 Criminal law was considered in the framing of the Constitution . In addition to the criminal procedure provisions of Article Three , the Constitutional Convention discussed piracy , crimes against the law of nations , treason , and counterfeiting . As Alexander Hamilton noted in Federalist No. 21 , a " most palpable defect of the subsisting Confederation , is the total want of a sanction to its laws . The United States , as now composed , have no powers to exact obedience , or punish disobedience to their resolutions . . . . " 
