HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[Neilab]

at this point - what should I be doing for legal? what are last minute tips for preparing for legal studies in the few weeks before the exam?

Also how do I deal with the fact I have society and culture on the same day as legal ? I need help aahhh

[hansolo9]

Hey guys

This may be a dumb question, but in crime, will they ever ask you specifically about Indigenous law or anything like that? So like the effectiveness of the law regarding Indigenous offenders kinda like young offenders.

[paigek3]

at this point - what should I be doing for legal? what are last minute tips for preparing for legal studies in the few weeks before the exam?

Also how do I deal with the fact I have society and culture on the same day as legal ? I need help aahhh

Hey! Right now, I’d ensure you have a solid set of notes to refer to. I think at this point it is ESSENTIAL to have various LCMID to be able to include in your responses so spend a big chunk of time not only researching to find new cases, articles etc. but also memorising the quote or citation or whatever you are wanting to include. Doing some past papers when you get the chance would also be great practice, and you can give it to someone for feedback!

It sucks a lot you have both on the same day, I would’ve too if my school did the normal way of the hsc, but cause we do a compacted curriculum style, I did SAC last year luckily!! SAC isn’t as content heavy as legal as the syllabus is smaller due to the PIP taking 40%, so think positively that at least it isn’t two x 3hr exams! Just prepare for both equally leading up to it and ensure you take a good break between exams to get some food (possibly a proper meal if time allows!), fresh air and water to refresh before beginning society and culture, otherwise you could burn out having two on the same day can have its benefits as by already doing one, you may be less nervous about the actual exam scenario for society and culture if that makes sense ahhah

Hey guys

This may be a dumb question, but in crime, will they ever ask you specifically about Indigenous law or anything like that? So like the effectiveness of the law regarding Indigenous offenders kinda like young offenders.

I doubt it would be specficially on indigenous offenders as the crime section of the syllabus doesn’t refer to that other than from circle sentencing. So if there was to be a question on anything to do with indigenous offenders in crime, it would most likely be evaluate the effectiveness of circle sentencing/alternative methods of sentencing

[mystermark]

Hi everyone!
I was wondering what is the definition of statutory and judicial guidelines and what are the differences?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hi everyone!
I was wondering what is the definition of statutory and judicial guidelines and what are the differences?

hello! the guidelines are to reduce inconsistency in the decisions of judges - so pretty much how common law's done, to make sure everyone's treated fairly. look at the differences this way:
statutory = government making laws
judicial = made my judges, so kind of like common law

best of luck with your hsc,
fantasticbeasts

[bronwoolbank]

Hi everyone!
I was wondering what is the definition of statutory and judicial guidelines and what are the differences?

Hey Mystermark !
Statutory guidelines are basically everything 'set in stone' under legislation, so when imposing a sentence, magistrates and judges have numerous laws, rules, guidelines and cases on how sentences are to be determined. Most of this is done through The Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), which is the primary source of sentencing law in NSW. In addition to that Act, limits and guidelines on sentencing are found in many other statutes. It sets out things such as a maximum penalty an offender can receive for a sentence.  No judicial officer can pass a sentence higher than the maximum penalty. For example, section 19A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) describes the maximum penalty for murder as life imprisonment, and section 61I sets the maximum penalty for sexual assault at 14 years’ imprisonment.
However, it is ultimately up to the judge or magistrate to impose an approprotate charge and this differs through judicial guidelines. Judicial officers determine the best sentence on a case-by-case basis. They take into account numerous aspects of the offence and of the accused’s circumstances.

Furthermore, mandatory sentencing overules juditical discretion, imposing a mandatory minimum sentence for a particular offence. Mandatory sentencing is an automatic sentence set by parliament that must be imposed by the judicial officer for particular offences or repeat offences.

Essentially in short, statutory guidelines CANT be fought against, theyre legally set to make sure imposed punishments are appropriate (and to make sure in instances such as murder and offender doesn't get a 2 year sentence just because the judge felt like it) and judicial guidelines revolve more heavily around discretion.

Hope this helps
Goodluck for your HSC !

[mystermark]

hello! the guidelines are to reduce inconsistency in the decisions of judges - so pretty much how common law's done, to make sure everyone's treated fairly. look at the differences this way:
statutory = government making laws
judicial = made my judges, so kind of like common law

best of luck with your hsc,
fantasticbeasts

Hi! thanks so much for your reply,
I was wondering is this plan is good enough for my essay:

QUESTION: "How effective are statutory and judicial guidelines as a means of achieving justice?"

(Body 1)
-   Define statutory
-   Law reform case r v loveridge
-   Statutory guideline have allowed law reform with lockout laws along with NGO ‘one punch can kill’ campaign

(body 2)
-   continuing with statutory and law reform cases
-   r v singh (provocation)

(body 3)
-   define judicial
-   r v silva (silva got plead guilty to manslaughter and received 29 weeks as judge took in mitigating circumstances)

(body 4)
-   continuing with judicial
-   r v Curtis
-   ineffective as he got one year for a white collar crime

*SORRY IF IT IS A LITTLE VAGUE

[mystermark]

Hey Mystermark !
Statutory guidelines are basically everything 'set in stone' under legislation, so when imposing a sentence, magistrates and judges have numerous laws, rules, guidelines and cases on how sentences are to be determined. Most of this is done through The Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), which is the primary source of sentencing law in NSW. In addition to that Act, limits and guidelines on sentencing are found in many other statutes. It sets out things such as a maximum penalty an offender can receive for a sentence.  No judicial officer can pass a sentence higher than the maximum penalty. For example, section 19A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) describes the maximum penalty for murder as life imprisonment, and section 61I sets the maximum penalty for sexual assault at 14 years’ imprisonment.
However, it is ultimately up to the judge or magistrate to impose an approprotate charge and this differs through judicial guidelines. Judicial officers determine the best sentence on a case-by-case basis. They take into account numerous aspects of the offence and of the accused’s circumstances.

Furthermore, mandatory sentencing overules juditical discretion, imposing a mandatory minimum sentence for a particular offence. Mandatory sentencing is an automatic sentence set by parliament that must be imposed by the judicial officer for particular offences or repeat offences.

Essentially in short, statutory guidelines CANT be fought against, theyre legally set to make sure imposed punishments are appropriate (and to make sure in instances such as murder and offender doesn't get a 2 year sentence just because the judge felt like it) and judicial guidelines revolve more heavily around discretion.

Hope this helps
Goodluck for your HSC !

Thanks for such a detailed explanation!
I was wondering if you could look at my plan please

Hi! thanks so much for your reply,
I was wondering is this plan is good enough for my essay:

QUESTION: "How effective are statutory and judicial guidelines as a means of achieving justice?"

(Body 1)
-   Define statutory
-   Law reform case r v loveridge
-   Statutory guideline have allowed law reform with lockout laws along with NGO ‘one punch can kill’ campaign

(body 2)
-   continuing with statutory and law reform cases
-   r v singh (provocation)

(body 3)
-   define judicial
-   r v silva (silva got plead guilty to manslaughter and received 29 weeks as judge took in mitigating circumstances)

(body 4)
-   continuing with judicial
-   r v Curtis
-   ineffective as he got one year for a white collar crime

*SORRY IF IT IS A LITTLE VAGUE

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hi! thanks so much for your reply,
I was wondering is this plan is good enough for my essay:

QUESTION: "How effective are statutory and judicial guidelines as a means of achieving justice?"

(Body 1)
-   Define statutory
-   Law reform case r v loveridge
-   Statutory guideline have allowed law reform with lockout laws along with NGO ‘one punch can kill’ campaign

(body 2)
-   continuing with statutory and law reform cases
-   r v singh (provocation)

(body 3)
-   define judicial
-   r v silva (silva got plead guilty to manslaughter and received 29 weeks as judge took in mitigating circumstances)

(body 4)
-   continuing with judicial
-   r v Curtis
-   ineffective as he got one year for a white collar crime

*SORRY IF IT IS A LITTLE VAGUE

yea that sounds good! just make sure to include the actual legislation for statutory guidelines where you're talking about statutory guidelines :-)

[bronwoolbank]

Hi! thanks so much for your reply,
I was wondering is this plan is good enough for my essay:

QUESTION: "How effective are statutory and judicial guidelines as a means of achieving justice?"

(Body 1)
-   Define statutory
-   Law reform case r v loveridge
-   Statutory guideline have allowed law reform with lockout laws along with NGO ‘one punch can kill’ campaign

(body 2)
-   continuing with statutory and law reform cases
-   r v singh (provocation)

(body 3)
-   define judicial
-   r v silva (silva got plead guilty to manslaughter and received 29 weeks as judge took in mitigating circumstances)

(body 4)
-   continuing with judicial
-   r v Curtis
-   ineffective as he got one year for a white collar crime

*SORRY IF IT IS A LITTLE VAGUE

R v Loverige can be good to show how sometimes staturory guidelines are ineffective, with media outrage following his mere 5 year sentence following the attack, after appeal the sentence doubled. ( http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-04/loveridge-gets-more-jail-time-over-one-punch-death/5571222 ) This one is good too ( http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/c.php?g=671792&p=4729423 ). I would make a conscious effort to show how the statutory guidelines were deemed ineffective and then prove the evident need for law reform because of what this case triggered. Have a read of this http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-22/one-punch-mandatory-sentences-27a-recipe-for-injustice27/5212462 .

R v Singh is also good for proving ineffectiveness of statutory guidelines . See - http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/c.php?g=671792&p=4729478 . This is also a great read https://theconversation.com/murder-or-manslaughter-nsw-ponders-the-provocation-problem-9180. This is a great case for your essay as it proposes the heavily debated issue of Provocation being a partial defence (Note http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Government-abolishes-provocation-defence/2005/01/20/1106110863452.html )

R v Silva is a great case of achieving justice as the judge took into account the mitigating factors that made the offence happen. ( http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/jessica-silva-opens-up-to-60-minutes-about-the-night-she-killed-james-polkinghorne/news-story/d418122fe57956228f50301ad049f61c) and http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-06/jessica-silva-avoids-jail-for-manslaughter-of-abusive-partner/6285488. If you can find the transcript somewhere, i know they had the voice messages of the abusive calls the deceased victim sent to the offender. This is a great case !

I actually havent heard too much about your 4th paragraph case but it sounds on track . Just make sure you continually integrate your cases and make sure you're making a point when you integrate them , as to not just putting them into your essay for the fun of it

Hope your essay goes well

[sidzeman]

Sorry if this has been asked before but, do many people just make up their media for their legal essays? Memorising cases is alright as there is overlap on what questions you can use them for, for media is just so specific

[fantasticbeasts3]

Sorry if this has been asked before but, do many people just make up their media for their legal essays? Memorising cases is alright as there is overlap on what questions you can use them for, for media is just so specific

it's hard to make up media because it just doesn't sound legit... try your best to remember them, but if you can't, put on your journalist hat and make up the best possible title for your article 😂

[mystermark]

it's hard to make up media because it just doesn't sound legit... try your best to remember them, but if you can't, put on your journalist hat and make up the best possible title for your article 😂

My teacher was telling us how a girl for her trials made up her articles, all her info was right but the articles didnt make sense. My teacher ended up looking into her whole essay and safe to say she didnt do it for her hsc :')

[rodero]

Sorry if this has been asked before but, do many people just make up their media for their legal essays? Memorising cases is alright as there is overlap on what questions you can use them for, for media is just so specific

I've read some exemplar HSC responses and I've seen many students who have made up their media articles. You don't even need to make it a flashy title for an article, you can just say something like: the UN has been coined a "toothless tiger" (SMH 2011), due to ...

[sarahhamilton]

What is the best method of studying for the crime extended response?