This course offers an opportunity to engage in a critical analysis of the criminal justice system and the criminal law, using some contemporary approaches from the fields of criminology, criminal justice, penology and sociolegal studies.
The course will give students an opportunity to understand the role of key participants in the criminal justice field, including police, prosecutors, judicial officers, other law-makers from the legislative and executive arms of government, and defence lawyers. Students will analyse how criminalisation can occur, including examining  
• why some behaviours/omissions/statuses are criminalised and others not;
• the impact of discretionary choices by justice actors on the criminalisation of individuals;
• the impact of criminalisation of some individuals on their social/cultural group;
• the differential impact of the criminal justice system on some social/cultural  groups relative to others;
• why indigenous people are so starkly overrepresented at all levels of the criminal justice system;
• the role and extent of summary justice in the criminal justice system; and,
• the impact on criminalisation of pre-trial processes, such as police powers and practices, bail and plea bargaining.
This course will also supplement existing doctrinal knowledge of criminal law, by introducing students to key areas of criminal law: bail law, police powers, public order offences, drug offences and sentencing, and will also expose students to some emerging areas of criminal law.