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March 29, 2024, 04:56:10 am

Author Topic: HSC Legal Studies Question Thread  (Read 568059 times)  Share 

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mikaela.luckman

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #15 on: February 15, 2016, 10:06:04 pm »
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Thank you so much. Really helps.

mikaela.luckman

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #16 on: February 15, 2016, 10:26:48 pm »
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Hey I would love some advice.
I still have 12 units and It has been recommended that I drop 2 units and have 10 units.
I am contemplating dropping PE or Legal. I love legal but have never done well in the subject. I absolutely hate PE and it is boring but seem to do better in it then PE, so I am very conflicted. Any advice would be awesome :) Thanks...x

jamonwindeyer

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #17 on: February 16, 2016, 12:22:39 am »
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Hey I would love some advice.
I still have 12 units and It has been recommended that I drop 2 units and have 10 units.
I am contemplating dropping PE or Legal. I love legal but have never done well in the subject. I absolutely hate PE and it is boring but seem to do better in it then PE, so I am very conflicted. Any advice would be awesome :) Thanks...x

Hey Mikaela!

This seems like an interesting piece of advice. Before you act on the advice you were given, I'd consider it carefully. Do you really want to lose a subject? Having extra units has lots of benefits, most obvious of which is the fact that it offers an extra chance to improve your end result. Don't drop one unless you are seriously, definitely struggling with the workload. Even if your results aren't quite where you want them to be, unless you are stressed with the amount of work you have (as in, you are using the maximum amount of time you can spent on homework a week and not getting everything done), don't drop a subject. It isn't necessarily a solution.

All this said, let's say you are dropping. Your quote:

I love legal... I absolutely hate PE and it is boring...

This should be your decision done in my opinion. Results will ultimately tend towards what you enjoy; if you love Legal and work hard, your results will improve and you will do well. If you drop Legal, then not only have you lost a subject you love, you then have more pressure to perform in a subject you hate...  Gross  :P

I don't know everything about your situation, so you should ultimately make the call, but I think to go with the subject you love. Your results and sanity will thank me. Sure, your results may not be stellar, but that can be worked on with time. You can train yourself and improve in a subject, but you can't force yourself to enjoy it  :)



« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 12:24:57 am by jamonwindeyer »

elysepopplewell

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #18 on: February 18, 2016, 10:58:54 am »
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Hello! I don't understand why "Environmental Rights" are universal.

Any help would be much appreciated! :)

Thank you x

Hey Mikaela!
Jamon's response has got you covered. I will add though: when you are making your notes for Environmental Rights, make sure you take note of what has been happening in the news lately: The UN Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of 2015. Fiji just became the first country to ratify the outcomes of the conference! It needs 55 signatories to take effect, but experts have confidence it will pass and this will be another thing to add to your notes. So keep your eyes peeled for more stuff like this :)

Also, remember, that Environmental Rights don't just belong to the current generation but also the future generations. Each human has a right to live in an environment that is thriving. If the environment is severely damaged, it will impact our health, and consequently our right to life. Do you see the chain effect? There is even a very complicated debate about whether we are breaching the human rights of people not yet born because we are failing to take care of the environment as is!

Happy studies :)
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mikaela.luckman

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2016, 02:01:14 pm »
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Hey guys... I want to say thank you, I really appreciate the help you have given me through this online tutoring, the feed back is great and you are all so kind :)

I'm having trouble with the past 2015 HSC Crime extended response question , "How effective are domestic and international measures in dealing with International Crime?"

A few pointers would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys :) x

jamonwindeyer

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #20 on: February 21, 2016, 05:24:22 pm »
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Hey guys... I want to say thank you, I really appreciate the help you have given me through this online tutoring, the feed back is great and you are all so kind :)

I'm having trouble with the past 2015 HSC Crime extended response question , "How effective are domestic and international measures in dealing with International Crime?"

A few pointers would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys :) x

Hi again Mikaela! Thank you for your kind words, glad to know we are helping out in some small way  ;D

This was my HSC Trial Question (funnily enough, I correctly predicted it to be the HSC 2015 question as well), and I got full marks for the essay, so I know the question fairly well. Let's break it down a little:

How effective: You need to be making an overall judgement. Good, bad, ugly, anywhere in between. This should be integrated into your Thesis somehow.

Domestic and International Measures: Gives you your points to discuss, you need to cover both domestic and international responses (don't just do the United Nations, be broader!)

Dealing with International Crime: Specifies the topic area from the syllabus.

So, we need an essay that takes some of the domestic and international measures (from the International Crime section of the syllabus), and makes a judgement as to how good/bad they are, based on whatever evidence you would like to include.

There are some things you should definitely talk about, like the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and Australian laws which deal with International Crimes. However, you can expand it to talk about the UNSC and General Assembly specifically, other intergovernmental organisations, extradition, and even bring in NGO's (though don't go into great depth with them). Also remember that International Crime covers both Crimes Against Humanity (genocide, people trafficking, etc), and transnational crimes (drug trafficking, piracy, etc).

As always, remember to include your LCMTR (Laws, Cases, Media, Treaties, Reports), and any other evidence which supports your argument. Make sure the argument is sophisticated, and threaded throughout your entire response. Be organised with your ideas, and don't waste time explaining concepts/describing laws in great detail. All your words should be on analysis/evaluation.

I hope these pointers help put you on the right track!  ;D

myer.w

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #21 on: February 28, 2016, 11:37:19 am »
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Hi!
I'm currently trying to do an assessment on the limitations of free speech, both domestic and international responses. If you had any legal and non-legal information to help me with an overview it would be great!
Thanks in advance  :)

atar27

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #22 on: February 28, 2016, 05:55:32 pm »
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HEY!
I have my half yearly exams coming up and we were told that the essay will be on young offenders.
I picked this question and I am not quite sure how to approach it...
Assess the effectiveness of the criminal justice system when dealing with young offenders

Any help will be much appreciated
THANK YOU :)

jamonwindeyer

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #23 on: February 28, 2016, 06:51:42 pm »
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Hi!
I'm currently trying to do an assessment on the limitations of free speech, both domestic and international responses. If you had any legal and non-legal information to help me with an overview it would be great!
Thanks in advance  :)

Hi myer.w! This is a really interesting topic which I'm assuming relates to the Human Rights part of the course. I've never had to do an essay on this personally, so I don't have too much to offer, however:

Freedom of speech, basically, is the idea that an individual cannot be persecuted for what they choose to communicate. There are exceptions, such as if the information compromises national security, or is slanderous, among other reasons. In terms of what to discuss as legal responses, your focus should be on the ICCPR and its related committees and bodies, since this is the main piece of international law which protects political rights such as the Freedom of Speech. Domestically, you would be looking at cases primarily, though you may also choose to take a look a laws such as the Freedom of Information Act. There is also a good case worth researching, the Lange v ABC High Court case, which concerned the Freedom of Political Communication, which relates directly to this topic.

Non Legal is a little trickier. I would be researching politically motivated companies (Wikileaks could be an example) to see if any have been involved in protecting/violating the notion of Freedom of Speech. As I said, I never did an essay on this (nor would you have to in the HSC Exam), so I can only offer the most basic of information from the Human Rights topic.

Hopefully this is a good starting point for your research! If anyone else had more, please share! And feel free to come back to us with what you find and I can advise if it all constitutes a solid bank of evidence for an essay  ;D

jamonwindeyer

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #24 on: February 28, 2016, 07:18:41 pm »
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HEY!
I have my half yearly exams coming up and we were told that the essay will be on young offenders.
I picked this question and I am not quite sure how to approach it...
Assess the effectiveness of the criminal justice system when dealing with young offenders

Any help will be much appreciated
THANK YOU :)

Hi atar27! This is a stock standard essay question, it's been asked as a HSC question before, so it is really great you want to tackle it!

Obviously, this essay will focus on the Young Offenders section of the syllabus. You should be covering things like:
  • Young Offenders Act: The Three Tier System
  • Child Sentencing and Procedures Act: Special Considerations for Children
  • Mens Rea for Minors
  • LEPRA: Rights of Children
Among others.

To start, try brainstorming LCMTR (Laws, Cases, Media, Treaties, Reports) around the key areas in your syllabus, focusing on how they show the legal system do a good or a bad job at dealing with young offenders. From there, put some work into developing your thesis (I have a guide for this) to link all of these ideas together into a cohesive argument. This should get you started on the way to developing a killer essay plan.

If you had some more specific concerns, please let me know. Further, once you've done a bit of work, I'd love to give you some feedback on your essay, just jump over to the essay marking thread  ;D good luck!

atar27

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #25 on: February 28, 2016, 08:16:35 pm »
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THANK YOU :)

elysepopplewell

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #26 on: February 29, 2016, 11:03:13 am »
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THANK YOU :)

Everything Jamon said is spot on, but also consider the age of criminal responsibility in Australia but also on an International level. Australia's doli incapax is conclusive presumption until age 10. The UN suggests that the minimum age of conclusive doli incapax should be age 12! So you could say, according to international standards and suggestions, Australia is being ineffective. You can also compare Australia to other countries. In Italy, Spain and Russia, doli incapax covers up until 14. In Zimbabwe, Singapore and Tonga, it is only 7. So when you make comparisons, you can decide how effective Australia is. The UN's suggestion of 12 is a very good place to start when you are assessing the effectiveness. There are heaps of online articles about doli incapax and the age of criminal responsibility - so this is a great place for you to pick up some media articles to slip into your work!


Here are some statistics that I presented in the legal studies lecture earlier in the year that might help inform your understanding a bit more:
Statistics provided by Juvenile Justice NSW Annual Report Summary: 2013-2014.

315 is the average number of juveniles in custody on any given day.
24 is the average number of juvenile females in custody on any given day and 291 males.
4641 community based orders commenced 2013-2014.
16,799 hours of community service allocated to young people in total.
1582 referrals to a youth justice conference.
In 2013, 8 juveniles in custody completed their HSC
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bridgetb1008

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #27 on: March 03, 2016, 10:37:03 pm »
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Hey guys!

I was just wondering if you had any tips for becoming more effective at finding cases online?? For example I was looking the other day for an example of a case that involved mitigating factors and it took me forever to find one (and I feel like it shouldn't be such a hard thing!). Any advice about that would be amazing!!!!  :)

elysepopplewell

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #28 on: March 04, 2016, 09:22:30 am »
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Hey guys!

I was just wondering if you had any tips for becoming more effective at finding cases online?? For example I was looking the other day for an example of a case that involved mitigating factors and it took me forever to find one (and I feel like it shouldn't be such a hard thing!). Any advice about that would be amazing!!!!  :)

Hey there!
You aren't the only one curious about this question, I'm positive that there are LOTS of students wanting to know the same thing.
First of all, it pays to know high profile cases and what is happening in the media. If you use Facebook, you need to like a bunch of news pages to help you out. Try: Pedestrian.tv, Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. This is important because even without reading the articles, the headlines give you a really good update on what's happening for very little work. However, obviously maximum effectiveness comes from reading the article. Either, you share the articles to your page on the privacy settings "only me" or you create a group with your legal class and post media articles in there and create a collection.

The reason is, the media will tell you the biggest most important cases. Then, if you want to dig deeper, you just start googling around once you have the name of the case.

I know this works, for the reason that if you asked me for a case with mitigating factors, I can easily think of the Kristi Abrahams case. I can think of it because it was so heavily in the news, so I made a mental note of it for all kinds of legal reasons.

Another great place to start when looking for cases is the Guides section on the state library website. A quick google search takes me right here: http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/content.php?pid=242811&sid=4001783 (Kristi Abraham's case summary, media and court documents). The state library website is really excellent for finding cases because you can categorise them by legal themes.

To sum that up: Follow the news, keep a stash of articles, use guides.sl. Hopefully this helps you out! :)
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chuckiecheese

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Re: 90 in Legal Studies: Ask me anything!
« Reply #29 on: March 05, 2016, 08:17:48 pm »
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How do I go about responding to the human rights short answer question? For example, "how are is ONE human right best protected in Australia..."

Cheers