This course deals with federal criminal law in Australia. It introduces students to the principles of criminal responsibility under the Commonwealth Criminal Code (Criminal Code Act 1995) and a range of offences under the Code, such as terrorism and security-related offences, theft, fraud and bribery offences, drugs, cybercrime and telecommunications offences. The course will be of benefit to lawyers, law enforcement officers and others interested in the expanding scope and application of federal criminal law in Australia.

The main learning outcomes for this course are;

• to give students a thorough and systematic knowledge of principles of criminal responsibility under the Commonwealth Criminal Code;
• to enable students to draft/interpret federal criminal offences and to understand their likely application in criminal proceedings;
• to give students familiarity with particular areas of substantive federal criminal law, such as terrorism and security-related offences, theft, fraud and bribery offences, drugs, cybercrime and telecommunications offences; and
• to allow students to reflect critically on the expanding scope of federal criminal law.
  
  In addition, this course is intended to complement a counterpart course in Federal Criminal Procedure and Evidence.

A major two-part research essay of between 6,000 and 8,000 words