Project Summary: Discussion: Revolutionary Period Criminal Justice Implications A common thread throughout this course is the intentional analysis of criminal justice through a historical lens with the hope of understanding deeply rooted issues within today’s U.S. criminal justice system. In early colonial America, religion and customs borrowed from England were the order of the day and the foundation of the American criminal justice system. How did this particular colonial perception, the understanding of criminal behavior, and the systematic response to it affect underlying regional and cultural ideologies?