History Of Criminal Law In The United States Of America (Term Paper Sample)

Criminal Law: History
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History of Criminal Law
Introduction
The history of criminal law dates back to a time when the British established colonies in the United States of America, at the time, citizens were subjected to the British law whenever there was a case that was considered a criminal offence (Norrie, 2014). It is important to note that the laws that the offenders were subjected to were not always just and fair.
By the end of 17th century, reforms to the American Criminal law were initiated by William Penn, a great hero of American liberty. Sources of American criminal law draw from a wider spectrum some of which may be listed as follows:
* Law of Precedence
This states that once a court makes a ruling on a given case, the decision is binding and should be used in other cases with same legal problems (Norrie, 2014). Indeed, the British judges’ decisions produced criminal laws that were later adopted when cases of similar problems surfaced.
* The United States Constitution
The United States of America’s Constitution can be argued as a force that created U.S. criminal law; it asserts that all other laws are subordinate to it (Norrie, 2014). In this regard, it is safe to argue that this largely played a role in the emergence of Criminal law in the U.S.
While the Constitution of the U.S provides freedom of liberties, it needs to be remembered that same freedom can be curtailed whenever certain conditions demand so. According to Mason & Stephenson (2015), an individual convicted to have committed a crime punishable by imprisonment is dictated by the Criminal law to serve a given period of time in prison. To this e...