Homicide Assessment 2 (Investigation review): Advice for students
Here are some important points to remember for your second assessment item, due 5 Friday Week 10 (length 1,500-2,000 words):
•You have three (3) major homicide cases to choose from for your review: these have each been selected for the wide breadth of information available. Sources for your essay may include media articles, official reports, court transcripts, scholarly books and articles and/or relevant statistical analyses.
•As such, students should look to having AT LEAST EIGHT (8) supporting sources for their chosen case, referred to both in-text and in the reference list. To help students get started, an example for each case is provided at the end of this document (these are samples only – you are not required to use them).
•Each of these cases has been through a criminal trial (and often appeal) process, during which problems with the investigative procedures (police and/or prosecution) have been widely debated.
•The assessment is in essay form, so your work should have a clear introduction, a body and a conclusion summarising your argument. Headings/subheadings are allowed in this instance. It is suggested that students set out their work with a brief introductory paragraph, 4 subsections matching the 4 aspects of the set task, and then a final concluding paragraph.
•Your task is simply to develop a narrative based on the four (4) key criteria for this assessment: 1) summarise the crucial elements of the investigative process as relevant to the subsequent trial/appeal proceedings; 2) identify and clearly explain the major errors/flaws/weaknesses in these procedures; 3) come up with well framed and supported recommendations for how such errors might have been avoided (or might be avoided in the future); and 4) discuss how you think the media may have influenced the outcome of the case.
•The investigation review should demonstrate a clear and logical analysis of the particular case, supported by relevant research to explain the analysis and proposed solutions. Your understanding of the course content (including lecture materials, set text book and other readings) should be apparent in your analysis of the case chosen.
•The essay offers you the opportunity to critically analyse a major homicide investigation and to show your understanding of the key issues. Thus, it is expected that your research will be a combination of case-specific materials and scholarly/theoretical sources relevant to homicide offences more generally.

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