JSB382 Reform and the Justice System
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | JSB382 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite(s): | 96cp of completed study |
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
|
| CSP student contribution | $2,174 |
| Pre-2021 CSP student contribution | $1,020 The pre-2021 commonwealth supported place (CSP) contribution amount only applies to students enrolled in a course prior to 2021. To learn more, visit our Understanding your fees page. |
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $3,456 |
| International unit fee | $5,592 |
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Kelvin Grove, Internal
| Unit code: | JSB382 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | 96cp of completed study |
Overview
This unit delves into the heart of Australia’s justice system, examining contemporary challenges and injustices. You will explore critical areas such as immigration, welfare, and criminal justice, and learn to identify and prevent injustices. The course provides a deep understanding of restorative justice theories and their practical applications, and addresses crucial issues of gender and race. You’ll gain the necessary skills to identify the sources of injustice and bring about meaningful, impactful reform. This unit will empower you to make a difference in policy and politics.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate how injustices are dealt with in the Justice system.
- Identify injustices within the justice system and connect these to human rights concerns.
- Discuss ways that diverse cultural perspectives influence policy solutions.
- Propose policy solutions to address injustices within the justice system supported by scholarly and professional literature.
Content
This unit will cover the following:
- Social justice and injustice in Australia
- History of Reforms
- Policing and Punishment
- Theories of Restorative Justice
- Restorative Justice in Practice
- Justice and Gender (domestic violence)
- Justice and Race (immigration, colonialist legacy)
- Human rights and future reform
Learning Approaches
In this unit, you will learn by engaging in the following:
- lectures - live and recorded
- workshops - face-to-face and online
- peer and group discussions
- readings, media and video resources.
The unit adopts an interactive and case-based learning approach in which you are encouraged to critique real world cases of injustice. You will also be provided with problem scenarios and cases to analyse, being asked to develop policies to address injustice in the Justice system.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:
- a range of formative exercises discussed and undertaken throughout the unit
- feedback from peers as you investigate and discuss issues raised throughout the unit
- comments about summative assessment work included with your grade
- general summative assessment feedback posted to the whole cohort via the unit Canvas site.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit there are two assessments:
1. Issue Identification - This task draws on theories of justice and punishment to identify and evaluate complex problems requiring reform in the justice system.
2. Policy Brief - This task brings together core unit concepts to propose policy solutions to correct injustice within the Justice system.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Issue Identification
You will take on the role of a policy advisor working in government. You have been tasked with investigating a contemporary social justice issue and reporting back to your manager. You will critically evaluate how the issue is being dealt with by the justice system and make the case for reform.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
You will present your findings and respond to questions during a scheduled presentation time.
Assessment: Policy Brief
In your role as a policy advisor, you will critically analyse a social justice issue and drivers of that injustice and put forward solutions for reform. You will create a policy brief for the Minister outlining your investigation, analysis and solutions.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
There are no resources that are required to be purchased for this unit. Resources will be available in the unit's Canvas site.
Risk Assessment Statement
Students are advised that some content in justice units may be confronting. If you are concerned that the content of a unit may impact your completion of the course, please see the unit coordinator. You can also access free student counselling through QUT Counselling via the QUT Student Homepage.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.JS34 Bachelor of Justice
- Apply social and criminal justice principles to explain justice issues and contexts.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, Issue Identification, Policy Brief - Collect and analyse evidence to inform decisions and recommendations in justice systems.
Relates to: ULO4, Policy Brief - Apply culturally safe and inclusive approaches to work with diverse communities and people as a Justice professional.
Relates to: ULO3, Policy Brief
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Online
| Unit code: | JSB382 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | 96cp of completed study |
Overview
This unit delves into the heart of Australia’s justice system, examining contemporary challenges and injustices. You will explore critical areas such as immigration, welfare, and criminal justice, and learn to identify and prevent injustices. The course provides a deep understanding of restorative justice theories and their practical applications, and addresses crucial issues of gender and race. You’ll gain the necessary skills to identify the sources of injustice and bring about meaningful, impactful reform. This unit will empower you to make a difference in policy and politics.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate how injustices are dealt with in the Justice system.
- Identify injustices within the justice system and connect these to human rights concerns.
- Discuss ways that diverse cultural perspectives influence policy solutions.
- Propose policy solutions to address injustices within the justice system supported by scholarly and professional literature.
Content
This unit will cover the following:
- Social justice and injustice in Australia
- History of Reforms
- Policing and Punishment
- Theories of Restorative Justice
- Restorative Justice in Practice
- Justice and Gender (domestic violence)
- Justice and Race (immigration, colonialist legacy)
- Human rights and future reform
Learning Approaches
In this unit, you will learn by engaging in the following:
- lectures - live and recorded
- workshops - face-to-face and online
- peer and group discussions
- readings, media and video resources.
The unit adopts an interactive and case-based learning approach in which you are encouraged to critique real world cases of injustice. You will also be provided with problem scenarios and cases to analyse, being asked to develop policies to address injustice in the Justice system.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:
- a range of formative exercises discussed and undertaken throughout the unit
- feedback from peers as you investigate and discuss issues raised throughout the unit
- comments about summative assessment work included with your grade
- general summative assessment feedback posted to the whole cohort via the unit Canvas site.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit there are two assessments:
1. Issue Identification - This task draws on theories of justice and punishment to identify and evaluate complex problems requiring reform in the justice system.
2. Policy Brief - This task brings together core unit concepts to propose policy solutions to correct injustice within the Justice system.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Issue Identification
You will take on the role of a policy advisor working in government. You have been tasked with investigating a contemporary social justice issue and reporting back to your manager. You will critically evaluate how the issue is being dealt with by the justice system and make the case for reform.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
You will present your findings and respond to questions during a scheduled presentation time.
Assessment: Policy Brief
In your role as a policy advisor, you will critically analyse a social justice issue and drivers of that injustice and put forward solutions for reform. You will create a policy brief for the Minister outlining your investigation, analysis and solutions.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
There are no resources that are required to be purchased for this unit. Resources will be available in the unit's Canvas site.
Risk Assessment Statement
Students are advised that some content in justice units may be confronting. If you are concerned that the content of a unit may impact your completion of the course, please see the unit coordinator. You can also access free student counselling through QUT Counselling via the QUT Student Homepage.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.JS34 Bachelor of Justice
- Apply social and criminal justice principles to explain justice issues and contexts.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, Issue Identification, Policy Brief - Collect and analyse evidence to inform decisions and recommendations in justice systems.
Relates to: ULO4, Policy Brief - Apply culturally safe and inclusive approaches to work with diverse communities and people as a Justice professional.
Relates to: ULO3, Policy Brief