6 EC
Semester 2, period 5
5274CLEE6Y
Owner | Master Forensic Science |
Coordinator | mr. C. Ganzeboom |
Part of | Master Forensic Science, year 1 |
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the fundamentals and functions of criminal law, the position of experts in different stages of the criminal process and the use of expert evidence. The peculiarities of the communication between experts and non-experts in court will be addressed. Students will be invited to 'think like a lawyer'. Because students will not have a background in law and be of different nationalities, the course will not focus on any particular legal system, but instead take a more general perspective. The different aspects of a fair trial as is guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights will serve as a framework for discussing the role of forensic experts and their contribution towards judicial fact-finding. Besides gaining knowledge of criminal law and criminal procedure, the course aims to make students aware of the difficulties regarding the communication between forensic experts and legal professionals.
Lectures
Activity | Hours | |
Tentamen | 3 | |
Werkcollege | 14 | |
Self study | 151 | |
Total | 168 | (6 EC x 28 uur) |
This programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (OER part B).
Additional requirements for this course:
There is no compulsory attendance required. However, it is highly recommended to follow the lectures. Experience from previous years taught us students who did not attend the lectures, failed to achieve high results on the exam.
Item and weight | Details |
Final grade | |
80% Tentamen | Must be ≥ 5.5, Mandatory |
20% Individual assigment: information supplement | Must be ≥ 5.5, Mandatory |
All components will be graded on a scale from 1 to 10, with a maximum of one decimal after the point. These grades are used to calculate the final grade. In order to pass the course, all components and the final grade have to be sufficient, i.e. at least a five and a half. When a student has not fulfilled this requirement, the examiner will register the mark ‘did not fulfil all requirements’ (NAV) whether or not the averaged grade is sufficient.
The components will be weighted as follows:
Examination consists of a written assignment in which an expert report is explained in such a way that lawyers can grasp the meaning of the report and a written exam at the end of the course.
The final grade will be announced at the latest on June 27th (= 15 working days after the final course activity). Between June 27th to July 25th (=35 working days after the final course activity) a post-exam discussion or inspection moment will be planned. This will be announced on Canvas and/or via email.
LO | Tested in component | EQ 1 | EQ 2 | EQ 3 | EQ 4 | EQ 5 | EQ 6 | EQ 7 | EQ 8 | EQ 9 | EQ 10 |
1 | 3 | x | |||||||||
2 | 3 | x | |||||||||
3 | 3 | x | x | ||||||||
4 | 3 | x | |||||||||
5 | 3 | x | |||||||||
6 | 1, 2, 3 | x | x | ||||||||
7 | 1, 2 | x | x |
Table of specification: the relation between the Learning Outcomes (LO) of the course, the assessment components of the course and the Exit Qualifications (EQ) of the Master’s Forensic Science (described in the Introduction in the Course Catalogue)
Component 1: Written Assignment - Expert Report (20% of final grade)
Expert reports can be quite short and lacking of background information. The Netherlands Forensic Institute provides information supplements with general information about forensic topics. In these supplements they explain which methods are used and give general background information on that particular forensic field. Students are asked to write such an information supplement on a specific topic that is provided to you. This is an individual assignment. The target audience are members from the judiciary.
Chain of Evidence
You are asked to write an information supplement on either DNA or glass, however, in each group of the course Chain of Evidence, one student needs to write a report on DNA and one on glass. After handing in your written assignment you are asked to choose one DNA report and one glass report that will be attached to your expert report in Chain of Evidence. This will contribute to the preparation of the non-scientists present during the moot court.
Component 2: Exchange with Law students (not graded)
In week 4 an exchange with law students will take place. Further information will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Component 3: The final examination (80% of the final grade)
The exam of this course will be a written examination based on the content covered during the lessons. The final exam will be assessed on an individual basis.
The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl