Week 3 Discussion

Revolutionary Period Criminal Justice Implications

A common thread throughout this course is the intentional analysis of criminal justice through a historical lens with the hope of understanding deeply rooted issues within today’s U.S. criminal justice system. In early colonial America, religion and customs borrowed from England were the order of the day and the foundation of the American criminal justice system. How did this particular colonial perception, the understanding of criminal behavior, and the systematic response to it affect underlying regional and cultural ideologies?

For this Discussion you compare characteristics of the system, from the early American Revolutionary Period to today, as well as discuss their impact on the current U.S. criminal justice system.

Post by Day 3, two crimes and their respective punishments during the Revolutionary Period (1718–1797). Explain one social and one political influence these crimes and punishments had on the current U.S. criminal justice system.

Week 3 Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources.

Required Resources

READINGS

• Jones M., & Johnstone, P. (2011). History of Criminal Justice. (5th ed.) New York, NY. Routledge.
  • Chapter 6, “Criminal Justice on the North American Colonial”
  • Chapter 8, “The American Revolution and Criminal Justice”

Optional Resources

• Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Utilitarianism.
  Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/620682/utilitarianism

Please proceed to the Discussion.