The Gay Age of Consent in Hong Kong

Criminal Law Forum -     

Students’ self‐assessment in law

Abstract

THIS STUDY is about second‐year students’ self‐assessment in law. Its aims were to test how closely the assessment by the students of their own work matched that of their tutor, to give the students an insight into the “marking process” (which research has shown improves learning), to help the students excel in their examination, to find out whether the male students did better than the female students in their assignment and subsequent examination, and to see how far staff time could be saved. The following were found: there was a high level of agreement between the students’ own marks and those of the tutor, there was generally no significant over‐estimation of assignment marks by the students, the participants did better than the non‐participants in the subsequent examination, the female students did much better than the male students in the assignments as well as the examination (although the participants in general did not do better in their examination than they did in their assignment) and considerable staff time was saved. The findings are discussed in the light of previous research.     

How the News was Made: The Anti-Social Behaviour Day Count, Newsmaking Criminology and the Construction of Anti-Social Behaviour

‘Newsmaking criminology’ is an approach to criminological research characterised by critical engagement with topics being covered by the news media, offering greater engagement with public debate and reflexive critique of the objects of criminological knowledge. Two examples of Brisith criminological researchers taking an identifiable ‘newsmaking’ approach are discussed in this paper: the Anti-Social Behaviour One Day Count, a 24-h comprehensive survey of reports of anti-social behaviour carried out in 2003, and the 24-h Domestic Violence Audit, carried out in 2000. This paper analyses the construction of knowledge of anti-social behaviour through the Day Count, identifying continuities and discontinuities between the Day Count and the Domestic Violence Audit. This leads to a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the ‘newsmaking’ approach, suggesting that it may serve conservative as well as progressive ends.