Criminal law [DROIB214]

Teaching methods

The teaching methods and the mode of evaluation are made explicit from the first lesson of the year. The pedagogical approach is both analytical and critical, allowing for reflection on social issues closely related to criminal law. Active participation of students is expected. Some parts of the course are taught using the lecture method while others are taught using the flipped classroom model, which requires students to prepare the lesson in advance according to specific instructions received from the teacher. The flipped classroom aims to develop several skills: speaking in public, interacting with the group, acquiring selfconfidence and autonomy in learning, doing research, defending a point of view in an argumentative manner, improving one's command of the French language, etc. During the reversed classes, students must answer questions involving legal analysis and personal reflection in connection with illustrations drawn from current events and case law. In addition, at the end of some chapters, summary questions and cross-cutting questions test students' in-depth understanding of the subject and the accuracy of their legal reasoning. Practical cases and pleading exercises also allow students to put the rules of criminal law into practice. Questions are posted on the webcampus at least one week before the flipped class. Students are encouraged to prepare the exercises on their own or in small groups, and to read the pages of the textbook dedicated to the material covered in the flipped classroom in advance. During the flipped classroom, several students present the answers to the questions to the whole audience, interacting with the teacher and the audience. Online voting (wooclap) takes place regularly, both in the lecture and in the flipped classroom, so as to involve the whole audience. Exercises will also be offered via the webcampus test tool and short videos will be posted to help students to understand certain points of the subject. Powerpoint slides are used for the presentation of the course, on which the main legal terms are translated into Dutch. Students must be able to translate these terms from Dutch into French. A lexicon is also available on the webcampus. On two or three occasions during the academic year, external lecturers will be invited to the course to present a criminal law topic from a more practical point of view. A presentation in Dutch on a specific topic or a case law decision can also be organised during a course, possibly with the help of one or more Dutch-speaking students in the audience. A written support (text or powerpoint) will be made available to the students on the webcampus in order to facilitate the understanding of the interventions. As part of a cross-faculty project on the theme of childhood and migration, the "Mawda" case and the court decisions to which it gave rise will provide an opportunity to address several notions of criminal law in a concrete and nuanced way, notably through lectures. The students will be invited, on the basis of questions that will be put to them throughout the lessons, to reflect on the different solutions that criminal law has in store for the situations encountered. The teacher will always be available to answer the students' questions during the lessons and at other times. A question and answer session is organised during the last lesson before the exam.

Evaluations

This is a written examination. Students must bring their bac code, which may not contain any annotations. In addition to the content of the General Criminal Law Manual, the examination material includes everything that has been covered in the course, including reversed classes and lectures. The teacher specifies which parts of the book, if any, are not part of the examination material. The distribution of marks is indicated next to each question. The final score is not purely arithmetical and depends on the teacher's overall assessment of the paper. An official answer key is available to students on webcampus. As the course is given in the first and second terms, two evaluations are carried out: the first at the end of the first term, the second at the end of the second term. Before the end of the first term, the teacher presents the modalities of the January examination and comments on the criteria for the assessment. Advice is given to students on how to best prepare for the type of questions that will be asked. The assessment at the end of the first term (January) covers the material covered in the first term. It is worth a quarter of the final mark (i.e. 5 points out of 20). The January examination takes place in a lecture theatre and has a maximum duration of 2 hours. The questions are of the multiple choice or "true or false" type with a brief justification of the answer and indication of the applicable legal basis. More open-ended questions requiring a focused and fairly brief response may also be asked, calling for precision and reasoning skills. The examination may also include a decision analysis (seen in the course or presented in the Manual) or restitution questions such as definitions or a comparison of different concepts. The questions contain several legal terms in Dutch, but the answer must always be given in French. The assessment at the end of the second term (May-June) is worth three-quarters of the final mark (i.e. 15 points out of 20). It takes place in a lecture theatre and lasts a maximum of 3 hours. It is based on the material covered in the second semester. The questions include several legal terms in Dutch but the answer must always be given in French. The students have to solve a case study according to the method used in the practical exercises. This case study is worth a quarter of the final grade of the exam. The other questions are of the multiple choice or "true or false" type with a brief justification of the answer and indication of the applicable legal basis. More open-ended questions requiring a focused and fairly brief response may also be asked, calling for precision and reasoning skills. The examination may also include a decision analysis (seen in the course or presented in the Manual) or restitution questions such as definitions or a comparison between different concepts. The assessment at the end of the third term (August-September) will cover the entire criminal law course. The examination will be 3 hours long and will include the same categories of questions as those of June listed above. The answers to the previous year's exams are available to students on webcampus. Depending on the evolution of the health situation, certain adjustments may be made to the examination format. The evaluation criteria are as follows; • Understanding and mastery of the material, • Ability to solve concrete cases correctly, • Rigour, clarity, precision, coherence and structure of the answer to the question asked.

Recommended readings

The course material consists of a textbook written with an essentially didactic purpose (N. COLETTE-BASECQZ and N. BLAISE, Manuel de droit pénal général, 4th ed, Limal, Anthémis, 2019). It is systematically referred to the relevant provisions of the code, which helps the student to become familiar with it in order to easily find the answers in his code. As an illustration of the rules and principles of criminal law, several case law decisions are reproduced in full in the manual. New legislation and case law (some of which may be in Dutch) seen in the course are made available to students on the webcampus, as well as videos, Powerpoint slides and an addendum containing changes to the subject. The most important legal terms in criminal law are translated into Dutch on the Powerpoint slides and can also be found in a French-Dutch lexicon available on webcampus.

Language of instruction

French / Français

Location for course

NAMUR

Organizer

Faculté de droit
Rue de Bruxelles, 61
5000 NAMUR

Degree of Reference

Undergraduate Degree

	Block	Credits
Bachelier en droit	2	8