The death penalty should always be available as a sentencing option for the most serious offences. Discuss.

Postgraduate Law Students: Formative Assessment – 2021/22

2. The death penalty should always be available as a sentencing option for the most serious offences. Discuss.

WORD LIMIT: 1000 words

A copy of this assessment, with individual feedback, will be returned to you by email during the week commencing the TBC

Please note that although this is compulsory, it is A FORMATIVE ESSAY only and used for diagnostic purposes.
It does not count towards your marks or degree classification. It is designed to provide you with constructive feedback on:
those elements of your essay that you have done well;
which elements need to be improved;
and advice as to where you can obtain additional academic support as appropriate.

A good essay, will, (as a minimum), have the following characteristics, sometimes referred to as
IRAC or CLEO:

a) ISSUE/CLAIM: (knowledge, understanding and relevance)
Provide evidence of a clear understanding of the relevant issues, legal sources and materials. Your essay should contain no irrelevant or extraneous material or information as this demonstrates a lack of understanding.

b) RULE/LAW: (scholarship, research, sources and referencing)
Your conclusions must be supported throughout the text of your essay by reference to relevant legal authority. This should include evidence of good scholarship – substantial research beyond the material given to you in the course outline. Ideally you should aim to include references to a variety of legal sources (primary sources), including both primary and secondary legislation, case law, European Union law and sources of international law such as the European Convention on Human Rights 1951, as appropriate. You should also refer to a range of secondary sources – articles and books, both online and in hard copy. You need to include careful and precise citation of all sources, using the OSCOLA system of referencing, supported by the use of footnotes and a bibliography.

c) APPLY/EVALUATE: (analysis, independent and critical thinking)
Your essay should provide evidence of critical thinking – a coherent argument or set of arguments, including comparisons and contrasts between academic commentators and/or practitioners, who take different views on particular issues. Each issue or argument must always be related back to the specific question. The best answers will address EVERY key word in the essay title, or EVERY fact in a problem question, thereby covering the full scope of the question or assessment set.

d) CONCLUDE/OUTCOME: (organization/structure/synthesis)
Each new “issue” or “claim” requires a new paragraph.
The first sentence should “signpost” the subject matter of the paragraph in question and link to the paragraph before it.
Every paragraph should be structured along the lines of IRAC/CLEO, which means that every paragraph should contain some legal or supporting authority and draw a conclusion related back to the question at the end.

Your WRITING STYLE is also important in helping you to “showcase” all of the above. Therefore your answer should be perfectly legible – i.e. word processed, with no typographical, grammatical or spelling errors.