The HSC subject that has students discussing rape, murder and domestic violence
It’s the rare high school subject where analysing grisly murders, domestic violence and high-profile sexual assault cases are explicitly encouraged.
Almost 11,000 students completed a three-hour legal studies exam on Monday, answering questions on the criminal justice system, international relations and human rights, as well as two topics of choice. It’s a subject where knowledge of current events, news, politics and law reform is crucial.
At a time when 60 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 have never flicked through a physical newspaper, legal studies bucks the trend, encouraging students to consume news at its source.
At Nagle College in Blacktown, legal studies teachers Diana Shean and Karen Vasarelli say each lesson begins with a discussion about the news. When phones ping with breaking news alerts during class, Shean encourages students to pick up their devices.
“Kids have to have their fingertips on the news and on what’s happening constantly,” Shean said. It also means that no subject, be it rape, murder, or terrorism, is off limits.
“The [topics] are controversial,” she said. “They’re confronting. Even if a person hasn’t had that experience, they become quite connected through their own emotions and how they perceive it.”
In the exam on Monday, Nagle College students Ericka Brillo, Madhuri Somani and Harkirat Kaur leaned on their knowledge of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins at Parliament House to answer a question about the effectiveness of courts at protecting human rights.
For seven marks, Somani argued that Higgins primarily achieved justice through non-legal routes such as the media.
“She had to advocate on her own for justice,” Somani said.
Shean said the subject can be eye-opening for students whose concepts of justice rarely align with the realities of the legal system. She noted a classroom discussion about the domestic violence murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children in Queensland in 2020.
“My class were quite enraged that the police didn’t help when it was first identified that there was a problem … Which was a good segue into being able to look at the reforms and the changes that the police have put in,” she said. She pointed to Sam Wood’s alleged strangulation of his wife, and his denial of bail.
“I kind of wish I had class with them now because then we could look at the Sam Wood case and see how it has evolved so much in terms of police reaction … 10 years ago, no, I’d say even two years ago, [his bail denial] wouldn’t have happened,” she said.
Brillo, who hopes to study speech pathology at university, said the study gets “ingrained in you”.
“Whenever you see things happen, I always unconsciously link it back to the syllabus,” she said. “I think it’s nifty, it broadens so much of your knowledge in a niche way.”
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