Ethnic MCQ

English Common Law

Legal system based on custom and judicial precedent (stare decisis) rather than written statutes alone; forms the baseline structure for the US legal system.

Aztec Law

Hierarchical court system with written laws strictly applied across all social classes, where nobility often faced harsher penalties than commoners.

Native American Peacemaking

Community-centered restorative framework using talking circles and elders to mend relationships and heal the collective, rather than prioritizing punitive isolation.

African Customary Law

Unwritten legal traditions rooted in community values; emphasizes social harmony and reconciliation (Ubuntu) over individualist punishment.

Hawaiian Kapu System

Sacred taboos regulating survival, social interactions, and ecology; violations disrupted mana and brought instant penalties unless one reached a Puʻuhonua (sanctuary).

Great Tang Code

Imperial Chinese penal code combining Legalist structure with Confucian ethics; scaled punishments proportionally based on the social/familial relationship between parties.

Twelve Tables of Roman Law

Rome's first public, codified set of written laws; created to prevent elite patrician judges from making arbitrary, hidden rulings against common plebeians.

Slave Patrols

Early armed, state-sanctioned southern units tasked with monitoring enslaved populations, stopping rebellions, and tracking freedom seekers; a foundational blueprint for US policing.

Thomas Jefferson (Policing Context)

Agrarian vision focused on protecting private property and commerce, mirroring Northern night watches that protected shipping docks rather than tracking human labor.

Kevin R. Johnson

Legal scholar who connects historical legal frameworks (designed to control indigenous people, enslaved individuals, and immigrants) to modern systemic racial profiling.

Police Militarization

The process of domestic police forces adopting military weapons, armored equipment, and combat-oriented tactics, shifting from a "guardian" to a "warrior" mindset.

1033 Program

Federal initiative transferring surplus military hardware (armored vehicles, weapons, gear) directly from the Department of Defense to local law enforcement.

Police Reform Continuum

The spectrum of structural change ranging from Standard Reform (body cams, training) to Defunding (reallocating budgets to social services) to Abolition (replacing carceral systems entirely).

Wrongful Conviction Causes

The four main systemic causes: eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, inadequate defense/overworked public defenders, and official misconduct (withholding evidence).

13th Amendment Loophole

The constitutional clause outlawing slavery "except as a punishment for crime," which the documentary 13th argues was exploited to rebuild a system of racial control.

War on Drugs

1970s–1980s federal policies that drastically increased incarceration rates through mandatory minimum sentences and the stark sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

1994 Crime Bill

Federal legislation that heavily expanded prison funding, incentivized stricter sentencing guidelines like "Three Strikes" laws, and accelerated the mass incarceration peak.

Solitary Confinement

The practice of isolating prisoners in a closed cell for 22 to 24 hours a day with minimal human contact; highly criticized as a form of psychological torture.

Death Penalty Debates

Capital punishment controversies focusing on systemic racial disparities, the permanent risk of executing an innocent person, and the 8th Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment).

Restorative vs. Retributive Justice

Restorative focuses on repairing interpersonal harm, victim healing, and community reintegration; Retributive focuses strictly on imposing isolation and legal penalties for breaking rules.