Term 2, 2017 | Assignment help guide

If you are having trouble with structuring your writing, this is a basic structure you can use. If you have not written
your essay exactly in this way, that is fine. This is just one way to approach it and you might find this useful if you are
having difficulty.

Introduction: (100-150 words)

Two sentences defining what crime is in Australia. Dont use your class notes, find a source from a peer
reviewed article. Textbook definition for C at least.
One sentence naming the two main pieces of legislation that guide punishment. Make sure you list their full
name, including the state and year. At the end of this sentence include a reference to the legislation.
One sentence describing what the function and purpose (straight out of the Code) of the legislation are. You
can get this information from class notes, but use a better source than this when you reference this sentence.
Going into depth with the purposes for an A.
One or two sentences discussing how the law balances different stakeholder perspectives. Slide 3 of the first
PowerPoint on The Learning Place gives an excellent description, however, you should only use this for ideas,
find a better source and write this in your own words. Dont forget to include your reference. Academic
backing for an A.

Body: (500-600 words approx.)

Here you need to state whether you believe our laws to be adequate or not. All of you so far have chosen to
argue that the laws are inadequate. Make sure you have two or three strong arguments as to why you think
this is the case. You will write an IRAC paragraph for each issue that you identify.
I: state the issue, backed up by a source.
R: state the rule that applies to this issue. This will be sentencing legislation or common law precedent.
Reference.
A: discuss how the issue affects stakeholders and how the law applies to the scenario. Structurally sound and
depth of analysis looking at stakeholder perspectives for an A more than one IN DEPTH with academic
backing.
C: link this back to the original issue you identified, and explicitly state that for this reason, the punishment
laws are inadequate. This means in total you will have 2 or 3 paragraphs for this section.
After your issues have been identified, discuss a case that further supports your argument. If one of your
arguments is reoffending, find a case that supports this, where someone has committed a crime even though
they have prior convictions. Discuss the victim as a stakeholder, mention how the law has failed to protect
their interests. Do not waste words describing the case, rather you should spend time discussing how this
case further demonstrates that the punishment laws are inadequate.
Selection of sources: students allowed to CITE cases to back up points. Academic sources e.g. recidivism,
sentencing decisions, judging comments etc
Evaluation: synthesised perhaps? Strength and weakness at least for C. Link back to criteria for higher mark.

Conclusion: (200-250 words)

For each of the issues you have identified above, provide a recommendation as to how to make sentencing
laws more effective in addressing this issue. One recommendation may address all the issues, this is fine, just
make sure you state exactly which issues your recommendation will address very clearly. We need to see
that you are addressing the issues you raised earlier in your essay.
You may give more than one recommendation, this is advised. Make sure that after you give your
recommendation, you say WHY this recommendation will work (this is where you use your research to back
you up). You may also use research to come up with some ideas if you cant think of any recommendations.
 Use Google Scholar to find what legal professionals think the answer is. Be very clear about which
recommendation is addressing which issue
You may also like to refer to the theories of punishment to help you justify each recommendation.