HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[elysepopplewell]

Hi Elyse

I'm in a middle of understanding the "Themes and Challenges" which is really important according to my teacher.
The topics are Crime, Human Rights, Consumers and Family Law
I'm quite confused with most of them, especially the Crimes and Human Rights.. If you could explain them to me briefly  that would be really helpful for my trials in Wk 5.

Thank you!

Hey there! Head over here to see how I broke down the Crime and Human Rights themes and challenges. It's super simple, so if you have any questions to flesh it out more, definitely ask!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi, im preparing for my trials and in the syllabus the themes and challenges are generally the points of discussion for family questions ( following trend) however im stuck on how i would weave the syllabus points into these themes and challenges for example i was looking at past 2012 paper where it was discuss whether the courts deliver justice for families, what exactly would i talk about ? and for the rest of the themes and challenges how would i study them. Thanks, and sorry if this is a big ask

Hey! Take a look at this themes and challenges resource I just whipped up to explain how subtly you can include them for big results.

As for the courts achieving justice for families:
There are lots of things to discuss here. The first that comes to mind is divorce or separation - money, assets, parenting orders, the length of the divorce process, etc. And in each of those, discuss the two parties, and then perhaps the children. Talk about the court back log, the accessibility to all parties, and you can even argue that a lot of justice achieved in families happens outside of the court, in mediation!

[conic curve]

Yep! According to Section 17 of the Young Offender's Act, the warning is recorded, but it is then destroyed when the person in question reaches the age of 21.

A strip search is a broad term encompassing searches for hidden objects that require removal of some or all of the suspects clothing 

Serious questions here but:

So if you're 18 or over, it will never get destroyed?

Does strip search include taking off a person's clothing which covers up their private genitals (this is a serious question by the way)?

[green-jake]

Hey,

For legal studies one of my options is consumers. I was struggling with an essay question on law reform as I wasn't sure how to structure it. Whether I talk about the ACL and about deceptive misealing advertising etc... and then go one to talk about the Spam act 2003. Or whether i dont talk about specific laws the entire essay but rather refer to the need for law reform etc..

[Lauradf36]

Question on international crime/human rights: are people smuggling & human trafficking the same thing? Or could you use similar evidence if they are different?

[isaacdelatorre]

Question on international crime/human rights: are people smuggling & human trafficking the same thing? Or could you use similar evidence if they are different?

Hey,
These two issues are very easy to get mixed up.

Whilst they are similar; human trafficking is the commercial trade or trafficking in human beings for the purpose of some form of slavery, usually involving recruiting, transporting or obtaining a person by force, coercion or deceptive means. Whereas, people smuggling is the illegal transportation of people across borders, where people voluntarily pay a fee to the smuggler, then are usually free to continue on their own after arrival in the hope of starting a new life.

So really, the key differences is that people smuggling usually is a bit more voluntary that trafficking. Also in the rare occasions that they make it to their destination; those that are people smuggled are usually free to continue on their life; whereas those that are trafficked are exploited or forced into labour service.

Whether the evidence is applicable or not, depends entirely on what kind of evidence it is. For example people smuggling is prohibited  under the Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth) whereas human trafficking is concerned with the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cwlth).

[jamie anderson]

I was wondering if anyone has any essay questions on the 1st part of consumer law as we have not covered the whole thing in class and our trials will be a question on the nature of consumer law

Thanks !

[shazzzzzz]

I was wondering if anyone has any essay questions on the 1st part of consumer law as we have not covered the whole thing in class and our trials will be a question on the nature of consumer law

Thanks !

I had something similar for one of my tests, our question was
Outline the developing need for consumer protection and examine the effectiveness of the law in dealing with unfair consumer goods and services contracts

Hope this helps!

[shazzzzzz]

I previously asked about my assignment on here and I need some more help!

outline TWO human rights that are breached regarding the issue - 5 marks

I'm talking about how Australia deals with asylum seekers in regards to detention centers.

Article 14 - Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution - this right would make the most sense to talk about but I'm not exactly sure how Australia breaches this right

[Lauradf36]

Hey,
These two issues are very easy to get mixed up.

Whilst they are similar; human trafficking is the commercial trade or trafficking in human beings for the purpose of some form of slavery, usually involving recruiting, transporting or obtaining a person by force, coercion or deceptive means. Whereas, people smuggling is the illegal transportation of people across borders, where people voluntarily pay a fee to the smuggler, then are usually free to continue on their own after arrival in the hope of starting a new life.

So really, the key differences is that people smuggling usually is a bit more voluntary that trafficking. Also in the rare occasions that they make it to their destination; those that are people smuggled are usually free to continue on their life; whereas those that are trafficked are exploited or forced into labour service.

Whether the evidence is applicable or not, depends entirely on what kind of evidence it is. For example people smuggling is prohibited  under the Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth) whereas human trafficking is concerned with the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cwlth).

Thanks so much! So would human trafficking still be considered a transnational crime? Or what cases/evidence would you suggest for people smuggling otherwise?

[shazzzzzz]

Thanks so much! So would human trafficking still be considered a transnational crime? Or what cases/evidence would you suggest for people smuggling otherwise?

If I may intervene, I would assume human trafficking is considered a transnational crime because it involves a crime crossing international borders.

[isaacdelatorre]

Thanks so much! So would human trafficking still be considered a transnational crime? Or what cases/evidence would you suggest for people smuggling otherwise?

Hey there,

To some extent human trafficking is considered as a transnational crime as it originates in one country and is completed or injury occurs in another country. Like most transnational crimes, it is undermined by jurisdictional issues and state sovereignty which limit the effectiveness of attempts to address it.

However, it should be noted that humans can still be trafficked within borders. Thus it is not always a transnational crime. This type of trafficking is far easier to address - Thanks to Elyse who picked up my mistake

There haven't been many cases for human trafficking in Australia, only for slavery/slavery like conditions:
R v Tang (2009) HCA and R v Chee Mei Wong (2013) NSWDC --> these cases are both concerned with slavery and debt bondage however they do link to human trafficking as they both recruited and trafficked women from other countries to be used as labour in Australia.

With people smuggling:
Ali Khorram Heydarkhani case is quite good as it shows successful prosecution of people smugglers
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/people-smuggler-ali-khorram-heydarkhani-jailed-14-years-over-christmas-island-tragedy/story-e6frg6nf-1226500828127

Sydney Law review has a good report on some of the prosecutions surrounding people smuggling although it is only up til 2014
https://sydney.edu.au/law/slr/slr_38/slr38_1/SLRv38n1SchloenhardtCraig.pdf

Commonwealth DPP also has lots of great information regarding cases and law reform about people smuggling
https://www.cdpp.gov.au/crimes-we-prosecute/people-smuggling

If you can find some non-legal responses i.e. charities, NGO's (Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch) and see what kind of response they have had to this issue; that would also work well.

Good luck, hope I have been of some help

[Lauradf36]

Thanks so much, you're a life saver!

[elysepopplewell]

Hey,

For legal studies one of my options is consumers. I was struggling with an essay question on law reform as I wasn't sure how to structure it. Whether I talk about the ACL and about deceptive misealing advertising etc... and then go one to talk about the Spam act 2003. Or whether i dont talk about specific laws the entire essay but rather refer to the need for law reform etc..

Hey! Keep in mind that I didn't study consumer law - but I have an idea that might work for you. You have a choice about how you want to approach this. You can break your essay into sections that respond to the three different reasons for law reform (from the preliminary syllabus). So, you can break your essay into the reasons for law reform being: new concepts of justice, changing social values and new technology. Then fit some law reform in accordingly. This is a more abstract approach.

Otherwise, you could talk about major areas in consumer law, or rather, major issues, that have called for law reform, like spam.

OR, similar to this last one, you could dedicate a paragraph to each of the law reforms that you want to focus specifically on. This way you can get away with your essay's arguments being more all over the place, rather than in a particular order, like the first suggestion would require.

[elysepopplewell]

Hey,
These two issues are very easy to get mixed up.

Whilst they are similar; human trafficking is the commercial trade or trafficking in human beings for the purpose of some form of slavery, usually involving recruiting, transporting or obtaining a person by force, coercion or deceptive means. Whereas, people smuggling is the illegal transportation of people across borders, where people voluntarily pay a fee to the smuggler, then are usually free to continue on their own after arrival in the hope of starting a new life.

So really, the key differences is that people smuggling usually is a bit more voluntary that trafficking. Also in the rare occasions that they make it to their destination; those that are people smuggled are usually free to continue on their life; whereas those that are trafficked are exploited or forced into labour service.

Whether the evidence is applicable or not, depends entirely on what kind of evidence it is. For example people smuggling is prohibited  under the Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth) whereas human trafficking is concerned with the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cwlth).

Spot on!