Criminal law

Scope: This is a guide to law resources that fall into the following categories:

• criminal law - 'the rules of statute and common law which direct that certain actions are punishable by the law';
• criminal justice - 'this system is centred upon the right of an accused to a fair trial';
• criminology - 'the study of causes, prevention, and correction of criminal behaviour';
• forensic studies - 'forensic relates to matters before the courts, something designed for use in the courts'

(the above definitions are from Butterworths Australian encyclopaedic legal dictionary). Also included is International criminal law (ICL), a complex legal discipline consisting of overlapping and concurrent sources of law and emanating from the international legal system and from national legal systems' (International criminal law). The Law Library, Caulfield and Matheson libraries provide support for teaching and research in all the above subject areas.

Related subject pages: Constitutional law, Human rights, International and foreign law, Law and medicine, Law of the Internet

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