Public Submission (30%):  (Groups of four [4] students) Students will work as a community group and write a 3000-word submission (including group and individual contributions) to a Parliamentary Inquiry that is examining “xx violence”. You may choose what type of violence the Inquiry is examining. Your submission will:

• Describe the nature of the violence, its incidence, patterns and distribution;
• Identify who are the main offenders and who are the main victims and the nature of their relationship;
• Identify and discuss the nature of the social relationship(s) that the violence is intended to regulate; and
• Discuss what of the violence is ‘gendered’ - its social location, its ‘parties’, its institutional setting(s).

The submission must include a bibliography containing a minimum of 6 scholarly references (peer reviewed journal article or scholarly book or chapter). In addition, you may reference government reports, the reports of other relevant inquiries, or reports by advocacy bodies or specialists. The bibliography should not include legislation or cases referred to in the paper.  However, if you want to list these, you should provide a separate legislation list and case list. If you list an item in your bibliography, you must have used it, that is, you must have a related in-text citation.

The Release date for the assisgnment is at 9am on 8 March 2024 (Sydney, Australia Time). The deadline for submission is 4pm on 28 March 2024 (Sydney, Australia Time). 

The group will need to make decisions on the core components of the assignment. You can all work together one each requirement OR you can allocate requirements to each individual. You will need to come together to agree and edit the final document. The group document is 2,500 words and will include a sentence or two about which task was completed by which student.

In addition, each student will submit a brief reflection (500 words/1-page) on the process – what did you discover/learn by completing the task and did this change/how did it change as a result of working with other people and considering their perspectives? 

The outcome of a grant of special consideration application may include an alternative task, at the discretion of the Unit Coordinator.

Essay (70%): Students are required to submit an Essay, 5000 words maximum, on the following topic: 

“The burden of proof in criminal law is that an offence must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. This standard is impossible to reach in most cases involving sexual victimisation and should be replaced”. Critically analyse this statement.

The Essay must include a bibliography containing a minimum of 6 scholarly references (peer reviewed journal article or scholarly book or chapter). The bibliography should not include legislation or cases referred to in the paper.  However, if you want to list these you should provide a separate legislation list and case list. If you list an item in your bibliography, you must have used it. That is, you must have a related in-text citation. The Release date for the the assignment is 9am on 22 March 2024(Sydney, Australia Time). The deadline for submission is 4pm on 22 April 2024 (Sydney, Australia Time). The outcome of a grant of special consideration application may include an alternative task, at the discretion of the Unit Coordinator.

Word limit penalty: A piece of assessment which exceeds the prescribed word limit will attract a penalty of 10% of the total marks available for the piece of assessment for every 100 words, or part thereof. The total word count for essay and other written assessments will exclude all footnotes and any bibliography (if required).  

Use of editors or proof-readers: In completing unsupervised assessments, students may use editors, proof-readers, and automated writing tools (including translation software, grammar checkers, reference generators and artificial intelligence), provided that all use is acknowledged and consistent with University policies and procedures including Academic Integrity Policy. Acknowledgment must be made in writing on the front of the work submitted for assessment, or in an appropriate footnote or other reference, and state the name of the person or software.  

Special consideration: Successful grants of Special Consideration may involve alternative tasks, as appropriate. 

Assessment requirements to pass a unit of study: A student must make a genuine attempt at all assessment tasks set out in this Unit of Study in order to obtain a Pass mark and grade (or above); otherwise an Absent Fail grade will be recorded as the student’s result for this Unit of Study.