Course Catalogue

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The digital era presents fundamental challenges for the application and enforcement of state criminal laws. At the click of a button, criminal offences can be simultaneously committed in every country with internet accessibility. The digital evidence necessary for investigating and prosecuting these offences may be physically located outside the territory of any state or sharded across data centres all over the world. The evidence can be searched and copied without removing the material from these servers, and without its owners even being aware that the search occurred. Increasingly, criminal lawyers grapple with complex answers to seemingly simple questions like where is evidence 'located', or where in the world would a search or production power be executed in the context of electronic evidence.

None of this is business as usual for the criminal law, and it begs the question of how traditional procedural powers for the investigation and enforcement of crimes can and should be applied in the digital era. In this module we move between domestic and international legal regimes to address this fundamental question. The module is divided into three general sections: investigative powers; international law and transnational investigations; and electronic evidence. This is a challenging module with a dynamic and evolving subject matter. Significant emphasis is placed on self-learning, enabling concentration on very specific topics and issues.

On-campus seminars are held weekly and are two hours each in duration

This course is only available to LLB students.

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There are two points of summative assessment for this module. The first is a two-hour unseen examination (worth 60%). Students will have a choice of essay questions and will be required to answer two from five. The second is a 2500-word essay (worth 40%).   

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The course will:

1. Explore some of the policing challenges and opportunities that exist in the digital era.

2. Allow students to engage with relevant legal topics from a domestic and international law perspective.

3. Help students to develop and apply critical and analytical skills to issues associated with cybercrime investigations and prosecutions.

4. Investigate different understandings of electronic evidence, and some of the challenges that arise when utilising this category of evidence in the criminal process.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. demonstrate practical and legal awareness of some of the policing challenges and opportunities that exist in the digital era.

2. construct clear and coherent arguments about the domestic and international legal regulation of key investigative powers as they apply to the cyber environment.

3. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the nature and utility of electronic evidence in criminal cases.

4. evaluate critically how international human rights law applies to cyber investigations and prosecutions

5. evaluate critically some of the key admissibility rules which apply to electronic evidence in the criminal trial.  

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.