Week 1 – Discussion 1 . 

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

History of Criminal   Law and Punishment 

Western societies have been punishing criminal actors since ancient Greece. This begs the question of whether or not punishment is an effective means of crime control and recidivist reduction. As you explore the balance of freedom vs. security and the history of criminal punishment, be willing to think of new ways to address and deter criminal behavior.

• Respond to this prompt if your      last name begins with the letters A through L: Detail the history of criminal law. List and explain      the major forces that created U.S. criminal law. Your response must weigh      the challenge between keeping people safe and protecting individual      liberties. Provide an opinion of whether or not criminal law provides the      most effective way to deal with crime and recidivism. Offer suggestions      for improvement to the current criminal law system within which we      operate.
• Respond to this prompt if your      last name begins with the letters M through Z: Explain the history of punishment and its goals. Your      response must detail the origins of punishment, how notions of what is      “appropriate” punishment is for a given circumstance over time, and an      analysis of the effectiveness of modern punishment methods and schemes.

Guided Response: You must respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts, and at least one of your posts must be to a student addressing the prompt that you did not respond to in your initial, primary response. For example, if you responded to the history of punishment prompt, at least one of your two responses must be to a student who responded to the history of criminal law discussion board. Your responses must be at least 100 words of content and supported by scholarly sources (i.e., classroom materials or outside scholarly sources).