FAQs Court Report PDF

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A list of questions and answers relating to the 2021 1012CCJ court report...

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Frequently Asked Questions about the Court Report 1. What is the format and expectation for the court report? All you need to do for the court report is print off the court report questions (contained under ASSESSMENT) and take them to the hearing and make notes in order to answer each question. Then, use this as the basis for answering each question. After your visit, create a word document, enter in the questions and type up your answers. You need to include a reference list and a title page. Your answers should be in full prose (i.e. not in note form or dot points), and should be wellconsidered and clearly written. You can use first person (e.g. I attended court on ....) but keep your writing style formal (no colloquialisms or contractions). 2. Do I need to use references? How many? Do I need to do research for this piece of assessment? You must use references to support your ideas where possible. This is particularly necessary for opinion-based questions, but also necessary whenever you take an idea from someone else. Here is an example of how you can include references - "I observed the defence lawyer challenge a potential jury member. I think this challenge was based on the gender and appearance of that person. Findlay et al (2009) suggest that the process of 'peremptory challenge' in Australia is "usually based on appearance and stereotyping". This certainly appeared to be the basis for challenge in the case I attended." You are not expected to do external research for this report, although many students find useful information on court websites about the role of people in court. If you use these kinds of resources you must reference them. In general, your textbook and readings will provide you with enough supporting material for this piece of assessment. 3. Can I attend a mention in the Magistrates Court? Mentions can sometimes be very short. For example, a mention might simply be a lawyer telling a judge that they are still waiting for pre-sentence reports or something and so will need a further adjournment. In short, mentions are very commonly administrative-type hearings, and so might not provide you with enough information for your report. However, having said that, often students have attended these kinds of matters and they've turned into something very interesting and useful for the report. You'll also find in Magistrates Courts that there is often a lot of matters in quick succession, and so even though 3 matters might not be useful, the 4th will be great. So, by all means go to the Magistrates court and see what you come up with. The best rule of thumb is to consider whether or not you feel confident that the case you've observed has given you sufficient scope to answer all the report questions in some depth.

4. Can I base my report on more than one matter? You can base your report on more than one hearing, but if you do this you need to be very careful about maintaining coherency in your writing. It is often best to base your report on one matter primarily, and then to use other matters as comparisons or contrasts, or to discuss things like the atmosphere and process of the court overall. If you observed several different matters and one was the most interesting, you can choose to use only that matter for your assessment. 5. What style of referencing is required for the Court Report? The APA style of referencing (currently version 7) is the style adopted by the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Please consult the Griffith referencing tool if you are unsure how to reference different sources, you can access the referencing tool here: https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/reference_tool/index-core.php. 6. How do I reference a direct quote or comments made by the participants (i.e., the judge, the prosecution, the defence) in the Court procedure I observed? If you would like to reference what was said in court (i.e., you want to provide a ‘direct quote’ or paraphrase/summarize what that judge said) you do not need to provide a reference for this in the Court Report. Simply ensure that you mention who made the comment and what they said. For example: When addressing the jury the judge said “it is now your duty to decide whether the prosecution has satisfied you that the defendant is guilty of the charge in questions and satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt”. Providing a direct quote can be difficult unless you wrote down exactly the right words at the time, so paraphrasing or summarising is acceptable. You could re-structure your sentence to look something like this: The Judge gave instructions to the jury, reminding them that before they return a verdict of guilt, the prosecution must have satisfied them that the defendant is guilty of the charge in question beyond a reasonable doubt. 7. Do the titles of the Court participants (i.e., the judge, defendant, prosecutor etc.) have capital letters? Professional designations, honorifics or other courtesy titles (e.g., judge, professor, doctor, sergeant etc.) are capitalized when they directly precede a name, for example: Judge John Smith. In cases where these words stand alone, even in direct address, it can be in lowercase, for example: The judge directed the prosecution to present its case.

8. What is the word limit for the Court Report and what should be included in my final word count? The word limit for the assignment is 2500 words. You will not be penalised for going 10% under or over this amount. Excessively long assignments will be read as if they are a maximum of 2750 words. Excessively short assignments are likely to receive lower marks compared to other assignments that have used the word count to its full extent. The questions themselves (copied out) and the reference list are not included in your word count. In-text referencing is included in your word count. As long as you are not exceeding the upper word limit by several hundreds of words you are unlikely to be penalised for exceeding the word count for this course - though each course has different expectations. 9. How do I reference legislation in-text and in my reference list? To reference an Act, in the body of your essay/activity etc, you refer to the Act simply by stating the relevant section and then the Act name and year in italics, followed by the jurisdiction in brackets. e.g. "The relevant section is s 24 of the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld). This states, ".....". etc" Then, in your reference list, just list all the pieces of legislation referred to in the essay in alphabetical order under a separate heading 'Legislation'. Don't worry about section numbers here. For example: Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld) Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld) APA is not the best system for legal citation, so do your best to conform to these instructions and penalties will not be applied. Just make sure your legal referencing is neat and consistent. Tutors will provide an APA pdf guide that includes Australian legislation examples....