Topic: Constitutional Limitations

As noted in the textbook readings for this module/week, there are many Constitutional limitations on criminal law. One such limitation is the prohibition of ex post facto laws. Please discuss the following:

What is the ex post facto clause and how does it limit criminal law?

What is the public policy reason for limiting ex post facto laws?

List pros and cons of prohibiting enforcement of ex post facto laws?

Is limiting criminal law in this way consistent with the principles of a biblical worldview?

Discussion Board Forums Instructions

For each Discussion Board Forum, you must research the topic and provide a well-written answer to the prompt. Your thread must be between 250-300 words. You must incorporate at least 2 scholarly sources (in addition to your textbook) for your thread. You must cite your sources parenthetically in the text as needed and provide full citations at the end of each posting in current APA format.

You must also post replies to 2 other students' threads which must be at least 150 words and use 1 scholarly source for each reply. You are encouraged to read each post on the Discussion Board Forums. Make sure to use correct spelling and grammar for all Discussion Board Forum postings.

NOTE: Scholarly sources can be books, journal articles, law review articles, etc. While you may use the textbook, the Bible, cases, and statutes; they will not count toward the minimum number of sources.

Responding to a classmate's post requires both the addition of new ideas and analysis. A particular point made by the classmate must be addressed and built upon by your analysis in order to move the conversation forward. Thus, the response post is a rigorous assignment that requires you to build upon initial posts to develop deeper and more thorough discussion of the ideas introduced in the initial posts. As such, reply posts that merely affirm, restate or unprofessionally quarrel with the previous post(s) and fail to make a valuable, substantive contribution to the discussion will receive appropriate point deductions.

This course utilizes the Post-First feature in all Discussion Board Forums. This means you will only be able to read and interact with your classmates' threads after you have submitted your thread in response to the provided prompt. For additional information on Post-First, click here for a tutorial.