Criminal Law

ECTS weighting  10
Semester/term taught  HT
Contact Hours and Indicative Student Workload 

33 hours of lectures; 3 hours of seminars, approximately 100 hours of independent study (lectures and seminar prep), 100 hours of assessment and coursework study. 

Module Coordinator/Owner  Prof David Prendergast 

Learning Outcomes    

By the end of this module, students should be able to:  

LO.1: Identify and critically analyse the basic principles of criminal liability and substantive criminal law; 

LO.2: Appraise and evaluate doctrines governing criminal defences; 

LO.3: Appraise and evaluate specific principles relating to particular categories of offences; 

LO.4: Appraise and evaluate rules and principles regulating different modes of criminal liability such as inchoate liability and secondary liability; 

LO.5: Apply critical analysis and problem-solving skills and techniques to different essay and problem-based criminal law questions. 

Module Content 

The focus of this module is on substantive criminal law: defining crimes, basic concepts in criminal law, the general principles of criminal liability, different defences and types of criminal offence. By the end of the module students should be familiar with the basic principles underlying the Irish system of criminal law and with the basic aspects of the criminal court process. Students are encouraged to think critically and analytically about the rules, judgments and legislation that are studied over the course of the module. 

Assessment  

Examination – 100% (1 x 2.5 hour paper) 

Reassessment 

As above