Law & Justice

Law Honours & Criminology Honours

Learn more about Honours, JD with Distinction, Prizes and more

Honours
Prizes
6 arms high in the air, most with black graduation gown sleeves showing, hold black graduation mortar board hats. Trees and building in the distant background.

Law Honours

Completing Honours in Law gives you a competitive edge when you graduate and will set you up for success. Those taking Honours will complete an independent research project in an area of law that they are passionate about. It will also give you the opportunity to work closely with leading academics from the Faculty of Law and Justice.

To be awarded Honours in Law, students are not required to complete an additional year. Honours in Law is based on academic excellence throughout the degree.

    • Program Duration: The Honours Program will now span two terms.

      Enrolment Options:

      • Terms 1 and 2: Students can enrol in Term 1 and complete the program over Terms 1 and 2. 
      • Terms 2 and 3: Students can enrol in Term 2 and complete the program over Terms 2 and 3.

      Students completing Honours will now enrol in two Honours courses over the two terms: LAWS3900 Introduction to Law Honours Research and Writing (0 UOC) and then LAWS3901 Law Honours Research Thesis (6 UOC) in the following term.
      Honours Thesis timeline
      Apply now

    • To enrol in Honours, LLB students will need to have:

      1. Completed a minimum of 96 UOC of LLB courses
      2. Completed at least 84 UOC of core LLB courses
      3. A minimum 75 WAM in core LLB courses
      4. At least 6 UOC remaining in the LLB program. 

    • There are FOUR criteria relevant for awarding Honours:

      • Completion of a mandatory Research Methods Workshop. This will run in Week 2 of the first term you undertake Honours.
      • Completion of a supervised 6 UOC ‘Honours Research Thesis’. The research thesis will be of 10,000 words, excluding footnotes.  To complete the thesis, students will be enrolled in LAWS3901 Honours Research Thesis
      • Completion of all remaining LLB compulsory and elective courses necessary for graduation
      • Attainment of the Honours Weighted Average Mark (WAM) in Law

      Honours WAM will be calculated using the WAM from all non-Honours, graded LLB courses taken at UNSW as 75% of the Honours WAM, and the WAM from the Honours Research Thesis as 25% of the Honours WAM. 

      The Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree will be awarded as follows:

      • Honours Class 1: Honours WAM of 80.00 or greater 
      • Honours Class 2: Honours WAM between 75.00 and 79.99
      • Honours Class 3: Honours WAM below 75.00
      1. Students will need to find a supervisor for their Honours project before applying. Students should submit a 1-page outline to their proposed supervisor outlining their research topic. A list of academic staff and their research interests can be found on the Faculty of Law & Justice website
      2. Once students have found a supervisor, please complete the Honours application form and include the email approval from your supervisor.
      3. Once approved, students will receive confirmation from the Nucleus and will be enrolled in LAWS3900 Introduction to Law Honours Research & Writing.

      Applications for a Term 1 commencement of Honours will open O-week of Term 3 and remain open for 7 weeks.

      Applications for a Term 2 commencement of Honours will open O-week of Term 1 and remain open for 7 weeks.
      Apply now

    • School of Law, Society and Criminology

       

      • Strands of Self: Unravelling the use of ancestry DNA testing to foster belonging through identity and the resulting legal ethics.
      • The Homogeneity of Australian Legislation: Identifying Cognate Statutory Provisions in Commonwealth, State and Territory Law.

      • Trade Unions, Lawyers and Class Position: Identifying Possibilities for Radical Legal Struggle.

      • Is criminalising coercive control detrimental to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors?

      • Lawyers, legal ethics, and class actions: the way forward and the criticality of reform.

      • Cracking the Code: An Analysis of the Treatment and Risks of Opinion Evidence about Argot, Jargon, and Coded Language

      School of Global and Public Law

      • The limitations of tax information exchange agreements: how Australia fails to identify global tax schemes.

      • Hidden Truths, Imputations of Illegal Conduct and the Expanded Civil Proceeding.

      • Tread Carefully: Future Humanitarian Intervention in Afghanistan and Third World Approaches to International Law. 

      • Reading the Tea Leaves left by NZYQ: Assessing how the High Court protects its legitimacy.

      • Yunupingu v Commonwealth: Heralding the next wave of native title post Mabo and Timber Creek.

      School of Private and Commercial Law

      • The Robot Lawyer: An Investigation of the Regulatory Position of the Provision of Legal Advice Created by AI.

      • Corporate misconduct in Australia: tolerated or impermissible?

      • The Regulation of Corporate Culture By Australia’s ‘Private Attorney General’: The Class Action.

      • Assessing the suitability of the Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation Bill 2023 in the Context of Generative AI.

      • Tensions in Tax: Revealing the Effect of Taxation Law on Economic Participation by Indigenous Business 

    • Finding an appropriate supervisor is up to you. This is a list of academics that have supervised honours projects in recent years. There are, however, many academics across the faculty with an interest, and experience, in research supervision. 

      You should try and identify a supervisor that matches your research interests. However, they do not need to be an expert on the particular topic that you are investigating, but rather, have knowledge in the broad field of study that is relevant to your project.
      • Marc de Leuw 
      • Jonathan Bonnitcha 
      • Kayleen Manwaring 
      • Daniel McLoughlin 
      • Marina Nehme 
      • Michael Legg 
      • Daniel Joyce 
      • Tim Clark 
      • Rosalind Dixon 
      • John Page 
      • Michael Legg
      • Theunis Roux 
      • Deborah Healey 
      • Gary Edmond 
      • Melanie Schwarz 
      • Simone Degeling 
      • Ben Golder 
      • Ross Buckley 
      • Sarah Williams 
      • Katharine Kemp 
      • Leah Williams 
      • Cameron Holley
      • Ann Kayis-Kumar 
      • Daniel Ghezelbash 
      • Jess Hudson 
      • Angela Kintominas 
      • Bronwen Morgan 
      • Jane McAdam
      • Amelia Thorpe 
      • Jill Hunter 

Criminology Honours

The Criminology (Honours) program is designed to provide students with appropriate training and guidance for the completion of a 15,000 – 20,000-word thesis. Graduates of the Program should be able to demonstrate their ability as autonomous researchers and are well-prepared for a research and/or policy career in criminology in a variety of organisational settings. Some may proceed to a PhD or other research degrees. 

    • Program Duration 

      The Bachelor of Criminology & Criminal Justice (Honours) is a one-year equivalent advanced undergraduate degree for high achieving students, which may be taken upon completion of an undergraduate degree in Criminology & Criminal Justice, or other Level 7 qualification with a major in a stream offered in the program. Part-time options may also be available, and students are encouraged to discuss study options with the Honours Coordinator. 

      The program comprises of:

      18 uoc Core Courses: 

      • ARTS4266 (6 uoc) is offered in Term 1 only. 
      • ARTS4268 (12 uoc) is taught as a multi-term course at 6uoc in Term 1 and 6uoc in Term 2. 

      30 uoc Thesis Courses: 

      • CRIM4001 (6 uoc) available in all three Terms
      • CRIM4002 (12 uoc) available in all three Term
      • CRIM4003 (18 uoc) available in all three Terms
      1. Students must have completed the UNSW Bachelor of Criminology & Criminal Justice or other recognised Level 7 qualification with a major in a stream offered in the program. 
      2. Students in a dual degree must have completed 144 uoc including all requirements for the Criminology & Criminal Justice component. 
      3. A minimum WAM of 70. 

      Please note that entry is also subject to available supervision.

    • Honours Classes 

      The Honours mark for the awarding of the class of Honours is based on all components of the program. It will be determined from the student's weighted average mark for all of the courses (coursework and thesis/research project). 

      Honours will be awarded in the following classes, based on the student's WAM rounded to the nearest whole number: 

      • Class 1: WAM of 85 and above 
      • Class 2 Division 1: WAM of 75 to 84 
      • Class 2 Division 2: WAM of 65 to 74 
      • Class 3: WAM of 50 to 64 
      1. Students intending to apply to the Honours program must first discuss their eligibility and project proposal with the Honours Coordinator.
      2. All applicants (including current UNSW students) are to submit an online application via Apply Online and upload a copy of their project proposal to their online application. 
         

      Please note: Students who have completed a major in Criminology through the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Psychological Science programs, rather than the Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice (BCCJ), need to apply for the Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences (Honours).

Law Honours resources

To assist you in your academic journey, the faculty has developed an informative YouTube video which has been designed to support your work on the Honours Thesis and will be accessible throughout the program.
Developing your research question, Professor Ben Golder
Experiences from Honours, UNSW Law & Justice students

The Law & Justice Dean's List is changing, here's what to expect

From 2027, the Dean's List will change how it recognises its highest academic achievers.
What's changing
Why the change?

From 2027, the Faculty of Law & Justice Dean’s List will move from a course-based model to a cohort-based recognition framework. The new framework will apply to academic results from 2026 onward, with awards issued in 2027.

Instead of awarding the top student in each individual course, students will be ranked within their program cohort and stage. The top three per cent of students in each eligible cohort will be recognised based on their overall Faculty WAM, ensuring sustained academic excellence is acknowledged.

What's changing

These new changes will affect each Law & Justice program as follows:

  • Bachelor of Laws (LLB): Stage-based ranking (by UoC completed) - top 3% of students per stage. To be eligible, students must have successfully completed a minimum 18 UoC of LAWS courses in the relevant year.
  • Juris Doctor (JD): Stage-based ranking (by UoC completed) - top 3% of students per stage. To be eligible, students must have successfully completed a minimum 18 UoC of LAWS courses in the relevant year.
  • Master of Laws (LLM): Top 3% of each term-based cohort. To be eligible, students must have successfully completed a minimum 18 UoC of LAWS courses in the relevant term.
  • Bachelor of Criminology & Criminal Justice (BCCJ): Stage-based ranking - top 3% of students per stage. To be eligible, students must have successfully completed a minimum 18 UoC of CRIM courses in the relevant year.

Digital badges via Credly will also be introduced, replacing individual certificates. These secure, verifiable credentials can be shared on LinkedIn and other professional platforms, providing long-term, portable recognition of your achievements. A formal Dean’s List notation will continue to appear on academic transcripts.

Why the change?

The Faculty of Law & Justice has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Dean’s List process to ensure its highest academic achievers are recognised in a way that is fair, transparent, and aligned with best practice across UNSW.

The revised model:

  • Recognises sustained academic excellence across a program, not just performance in a single course;
  • Aligns Law & Justice with recognition practices used across other UNSW faculties; and
  • Enhances the prestige and clarity of the Dean’s List award.

JD with Distinction

The Juris Doctor with Distinction will be automatically calculated for those students who are eligible at the end of each Term. Students will not need to apply for this.

  • Students must achieve a Distinction WAM of 75%.
  • The Distinction WAM will be calculated using the WAM from core courses as 60 percent of the Distinction WAM and the WAM from the elective courses as 40 percent of Distinction WAM.
  • Only courses completed at UNSW will count towards the WAM calculation.
  • Students are to have no academic misconduct throughout the duration of their degree.
  • Students are to have NO more than one failure in the Juris Doctor Program.

Prizes in Law & Justice

The Faculty of Law & Justice offers a number of prizes, most awarded annually to recognise top-performing students. In addition to prizes, the annual Dean’s List recognises outstanding achievement in a course.

Check out more information about Faculty prizes and the Dean’s List.