Units / LAW4543
LAW4543 · The death penalty: Law, politics and advocacy
2026 Handbook6 credit pointsLevel 4Faculty of Law
Last checked: 23 Aug 2026 UTCOverview
The overall aim of this unit is to provide you with a good understanding of the scope and practice of the death penalty as well as the movement - backed by international organisations, human rights treaties and the domestic courts—to abolish the death penalty. Specific aims involve exploring the relationship between international human rights law and the domestic protection of human rights. Throughout the unit, you will be asked to draw on recent and controversial cases as well as social scientific literature. The unit aims to encourage you to explore the politics of the abolitionist movement, including the arguments and forces that have been at work to achieve abolition and those that have been used to resist it. This unit focuses on the death penalty in the Asia-Pacific region.
Offerings
| Campus | Teaching period | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Clayton | Winter semester | Teaching activities are on-campus and in a block period (ON-BLK) |
Assessment
The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.
| # | Assessment | Type | Weight | Hurdle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Class participation | Demonstration | 10% | — |
| 2 | Group debate | Presentation | 15% | — |
| 3 | Individual reflection (on group debate) | Written | 15% | — |
| 4 | Research essay | Written | 60% | — |
Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.
Requisites
prohibitions
- LAW5476 — The death penalty: Law, politics, and advocacy
Learning outcomes
- Apply knowledge and understanding of recent developments to the death penalty from legal, political and advocacy perspectives.
- Investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information, problems, concepts and theories in relation to the rights of people facing capital punishment.
- Conduct research into capital punishment based on knowledge of appropriate international and comparative law research principles and methods.
- Use cognitive, technical and creative skills to generate and evaluate at an abstract level complex ideas and concepts relevant to the death penalty..
- Work collaboratively with peers to challenge assumptions, to refine knowledge through dialogue, to learn to give and receive peer-feedback, and to develop stronger communication skills.
Workload
The unit is taught over 36 contact hours. It is activity-based and interactive. You will work in small groups on in-class and after-class activities that incorporate allocated readings and your professional experience.
| Activity | Duration |
|---|---|
| Workshops | 36 hours |
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