HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[melprocrastinator]

Hey, i was wondering if someone could explain to me what "veto power" is. Apparently it is held by member states of the UN security council.

Thankyou!

[elysepopplewell]

Hey, i was wondering if someone could explain to me what "veto power" is. Apparently it is held by member states of the UN security council.

Thankyou!

So the P5 on the UNSC all have veto power! This means that when an issue is brought forward to agree on amongst the Permanent 5 members, and they all have a vote in favour or against, if even just one of the 5 members says no to the proposed action, then it doesn't go ahead. This is called veto. There's a lot of debate about veto power! I always find that http://www.debate.org has the best resource on this in simple terms, but you can find others on the internet easily. This is the debate.org one!

[melprocrastinator]

So the P5 on the UNSC all have veto power! This means that when an issue is brought forward to agree on amongst the Permanent 5 members, and they all have a vote in favour or against, if even just one of the 5 members says no to the proposed action, then it doesn't go ahead. This is called veto. There's a lot of debate about veto power! I always find that http://www.debate.org has the best resource on this in simple terms, but you can find others on the internet easily. This is the debate.org one!

THANKYOU

[Elenaa]

Hi Elenaa!

My contemporary issue is also child soldiers so would be happy to help. Since a contemporary issue question in short answers would be worth maximum 8 marks, it isn't really necessary to prepare more than 2-3 cases. In terms of case law, I use the international criminal court cases of :

Prosecutor v. Lubanga (2012):I would prioritise this one, easy to find more points for/against effectiveness (he was the first to ever be succesfully tried and convicted by the ICC but it took 6 years for him to be sentenced)
          - more info https://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/PIDS/publications/LubangaENG.pdf
Prosecutor v. Ntaganda (2014): https://www.icc-cpi.int/drc/ntaganda/pages/alleged-crimes.aspx for more info

Thanks so much Essej  i totally forgot i asked this question  .

[Lottie99]

would they potentially ask something as specific as "the role of juries" in the crime essay?

[jamonwindeyer]

would they potentially ask something as specific as "the role of juries" in the crime essay?

Definitely a possibility! In the Trials there were questions on 'defences to murder' specifically; they can push specific stuff! Last year was Transnational Crime, which was quite specific, so I personally think it is less likely they go specific again, but you never know just an fyi, the only part of the Crime syllabus which hasn't been assessed is Young Offenders... Perhaps too soon for so specific again, but you never know

[Lottie99]

Is there a good spot to find past legal studies trial papers?

[AFix]

Is there a good spot to find past legal studies trial papers?

https://thsconline.github.io/s/yr12/Legal%20Studies/  You can try this! ~~

[isaacdelatorre]

Hi lovely people
Under the sentencing dot point in crime, what is the role of the victim in sentencing? Is it just through Victim Impact Statements?

[elysepopplewell]

Hi lovely people
Under the sentencing dot point in crime, what is the role of the victim in sentencing? Is it just through Victim Impact Statements?

That's the main thing. Have a look at the R V Osland case (I think Australian Story did an interview with Heather Osland). It was a DV case and Osland talks about how in giving her VIS, she froze and could hardly recall things correctly because she was faced with her attacker. Since then, and since the R V Skaf case at the turn of the Century, there has been call to allow for VIS to be delivered via footage, so that the victim is not in the room with the criminal. Also, there is discussion about how fair VIS really is - is it a matter of who can play into the judge's emotions best? and what about murder victims who don't have a family to deliver the VIS on their behalf - then what?

Lots of things to think about with victims

[isaacdelatorre]

That's the main thing. Have a look at the R V Osland case (I think Australian Story did an interview with Heather Osland). It was a DV case and Osland talks about how in giving her VIS, she froze and could hardly recall things correctly because she was faced with her attacker. Since then, and since the R V Skaf case at the turn of the Century, there has been call to allow for VIS to be delivered via footage, so that the victim is not in the room with the criminal. Also, there is discussion about how fair VIS really is - is it a matter of who can play into the judge's emotions best? and what about murder victims who don't have a family to deliver the VIS on their behalf - then what?

Lots of things to think about with victims

Wow, I never knew that VIS could have negatives as well. That's really interesting, I'll be sure to look into it
But since VIS are optional, why might a victim abstain from giving one (Besides cases like R v Osland where delivering it might be traumatic)?

[elysepopplewell]

Wow, I never knew that VIS could have negatives as well. That's really interesting, I'll be sure to look into it
But since VIS are optional, why might a victim abstain from giving one (Besides cases like R v Osland where delivering it might be traumatic)?

Perhaps because they couldn't do justice to the violation they feel, or they don't want to give credence to the event that took place. Admittedly, I didn't really look into this during my own studies, so I don't know any stats on it. Trauma would be the number one reason I think!

[angiezhang9]

Can the ICJ give binding judgements and do countries not always abide by these rulings?

[jamonwindeyer]

Can the ICJ give binding judgements and do countries not always abide by these rulings?

Howdy! ICJ rulings are not binding, and a great example of this is the preceedings of Nicaragua vs USA (I linked to the Wikipedia article for a rundown, use some of the links below for better/more reliable sources)

[EmileeSmith]

what is one international human right which is also stated under domestic law/common law