Evaluate the policy issues underlying criminal law and the need to regulate social behaviour whilst balancing the competing interests of the defendant against that of the victim.

Module Learning Outcomes
(from module syllabus)

Demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of the social, moral, ethical and philosophical issues underlying criminal law and the ability to debate issues in relation to more general ethical perspectives

Evaluate the policy issues underlying criminal law and the need to regulate social behaviour whilst balancing the competing interests of the defendant against that of the victim.

TASK DESCRIPTION

‘The law governing homicide in England and Wales is a rickety structure set upon shaky foundations. Some of its rules have been unaltered since the seventeenth century, even though it has long been acknowledged that they are in dire need of reform’ (Law Commission, 2005)

Consider the statement above and decide whether the law governing homicide in England and Wales is in need of reform.

You must answer within an essay format, within a word limit of 1500 words.

In order to fully address this task question, some of the relevant content includes:
– What is the current law governing Homicide in England and Wales?
– Some of the key issues: partial defences to murder, controversy surrounding the intent required for murder, is the breadth of manslaughter too broad?
– The proposals that have been put forward by the Law Commission and other bodies
– Why have the government accepted some proposals for reform and rejected others? Were they right to do this?
– What are the arguments against reform?

You are reminded to revisit the relevant material from the taught sessions on this topic and to fully utilise the sources on the online resource list. Please ensure that you are accessing credible literature to support your answer, including journal articles, text books, Parliamentary papers, Law Commission publications and case law (to name a few). You will be given the opportunity to submit a draft for feedback and although this is not compulsory, you are strongly encouraged to do so.

All content within your answer must be referenced in accordance with the Harvard referencing system. Please see the UWTSD referencing handbook which is available on the Moodle page for this module or a suitable referencing guide via the UWTSD online library.

You must submit your answer to Turnitin by 23:59 on Friday 5th November 2021.

GUIDANCE IN THE COMPLETION OF TASKS

NOTE: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.

Engagement with Literature Skills

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set. You should provide evidence that you have accessed an appropriate range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites. You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly. Any sources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older. You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Please note, when you are referencing case law, you do not need to state where you have accessed the information as the case is a source in its own right. Instead, you need to list all case citations in full, at the end of your reference list.

Knowledge and Understanding Skills

At level 4, you should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the underlying concepts and principles associated with your area(s) of study. Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning. You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set. You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. to show your understanding. Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding.

Guidance specific to this assessment: In order to demonstrate good knowledge and understanding, you must ensure you are paraphrasing all content, rather than quoting material. Your ability to do this, shows that you understanding what the content means.

Cognitive and Intellectual Skills

You should be able to present, evaluate and interpret qualitative and quantitative data, in order to develop lines of argument and make sound judgements in accordance with basic theories and concepts of your subject(s) of study. You should be able to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems related to your area(s) of study and/or work. Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information. This means not just describing what! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost? You should provide justification for your arguments and judgements using evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of others within the subject area and that you are able to make sound judgements and arguments using data and concepts. Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Your ability to demonstrate arguments for and against reform, will show evidence of analysis. The more you read around the topic, the greater opportunity for evaluation.

Practical Skills

At level 4, you should be able to apply the basic underlying concepts and principles to evaluate and interpret these within the context of your area of study. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real world situations and/or a particular context. How do they work in practice? You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts. This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others based on stated criteria.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Case law should be used throughout this answer to demonstrate the practical issues surrounding the law on Homicide.

Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice
Your work must provide evidence of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of some personal responsibility. This includes demonstrating: that you can communicate the results of your study/work accurately and reliably, and with structured and coherent arguments; that you can initiate and complete tasks and procedures, whether individually and/or collaboratively; fluency of expression; clarity and effectiveness in presentation and organisation. Work should be coherent and well-structured in presentation and organisation.

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