Postgraduate - UnitLAW5334 - Psychiatry, psychology and law

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 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

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Law
Offered	City (Melbourne) Term 2 2015 (Day)

Notes

For postgraduate Law discontinuation dates, please see http://www.law.monash.edu.au/current-students/postgraduate/pg-disc-dates.html
For postgraduate Law unit timetables, please see http://law.monash.edu.au/current-students/course-unit-information/timetables/postgraduate/index.html
Previously coded as LAW7207

Quota applies

Postgraduate programs are based on a model of small group teaching and therefore class sizes need to be restricted.

Synopsis

This unit focuses on issues relating to psychiatry, psychology and law. Topics covered will include the involvement of psychiatrists and psychologists in assessing mental conditions for the purposes of guardianship and civil commitment legislation and in relation to consent to treatment; psychiatrists' and psychologists' involvement in the criminal law: assessments for the purposes of law relating to fitness to stand trial, insanity, automatism, infanticide and sentencing; and evidentiary issues pertaining to psychiatrists and psychologists giving expert testimony in the courtroom.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

apply knowledge and understanding of recent developments in relation to the way in which psychiatrists and psychologists may become involved in the civil law system with creativity and initiative to new situations in professional practice and/or for further learning;
investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information, problems, concepts and theories in relation to when and why psychologists and psychiatrists may be called to give evidence in the civil and criminal courts;
conduct research in concepts of dangerousness in the court system based on knowledge of appropriate research principle and methods; and
use cognitive, technical and creative skills to generate and evaluate at an abstract level complex ideas and concepts relevant to psychiatry, psychology and law.

Assessment

Research assignment (3000 words): 40%
Class participation: 10%
Take home examination (3750 words): 50%

Workload requirements

24 contact hours per teaching period (either intensive, semi-intensive or semester long, depending on the Faculty resources, timetabling and requirements).

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Annegret Kaempf Personal ProfilePersonal Profile (http://www.law.monash.edu.au/staff/postgraduate/sess-akaempf.html)