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The Pros And Cons Of The US Constitution

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The US Constitution has enjoyed a long life in its American state, with amendments to reflect the changing times, ideologies, and proposed laws. Comparativists have proposed the idea that the US Constitution, while ever-evolving, is only suited to the conditions in the United States due to many reasons, some being due to the specifics of the Revolutionary War. However, some comparativists believe that since there were amendments to the Constitution, it could be applicable anywhere in the world. The argument of this paper is that the US Constitution is only suitable to the conditions of the United States, and to provide evidence, China will be used as an example.
First, before making any decisions, a comparativist must understand what the US …show more content…

China does not prohibit cruel and unusual punishment in its constitution. In fact, according to “Reasons for Harsh Punishments in China” by Na Jiang and Yifang Fu, the only thing that China has signed that prohibits capital abuse is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This article states that China, despite signing an agreement that states a fair trial and following punishment is necessary, continues to use the Strike Hard policy. Strike Hard, as defined by the article, is “guidelines to give harsher punishments within the range of discretionary sentences and to promote faster trials within legal limits to crack down on serious crimes” (Jiang, Fu). An example is that there are 46 crimes punishable by death in Mainland China, many of which do not line up with the US’s capital charges. Manslaughter automatically receives the death penalty in China, whereas in the United States, people can be released on parole as soon as 10 to 16 months if it was involuntary manslaughter. The United States and China’s constitutions are vastly different in this case, which has been brought up to prove that the United States’ constitution would be seen as too lenient in other countries in some areas and too strict in …show more content…

China, for example, has many forms of government in itself, with these forms operating independently from each other and having no overlap with what occurs in the country. The National People’s Congress elects the premier of the State Council as well as the president of the country, but the president makes the final decision on all laws. The premier does not have the power or ability to veto any propositions from the president. Many citizens in China do not see a problem with having a government with complete power, like many other countries, because they did not have a Revolutionary War against their colonizers and direct leaders that were controlling them from another

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