Module LAW3241: INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL LAW

Department: LAW

LAW3241: INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL LAW

Prerequisites

• Criminal Law (LAW2022).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To provide students with a critical introduction to the different approaches to substantive and procedural criminal law in common law and civil law jurisdictions; to show the effects of the different approaches on the level of International and European criminal law, and the development of the latter.
• To encourage students to evaluate established domestic legal concepts, principles and regulations in the light of the different approaches to, and theories of, criminal justice systems.
• To develop students critical awareness of the law in its broader social and political as well as international context.

Content

• This module examines the criminal law from a comparative and international perspective.
• It considers how criminal justice systems work differently in different jurisdictions, national and international, and how the law on the international level is often based on stereotyped assumptions about the underlying elements of the major streams of criminal law theory.
• The main approaches to comparative and international criminal law research are considered, before examining a number of areas of interesting and controversial areas of law, such as the creation of international customary criminal law principles, the use of national sources, shortcomings regarding the equality of arms between prosecution and defence in the international forum, and the problems of legal transplants in transitional justice systems.

Learning Outcomes

• Students should be able to:
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the main theoretical approaches to analyses of comparative and international criminal law.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of selected areas of substantive and procedural law.

• Students should be able to:
• Evaluate critically the relevance of domestic and international pre-conceptions in the determination of criminal law and criminal legal policy on the international level.
• Demonstrate analytical and critical skills in regard to the main tenets of selected domestic and international criminal justice systems.
• Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the significance of comparative and international criminal law in its global context.
• Evaluate selected areas of substantive law and legal policy in the light of different approaches to the study of criminal law, including the ability to offer personal and justifiable opinions on the effectiveness of specific laws, the desirability of reform, and to recognise and understand competing arguments for reform.

• Students should be able to:
• Demonstrate developed research and writing skills, including the ability to work independently and to take responsibility for their own learning.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The modes of teaching, learning and assessment have been chosen in order to facilitate the achievement of the learning outcomes of the module.
• Lectures will concentrate on developing students knowledge of the subject area and introducing students to the relevant critical, analytical and evaluative skills.
• Seminars will be used to develop students critical and analytical skills and their understanding of the subject area.
• The modes of assessment will encourage independent learning and research skills and will examine students ability to meet the learning outcomes of the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One 1,000 word essay

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University