Legal Studies 2016 HSC exam pack

Question 21

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• explaining how international human rights become law in Australia
• providing examples of human rights that have been enshrined in Australian domestic law.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• distinguishing between international and domestic law
• using legal terminology to demonstrate their understanding.

Question 22

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• providing a definition of a Charter of Rights
• providing arguments for and/or against the adoption of a Charter of Rights in Australia
• demonstrating understanding of the implications of adopting a Charter of Rights in Australia.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• addressing the term ‘whether’ in the question.

Question 23

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating an understanding of a contemporary human rights issue
• identifying breaches of human rights specific to a selected issue
• outlining protection and enforcement measures associated with a selected human rights issue
• referring to the statement and supporting an answer with a judgement.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• differentiating between protection and enforcement of human rights
• using one example, as stipulated in the question, to support an argument rather than narrating details about a number of case studies.

Question 24

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating extensive knowledge of issues relating to young offenders
• describing how the investigation, trial and sentencing processes apply to young offenders
• making a judgement of the extent to which it is necessary for the criminal justice system to treat young offenders differently in order to achieve justice
• supporting a judgement with examples of legislation, international instruments and case law such as the Crimes Act, Young Offenders Act, Children's (Criminal Proceedings) Act, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act, R v LMW and R v Cortez
• integrating recent media reports and documents throughout a response.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• outlining the reasons why young offenders need to be treated differently within the criminal justice system to achieve justice, such as rehabilitation, vulnerability and age
• sustaining a relevant argument throughout a response
• making a quantified judgement about the necessity to treat young offenders differently.

Question 25(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• identifying cooperation and conflict issues that are relevant for consumers
• making a comprehensive judgement about how much the law encourages cooperation to resolve conflict for consumers
• supporting a response with a wide range of case studies and media articles
• using legal terminology correctly.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• differentiating between cooperation and conflict
• referring to contemporary case law and media reports
• using examples of media reports and cases to support a judgement, rather than recounting the story of what occurred
• using the correct names of organisations and tribunals.

Question 25(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating knowledge and understanding of relevant contemporary consumer law issues
• addressing the directive term by making a judgement using relevant criteria
• supporting an argument with relevant examples
• using legal terminology appropriately.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• planning a response so it is logical and cohesive, and focusing only on areas relevant to the question
• using media reports and cases to support a judgement, rather than recounting the story of what occurred
• making a judgement about the effectiveness of laws specifically relating to credit
• referring to contemporary case law and media reports.

Question 26(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating a clear and informed understanding of state sovereignty
• providing a range of international and domestic examples related to global environmental protection
• identifying a range of international agreements and domestic legal responses
• presenting a sustained and logical response that included relevant terminology and concepts.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• correctly identifying a variety of case law relevant to global environmental protection
• understanding that ‘to what extent’ requires a judgement as to the effect of sovereignty on the resolution of conflict
• using evidence to substantiate or qualify ‘extent’ rather than a description or explanation of an event or current example.

Question 26(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating knowledge of the conflict between global environmental protection and the demand for resources
• referring to international conferences, such as Montreal and Paris, and the international response to these conferences
• integrating a range of relevant media articles
• planning and structuring a sustained and logical response.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• including clear and specific criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of the law
• making an explicit judgement to evaluate the law’s response to conflict between the demand for resources and global environmental protection
• integrating relevant examples and evidence beyond narrow case studies.

Question 27(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating understanding of a wide range of legal and contemporary issues and developments in the law
• recognising the areas of conflict within family law and the underlying commitment to principles such as the best interests of the child
• using a wide variety of examples to support and illustrate the information being presented.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• making quantified judgements, as the question asks for a determination of extent
• ensuring that statements of judgement are informed with reference to areas of the law which encourage cooperation to resolve conflict
• drawing causal links between the encouragement of cooperation and the resolution of conflict, rather than focusing purely on law relating to conflict.

Question 27(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating knowledge of the nature of birth technologies and surrogacy
• identifying contemporary legal issues that emerge in regard to birth technologies and surrogacy and explaining their impact on families
• identifying contemporary examples of surrogacy issues, particularly through the use of media articles.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• Providing clear and specific criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of the law and applying this criteria throughout a response
• linking contemporary examples and cases to the overall effectiveness of the law
• identifying legislation which governs birth technologies and surrogacy.

Question 28(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of state sovereignty and how it affects the resolution of conflict for indigenous peoples
• referring to a number of issues that have caused conflict for indigenous peoples, such as self-determination, land rights, cultural rights, intellectual property rights, access to natural resources and language rights
• demonstrating an extensive understanding of the relationship between international instruments and the role of sovereignty in the case studies.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• understanding that the term ‘to what extent’ requires a judgement
• including international case studies as the question refers to indigenous peoples, not just Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• including case studies to illustrate arguments rather than providing a narrative
• making reference to domestic legislation applicable to relevant case studies.

Question 28(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating an extensive understanding of the law in relation to land rights
• comparing a number of domestic and international legal measures to illustrate the degree of effectiveness in relation to land rights
• outlining a number of international instruments and their effectiveness in relation to land rights
• using case studies throughout a response.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• responding to the question by focusing on the law rather than non-legal responses
• using case studies which are specific to land rights issues
• outlining domestic legal measures that relate to land rights
• including clear and specific criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of the law and applying it throughout the response
• making sophisticated judgements, rather than absolutes such as the law is completely ineffective
• including multiple case studies as the question refers to indigenous peoples, not just Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Question 29(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• identifying a range of legal responses available that encourage cooperation to resolve conflict
• using detailed and relevant legislative examples and well-chosen media reports to support a response
• making explicit, informed judgements based on the evidence presented.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• explicitly linking legal measures for encouraging cooperation to the resolution of conflict
• avoiding narrative accounts or excessive descriptions of cases or media reports
• distinguishing between the roles of various bodies that attempt to resolve conflict
• recognising a range of legal measures that have the capacity to encourage cooperation to resolve conflict.

Question 29(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• outlining legal measures relevant to social housing
• supporting arguments with detailed reference to government initiatives, legislation and relevant policy
• integrating and analysing relevant cases and media reports.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• making reference to a wider range of social housing issues
• structuring responses into paragraphs to ensure a logical response
• using specific information and examples to make a judgement about effectiveness
• including clear and specific criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of the law and applying it throughout the response.

Question 30(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating understanding of the nature of cooperation and conflict in the context of industrial relations
• identifying a range of areas where conflict occurs and supporting with relevant examples
• discussing a wide range of mechanisms and processes to resolve conflict, including federal and state frameworks, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, legislation and the court system
• identifying law reform and making judgments about the way this has improved cooperation and reduced conflict through providing protective measures, for example, the role of the Fair Work Ombudsman
• making explicit judgments about the extent to which the law addresses workplace issues.

Candidates needed to improve in these areas:

• making a judgement rather than providing a narrative about issues in the workplace
• demonstrating understanding of the functions of workplace remedies
• providing detail about a range of relevant legislation.

Question 30(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• discussing a range of issues associated with termination of employment, including unfair dismissal and redundancy
• linking workplace issues to termination of employment
• contrasting dismissal rights under WorkChoices with the entitlements under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
• explaining that workplace termination law does not comprehensively protect workers, despite reforms.

Candidates needed to improve in these areas:

• using a range of relevant support material, including legislation, statistics, media articles and case law
• integrating relevant, explicit criteria to make a judgement which is consistent throughout the response.

Question 31(a)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating strong understanding of the term ‘cooperation’ and making a solid judgement, using relevant and contemporary case studies, to support an argument
• using examples to qualify the extent to which world order has been achieved, such as the South China Sea, North Korea, East Timor, Syria, Libya, Russia/Ukraine
• integrating and analysing relevant media reports, documents, international instruments and opinions or quotes from experts to support arguments and judgements.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• using examples relevant to world order and supporting a discussion with relevant UNSC resolutions
• providing detailed discussion, with relevant supporting material
• understanding the impact that state sovereignty has on attaining world order.

Question 31(b)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating an understanding of the concept of state sovereignty and how it works to promote and/or hinder world order
• using a range of relevant contemporary case studies, clearly integrated into the response, to support a judgement
• making an explicit judgement using clear criteria
• using relevant, contemporary examples from media reports, documents and quotations from experts.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• clearly defining the doctrine of the responsibility to protect and explaining how it is used, including reference to the limited occasions when it has been implemented
• making more explicit reference to the concept of balance
• avoiding descriptive responses or story-telling
• distinguishing between human rights issues and world order issues.