1012CCJ Court Report 2021 – Online Version
**Watch the following video to answer the questions in Part Two**
Just Spaces Mock Trial – Excerpts: https://vimeo.com/110636037
This report is designed as an online alternative to the main court report, which requires you to attend a court hearing in person. We encourage you to attend a courtroom to complete the assessment if possible. You may complete this version of the assessment if you are not able to attend a courtroom given the situation with COVID-19, or for some other reason that prevents you from attending in person.
Parts 1 and 3 are the same in both assessments. For Part 2 of this online version, please watch the video via the URL above instead of attending a court hearing.
In Part One below (Questions 1-5), you will demonstrate your understanding of concepts and definitions relating to court processes. In Part Two (Questions 6-12), you will reflect on the criminal court hearing that you observed in the online video. In Part Three (Question 13), you will answer a problem-based question using the ISAAC model.
In your report, answer each of the following questions. To assist with marking, please copy out the questions again and write your answers under each. The word limit is 2500 words (+/-10%). Copying out the questions will not count towards your wordcount.
Good luck!
Part One (15 marks):
1. What do prosecutors need to prove in the courtroom for a defendant to be convicted of a crime?
(2 marks)
2. What are the differences between summary and indictable offences?
(3 marks)
3. What is a legal ‘defence’? Describe two common exculpatory defences.
(3 marks)
4. Describe the different courts in your State’s criminal court hierarchy, and explain their roles and powers.
(3 marks)
5. Briefly describe the following court hearings. What is the main purpose of each?
a. Summary Trial
b. Committal Hearing
c. Jury Trial
d. Sentencing Hearing
(4 marks)
Part Two (25 marks):
6. What charge is being laid against the defendant? Is this a summary or indictable offence? How do you know this? (You can describe the offence using words from the video; you do not need to identify a section of real legislation).
(2 marks)
7. For the defendant to be convicted of this offence, what would the jury members need to be satisfied of?
(2 marks)
8. Identify who was present in the courtroom and explain the role you observed them perform.
(3 marks)
9. Do you think that placing the accused in different seating positions (i.e. glass dock, regular dock, bar table) impacted on the fairness of the hearing?
(4 marks)
10. What evidence has been presented by the prosecution? How does this suggest that the elements of the crime have been proven?
(4 marks)
11. How does the defence lawyer argue that her client is not guilty? Based on the information available, could any exculpatory defences be raised to deny or limit his criminal responsibility?
(5 marks)
12. Define the concepts of due process and the rule of law. What evidence of these did you see in the video? Do you think the accused received a fair trial?
(5 marks)
