The seven principles of substantive criminal law allow authorities to define certain acts as being against the law. These seven principles are by no means adopted throughout the world; other countries base their laws on different principles. Laws typically reflect the values and traditions of a society. For example, criminal law may come from religious tenets. Under Islamic law, for example, society may punish certain kinds of defamation as criminal offenses. Differences in traditions, values, and social structures create variations in illegal vs. legal activity. 

Select a country other than the United States of America and research at least two differences in the definitions of crimes and punishments for that country and the United States. Address the way law is shaped by values and traditions. Your paper must be at least 700-800 words in length, excluding the title and reference pages, and must adhere to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) writing format.

If your paper does not comply with this format, you will lose points. You may want to visit Purdue OWL for assistance with formatting your paper in APA style. If you wish, commercial software program templates are available for purchase to assist in correct APA formatting. One example is PERRLA. 

You must cite at least two scholarly references for your paper. Please be aware that websites such as Wikipedia are not scholarly sources. You are encouraged to access the Universitys online library resources to find scholarly journal articles, etc. The ProQuest and EBSCO databases may be helpful, but remember to limit your search to scholarly journal articles. You may also want to view the instructions for locating articles for Saint Leo classes. Please remember to review the information about locating and citing proper sources in your syllabus.