answer the question. The submission demonstrates mastery the key concepts/ideas in the subject, including the connection between them and critical thinking around their link to criminal justice issues.
Presentation: How well the submission is organised and referenced, as well as the quality of its written expression. The writing demonstrates highly proficient planning, including a meticulously designed and highly convincing argument that responds to the question.
All references cited correctly (as per the Harvard UWS Referencing
Style) in text and in reference list. The submission contains writing that is concise, precise and critical in tone, with no spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors.
See questions below with further details about each question. Please pay attention to all details underneath each question.
Chapters related to all questions are uploaded. However, I need to put some more relevant sources to support the prescribed textbook and show ability to conduct independent research.
Q1 – Describe the different ways in which crime can be defined (450 words).
This question relates to the reading ‘the construction and deconstruction of crime’ by Muncie (2009), where the author documents the different ways in which crime can be defined according to various moral, legal, ideological, etc. perspectives (e.g., crime as criminal law violation, crime as violation of moral codes, crime as social construct, etc).
In answering this question, you should be illustrating the ways in which crime can be defined in different ways according to the issue at hand and the person’s moral, personal, ideological, emotional, etc. beliefs. You should be emphasising that crime is not a static concept, but rather, something that changes and can be deployed and understood in different ways.
Answer to Q1 (450 words):
Q2 – Define and describe criminal responsibility. (450 words).
Note this question has two task words: define and describe. This means you need to define criminal responsibility, and then describe the ways in which it works. The first chapter of your textbook (‘Criminal Responsibility’) in ‘Australian Criminal Justice’ by Findlay, M, Odgers, S & Yeo, S will help, but you are encouraged to find other sources in answering this question.
Answer to Q2 (450 words):
3 – Discuss how the rights of citizens and the police are ‘balanced’ during a police investigation (450 words).
Note the task word ‘discuss’, which means you need to investigate, examine, and draw a conclusion. This question relates to the topic ‘Police Investigation’ and pp. 37-38 provides the context and information for this question. This question is asking you to engage with the tension between individual liberty and police powers. Basically, the powers between these two poles (individual liberty v police powers) need to be balanced, and you need to discuss how this occurs, why it is necessary, and how it works (or not).
Answer to Q3 (450 words):