Individuals living in England in the early thirteenth century lived in a feudal society. The king granted favors to his subjects in return for their loyalty and obedience. His subjects and, most of all, the king himself believed the Almighty God gave him the right to rule. The king's law was the law of the land. No earthly document or written law was above what the king declared as lawful a…
Excerpt from the Magna Carta Original Magna Carta published in 1215 Reprinted from Magna Carta: Manuscripts and Myths by Claire Breay Published in 2002 "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we [English royalty] proceed with force against him or send others to do so e…
Excerpt from "Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall" Original "Lawes Divine" published in 1611 Reprinted from Tracts and Other Papers Relating Principally to Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies of North America from the Discovery of the Country to the Year 1776, edited by Peter Smith Published in 1947 The Magna Carta officially became part of English law in 129…
Excerpt from the "Examination of Sarah Good" Reprinted from The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692, edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum Published 1977 Seventeenth century colonists believed in witches, as did their European ancestors. The Great European Witch Hunt occurred from the fifteenth through th…
From the birth of the nation at the time of the American Revolution (1775–83) until the early part of the twentieth century, the various parts of the American criminal justice system, including courts, policing, and prisons, gradually developed at the federal and state levels. These loosely coordinated segments of the criminal justice system have been responsible for apprehending, investiga…
Excerpt from "Amendments to the Constitution" Delivered by James Madison on June 8, 1789, to the House of Representatives Reprinted from The Papers of James Madison, edited by Charles F. Hobson and Robert A. Rutland Published in 1979 James Madison of colonial Virginia is considered the father of the U.S. Constitution. Madison fought hard for the recognition and protection of individu…
Excerpt from American Notes Reprinted from Charles Dickens: American Notes for General Circulation, edited by Patricia Ingham Originally published in 1842; excerpt taken from 2000 reprint With the U.S. Constitution protecting American citizens from cruel and unusual punishment, a search for more humane forms of punishment began in the late 1800s. The idea of incarceration had been in use since the…
Excerpt from The Problem of Law Enforcement An address by George W. Wickersham on April 16, 1931 Published by the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, 1931 The 1920s were a particularly trying time for the U.S. criminal justice system. The introduction of Prohibition by passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1919 introduced a new crime wave. Prohibition m…
Since the first European settlements in North America in the early seventeenth century, governments in America have tried to regulate morality. The early colonists equated sin with crime. Such offenses as blasphemy (showing a lack of reverence toward God), heresy (holding a belief that conflicts with church doctrine), and adultery (sex between two adults, one of whom is married to another) were co…
Excerpt from the Comstock Law Reprinted from The Statutes at Large and Proclamations of the United States of America from March 1871 to March 1873, Vol. XVII. Edited by George P. Sanger Published in 1873 Sexual morality has long played an important role in U.S. criminal justice history even as many other Western countries have decreased emphasis on these kinds of moral offenses. Sexual crimes are …
Excerpt from the Harrison Narcotic Drug Act of 1914 Reprinted from The Statutes at Large and Proclamations of the United States of America from March 1913 to March 1915. Vol. XXXVIII, Part 1 Published in 1915 Prior to the twentieth century few restrictions were placed on drug trade and use. Opium and cocaine flowed freely into the United States. Drug abuse was considered more a public health probl…
Excerpt from the Eighteenth Amendment—Prohibition of Intoxicating Liquors Adopted on January 29, 1919 Reprinted from the Findlaw Web site at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendments18/ Alcohol is the most frequently used drug in the United States. Rum was often present in community gatherings in the early colonial settlements. Concern began to rise over those who drank too…
Execution as a criminal punishment has been a part of U.S. history since the early colonial days of the seventeenth century. It is a story of changing methods based on what the public considers the most effective deterrent to future criminals, as well as what is considered sufficiently humane. There is also a long history of debate over the morality of taking human lives. Capital punishments were …
Excerpt from "Far Worse Than Hanging" Reprinted from the New York Times Published in the August 7, 1890, edition, on the front page William Kemmler was a vegetable peddler in the slums of Buffalo, New York. An alcoholic, on March 29, 1888, he was recovering from a drinking binge the night before when he became enraged with his girlfriend, Tillie Ziegler. He accused her of stealing fr…
Excerpt from "The Plea of Clarence Darrow" Reprinted from The Amazing Crime and Trial of Leopold and Loeb, edited by Maureen McKernan Published in 1996 Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold were nineteen years old, exceptionally bright students, and from wealthy families. Loeb was a handsome University of Chicago student and Leopold an ornithologist (person who studies birds). The Leopolds…
Two major categories of crime attracted considerable attention from the U.S. criminal justice system during the twentieth century and posed far greater costs to society than usual street crime. They were white-collar crime and organized crime. Both involved illegal activities through enterprises. An enterprise is a group of associated individuals such as a business partnership, corporation, or uni…
Excerpt from the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 Reprinted from The Statutes at Large and Proclamations of the United States of America from December, 1889, to March, 1891, Vol. XXVI Published in 1891 Since 1890 the Sherman Antitrust Act has been the key law representing America's commitment to a free market economy. A free market economy, one where competition operates free from private or g…
Excerpt from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act of 1970 Reprinted from United States Statutes at Large, 1970–1971, Volume 84, Part 1 Published in 1971 Organized crime is defined as any group that has an organized structure of bosses, advisors, and committed working members whose key goal is to obtain money and property through illegal activities. Organized crime …
The first portion of this chapter, historical in nature, deals with one of the most significant legal battles in the early twentieth century. The Scottsboro trials stood as examples of minority treatment in the criminal justice system. The second portion of the chapter deals with a highly significant child protection law, the PROTECT Act of 2003. PROTECT includes the AMBER Alert, used to rescue ab…
Excerpt from "Scottsboro Case Goes to the Jury" Reprinted from the New York Times Published on January 23, 1936 "It takes courage to do the right thing in the face of public clamor for the wrong thing, but when justice is not administered fairly, . . . there is no protection for any one, man or woman, black or white." These words were spoken in January 1936 by defense a…
Excerpt from the PROTECT Act of 2003 Reprinted from the U.S. Government Printing Office Access Web site at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html "No family should ever have to endure the nightmare of losing a child. Our nation grieves with every family that has suffered unbearable loss. And our nation will fight threats against our children. . . . And now it is my honor to sign the PROTECT Ac…
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack (known as 9/11) on the United States, the U.S. government named its number one mission as protecting the homeland from future terrorist actions. Prior to 9/11 there was no comprehensive plan for such a mission; immediately after the terrorist attacks the government began developing a plan and the practical steps needed to achieve it. President Geor…
Excerpt from "Speech by Louis J. Freeh, Director of the FBI, 1997 International Computer Crime Conference, New York, New York, March 4, 1997" Reprinted from Cyber Terrorism and Information Warfare: 1. Assessment and Challenges, edited by Yonah Alexander and Michael S. Swetnam Published in 1999 By the 1990s computer systems had become a critical operating component for governments and…
Excerpt from "Patterns of Global Terrorism—2002" Reprinted from Terrorism: Documents of International and Local Control, Volume 39, U.S. Perspectives, edited by James Walsh Published in 2003 Although post-9/11 many important reports on terrorism have been issued, the U.S. State Department's annual assessment has long been considered the government's most importan…
Excerpt from "The Al Qaeda Training Manual" Reprinted from Terrorism: Documents of International and Local Control, Volume 39, U.S. Perspectives, edited by James Walsh Published in 2003 At the beginning of the twenty-first century, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States was involved in a long struggle to protect the nation's homeland and American interest…