Australia's laws impact on all our lives and a good understanding of the laws we live under will help students as they move into adulthood. VCE Legal Studies enables students to become active and informed citizens by providing them with valuable insights into their relationship with the law and the legal system. Students come to appreciate how legal systems and processes aim to achieve social cohesion, and how they themselves can create positive changes to laws and the legal system. VCE Legal Studies equips students with the ability to research and analyse legal information and apply legal reasoning and decision-making skills, and fosters critical thinking to solve legal problems. Further study in the legal field can lead to a broad range of career opportunities such as lawyer, paralegal, legal secretary and careers in the courtroom.
Understand and apply legal terminology, principles and concepts
Apply legal principles to actual and/or hypothetical scenarios, explore solutions to legal problems, and form reasoned conclusions
Analyse the institutions that make laws and understand the way in which individuals can engage in and influence law reform
Understand legal rights and responsibilities, and the effectiveness of the protection of rights in Australia
Analyse the methods and institutions that determine criminal cases and resolve civil disputes
Propose and analyse reforms to the legal system to enable the principles of justice to be achieved
Unit 1: Guilt and liability
Unit 2: Sanctions, remedies and rights
Unit 3: Rights and justice
Unit 4: The people and the law
In this unit students develop an understanding of legal foundations, such as the different types and sources of law and the existence of a court hierarchy in Victoria. Students investigate key concepts of criminal law and civil law and apply these to actual and/or hypothetical scenarios to determine whether an accused may be found guilty of a crime, or liable in a civil dispute. In doing so, students develop an appreciation of the way in which legal principles and information are used in making reasoned judgments and conclusions about the culpability of an accused, and the liability of a party in a civil dispute.
In this area of study students investigate key concepts in the determination of a criminal case, including the institutions that enforce criminal law, and the purposes and types of sanctions and approaches to sentencing. Through an investigation of two criminal cases from the past four years, either decided or still being decided, students explore the extent to which the principles of justice were or could be achieved.
In this unit students examine the methods and institutions in the justice system and consider their appropriateness in determining criminal cases and resolving civil disputes. Students consider the Magistrates’ Court, County Court and Supreme Court within the Victorian court hierarchy, as well as other Victorian legal institutions and bodies available to assist with cases. Students explore matters such as the rights available to an accused and to victims in the criminal justice system, the roles of the judge, jury, legal practitioners and the parties, and the ability of sanctions and remedies to achieve their purposes. Students investigate the extent to which the principles of justice are upheld in the justice system. They discuss recent reforms from the past four years and recommended reforms to enhance the ability of the justice system to achieve the principles of justice. Throughout this unit, students apply legal reasoning and information to actual and/or hypothetical scenarios.
In this unit, students explore how the Australian Constitution establishes the law-making powers of the Commonwealth and state parliaments, and protects the Australian people through structures that act as a check on parliament in law-making. Students develop an understanding of the significance of the High Court in protecting and interpreting the Australian Constitution. They investigate parliament and the courts, and the relationship between the two in law-making, and consider the roles of the individual, the media and law reform bodies in influencing law reform. Throughout this unit, Students apply legal reasoning and information to actual scenarios.
Assessment Tasks
Students will undertake a range of assessment tasks in Legal Studies including interactive experiences such as mock trials and role plays as well as oral presentations, reports and essays and traditional written assessments and SACs.