Handbook

This course introduces students to sentencing law, practice and procedure. Woven through the course is a critical examination of the interaction between the goals of sentencing policy and its practical application. Specific areas of focus include: sentencing court procedure; sentencing policy, principles and law; sentencing in the context of disadvantaged and vulnerable offenders; therapeutic justice principles; sentencing Indigenous offenders in the context of their over-representation in conviction rates and in custody; alternatives to custodial sentences. Sentencing and Criminal Justice builds on core courses in the program to prepare graduates for practice in criminal courts.

Students are required to attend court to observe sentencing proceedings. This real-world experience will contextualise the law learnt in the classroom and inform on law reform, policies and the social justice dimensions of sentencing.