Undergraduate - UnitLAW5110 - Elements of forensic medicine 506

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Law
Offered	Clayton First semester 2013 (Day)

Synopsis

Topics include: medicine and science in the service of the law, including the organisation of the medical profession; biomedical forensic science; scientific evidence and its collection at the scene of a crime; forensic chemistry; forensic photography; firearm examination and tool marks; fingerprint evidence; forensic pathology; forensic odontology and the identification of victims; traffic medicine; the examination of victims of assault; DNA evidence in the courts; prototypes of police investigation; the State Coroner's system; forensic psychiatry and psychology and issues of criminal responsibility; medico-legal reports in the courts.

Outcomes

Students completing this unit should have a comprehensive understanding, as law students, of forensic medicine, encompassing forensic pathology, clinical forensic medicine, forensic odontology, forensic psychiatry, forensic psychology and forensic science. Students will be familiar with the organisation and operation of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Victorian Forensic Science Centre and the Coroner's Court. They will be aware of the challenges presented and the tensions which arise when expert evidence is tendered in the adversarial system of justice employed in Victoria and in Australia as a whole. Students will be able to carry out effective research accessing materials in data bases in the biomedical and scientific fields as well as in law.

Assessment

Research paper (2000 words): 40%
Examination (2 hours plus 30 minutes reading and noting time): 60%

Chief examiner(s)

Emeritus Professor Louis Waller

Contact hours

Three hours of lectures per week

Prerequisites

LAW1100 or LAW1101 and LAW1102 or LAW1104; LAW3300 or LAW3301 and LAW3302.