LAWGENRL 425 : Psychiatry and the Law
Law
2021 Semester One (1213) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
This course addresses the formal relationship between psychiatry and the law. It covers topics relating to mental health and the law, including: insanity and related defenses, competency, committal, the legal processes affecting compulsory assessment and treatment, forensic evaluations in family court, regulation of sex offenders, sentencing mitigation, access to psychiatric experts, addiction, alternate dispositions, and the relevance of neuroscience evidence to criminal adjudication. It focuses on the major psychoses and the psychiatric concepts of psychopathy, as well as substance-abuse issues and developmental disability. It explores the use of mental-health experts in litigation involving mental disability, competency to stand trial, pretrial detention, care of children determinations, and the involuntary administration of antipsychotic medication, including the propriety of psychiatric predictions of violent behavior and the significance of risk-assessment instruments.
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 3: | Solution Seeking |
Learning Outcomes
- Have a basic understanding of the characteristics, symptoms, and causes of mental disorders. (Capability 1.1)
- Describe the treatments for mental-health disorders. (Capability 1.1)
- Recognise, understand and critique the scientific definition of intelligence. (Capability 1.1 and 2.2)
- Understand and critically evaluate the substance and process of involuntary psychiatric commitment and treatment. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1 and 3.1)
- Understand and critically evaluate the substance and procedure of the legal rules surrounding fitness to be tried. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1 and 3.1)
- Develop an understanding of the role of psychiatric evaluations in criminal and family-law cases. (Capability 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3)
- Explain the role of various types of risk assessment and their role in regulating sex offenders. (Capability 1.1, 1.3, 2.1 and 2.2)
- Develop an understanding of the role of neuroscience, addiction, and therapeutic jurisprudence in criminal adjudication and youth justice. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1 and 3.2)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Quizzes | 25% | Individual Coursework |
| Paper | 75% | Individual Coursework |
| 2 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
| Quizzes | ||||||||||
| Paper | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
This is a standard 15-point course. There will be around 36 hours of lectures in this course. As a general guide, you should expect a workload of three hours outside of the classroom for each hour spent in class. The guideline for the total workload for this course is 150 hours.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
Lectures will be available as recordings.
The course will not include live online events.
Attendance on campus is not required for the test or final research paper.
You will be expected to engage actively in class. If you are well prepared and participate in class discussions, you will tend to do better in your assessment exercises.
Learning Resources
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
Digital Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course director, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Most of the materials that we will read, as well as much of our discussion in class, will use the pronouns “he/him/his” or “she/her/hers.” Of course, gender is not binary, and some people prefer to use “they/them/their” or “ze/hir” for individuals. I try to limit the use of pronouns, but when pronouns are necessary, sometimes having a singular pronoun match a singular noun can be important for clarity. If you have a preferred pronoun, please let me know at your earliest convenience. If I refer to you by an incorrect pronoun, please also let me know that, so that I can correct my mistake.
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a Student Academic and Support Adviser as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.