Aims

1. To acquire knowledge and understanding of the key legal principles and techniques involved in counter-terrorism.

2. To critically analyse the problems democratic states face in conceptualising and responding to terrorism.

3. To enable students to engage with the contemporary legal and political debates about national security and appropriate responses to terrorism.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module is structured into 4 topics which address at different elements in the UK's response to terrorism.

1. Introduction

Outline Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
War model of counter-terrorism
Crime model of counter-terrorism

2. Criminal Procedure and Counter-Terrorism

Police Powers
Rules of Evidence
Conducting terrorism trials 

3. Criminal Law Responses to Terrorism

Criminalising organisations
Criminalising support of terrorism
Problems in

4. Executive Responses to Terrorism

Indefinite detention
Control orders
Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures aim to provide an overview of the background and main principles, examples of reasoning methods, and an introduction to the main controversial issues.

Seminars (small group teaching) provide the opportunity to develop oral, analytical and critical skills, whether present-in-person or online. Discussion is structured to consider questions focusing on key principles and problem areas. Some seminars will use problem style questions, providing opportunities for group-based in-depth skills and knowledge development in relation to the application of the law to complex factual scenarios. Other seminars will focus discussion around debate propositions or essay style statements. These components will provide formative practice opportunities ahead of the summative assessments. There will be four one-hour small group sessions, all of which will be synchronous events.

Synchronous workshops will tie together the module topics and are intended to have a degree of interactivity. These workshops will focus on the preparation of different types of exam response (and allow for an informal formative assessment).

Q&A, Feed-forward and Feedback sessions will represent additional contact time. These sessions are opportunities for students to ask broader questions about the module content or to seek additional feed-forward guidance in relation to assessments.

Guided Independent Study through online discussion is intended to consolidate learning as students work through module topics. These will be mixed synchronous/asynchronous in nature, with a minimum of seven synchronous sessions.

Independent Study is to be divided between preparing for lectures and seminars, consolidation, and revision.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The emphasis in this module is upon developing analytical skills, critique and innovative thinking. The final examination requires students to answer three essay or problem questions from a choice of six in a 24 hour period, with a cap of 1100 words for each answer. This format requires a broad understanding of the material covered in the module and engages critical, analytical and evaluative skills, as well as the ability to write with care and precision in a time-limited context. It also allows students to draw upon their materials in preparing an answer, thereby developing a key legal skill of being able to synthesise materials and knowledge in response to questions in a time-limited fashion.

An emphasis is placed in exam preparation on deep engagement with the question. Although there is no compulsory formative exercise, there is a workshop devoted to a practice response which will be marked as if it was formally submitted, allowing experienced Stage 3 students to choose to take on this task if they would find it of benefit.

The style of the formative assessment mimics that of the summative exam. The formative exam will be testing the same skills, under timed conditions and will provide students with an opportunity to receive timely feedback.