Relevant subject ILOs: 1, 2, 4
Assessment format: Individual written reflection and analysis of court proceedings that considers issues of access to justice as per the Law Council of Victoria’s Justice Report
SWP4LHE Social Work And Law Assignment-Australia.
Task:
Individuals experiencing particular social and economic dis advantage may find there are significant barriers to accessing justice because of systemic flaws and service gaps in our justice system. The Justice Report (2018)
identifies 13 such groups that are considered as priorities.
Students will select one of the ‘priority groups’ that interests them from those listed in the final Justice Report (2018) produced by the Law Council of Australia.
Students will then conduct online research into a relevant Victorian court process e.g.:
– A child protection application when a child is at risk of harm
– A criminal matter involving a young person
– An application for a Family Violence order
Students will then combine a review of relevant court processes accessed online with a media article discussing a court matter that highlights group’s access to the justice system. Students should select an article that:
– Discusses Victorian Courts (which may include Federal Courts operating in Victoria)
– Contains sufficient detail of a legal scenario to discuss in Assessment (parts 2 and 3)
– Includes discussion of how a legal process affects a particular group in the context of justice.
SWP4LHE Social Work And Law Assignment-Australia.
You may choose to use one of these articles or source your own (if you do choose to source your own article you MUST consult with your workshop facilitator to ensure the article is appropriate for this assessment):
Assessment rationale:
The assessment reflects the need for students to develop capacity to examine, describe and critically analyse legal matters, including giving consideration to the role of social work and associated concerns with issues of justice and human rights.
Detailed instructions:
The written reflection and analysis must address the following content:
1.Thorough and accurate description of the court/tribunal and associated legal process. This should include a description and explanation of the type of court/tribunal mentioned in the media article, the types of legal processes heard by the court, and how these processes are initiated.
This should also include a description of the personal who would be involved at the hearing/court. You may wish to choose a particular court location and comment on its environment.
2.Thorough description of a relevant legal matter and relevant legislation. Using the information provided in the media article as a starting point, provide a thorough description of the relevant legal processes including identification of key parties to the matter. This should also include identification and description of legislation relevant to the matter.
3. Discussion and critical analysis of a relevant legal court process and associated legal/social issues in relation to the chosen scenario. This should include: consideration of due process/natural justice; consideration of availability and adequacy of legal representation; consideration of availability and adequacy of other supports (including social workers), and how the participants might have experienced the court process. If your scenario doesn’t have sufficient case detail, you might need to consider how these factors might play out.
Students are also expected to draw on relevant resources from the Law Council of Australia’s ‘Justice Project’ to inform discussion and critical analysis (e.g. access to justice for disadvantaged/vulnerable groups; relevant human rights concerns etc.). This critical analysis should incorporate consideration of the need for social work advocacy in relation
to the relevant legal and social issues.
4.In addressing this content, students will be required to demonstrate use of subject learning resources (readings, lectures, workshop activities etc.) and relevant literature/research.
Assessment marking/grading criteria:
The individual written reflection and analysis will be assessed against the following criteria:
1.Thorough and accurate description of a court/tribunal and associated legal process
2.Discussion of a relevant legal matter and relevant legislation in the media
3.Discussion and critical analysis of the chosen group’s access to justice and associated legal/social issues
SWP4LHE Social Work And Law Assignment-Australia.
4.Effective use of relevant literature and resources
5.Ability to provide the above in an appropriately structured paper, demonstrating sound academic writing skills and accurate referencing (APA 7)
Additional media articles (these do not contain case information so you would need to provide the details of a typical court matter for the scenario).