Using the ‘Virtual you be the Judge’ website https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/you-be-the-judge/virtual-judge, complete the tasks below:
1. Watch the case studies of each offender: Richard, Terri, Dane and Peter.
2. List the crime committed by each offender.
3. List the verdict delivered and the maximum penalty in each case study.
4. Identify factors that need to be considered when sentencing each offender in these case studies.
5. To find out more information about each case, record the questions you asked the accused, defence lawyer and prosecutor.
6. Briefly describe what is written in each offender’s pre-sentence report.
7. Indicate your judgement for each case, and explain why.
8. Select a sentence (sanction) that you think best fits the crime committed by each offender, and explain why.
9. Select how long you think the sentence should be for each offender, and explain why.
10. Record the judge’s sentence (sanction and how long).
11. For each offender, compare your sentence (sanction and how long) with the judge’s sentence (sanction and how long). Was your sentence the same as the actual judge or different from the actual judge in each case?
12. View and record how other users of this website sentenced each offender in the four cases by clicking on the relevant link.