Scotland vs USA

Stephanie Gordon

Leaders
Nicola Sturgeon

First Minister
Appointed
No term limit
Must be a member of Scotland and
the Scottish Parliament

Barack Obama

President
Elected
8 years
Must be 35, natural born
citizen, and a resident of
the U.S. for 14 years

Lawmaking Bodies
Scottish Parliament
Unicameral
129 elected representatives

Congress
Bicameral
The Senate: 100 members
The House of Representatives:
435 members

Important Rights
The Scottish Human Rights Commission guarantees Scottish citizens many rights
that are also in The Bill of Rights, such as:

Freedom of expression
Freedom of religion or conscience
Freedom of assembly
The right to a fair trial
The right to vote
The right to education

Political Parties

Scotland
Two party system
Scottish National Party
Scottish Nationalism
Nuclear disarmament
Scottish Labour Party
Democratic Socialism
British Unionist
Trade unionism

USA
Two party system
Republican Party
Pro life
Symbol: Elephant
Democratic Party
Pro choice
Symbol: Donkey

Elections and Voting

Scotland
Voting requirements
Must be 16 years of age
Must be a resident of Scotland
Elections are held every 4 years
Parliamentary elections

USA
Voting requirements
Must be 18 years of age
Must be a resident of the U.S.
Elections are held every 4 years
Primary and general elections

Taxes and Government Finance

Scotland
The Scottish rate of Income Tax
was introduced in the Scotland Act
of 2012.
The rate will be 10% for the
2016-17 tax year.
Scotland also makes money from
tourism, oil, and gas.

USA
The USA has had an income tax
on a permanent basis since 1913.
The Federal Income Tax has
seven Tax brackets.
10%, 15%, 25%, 28%,
33%, 35%, and 39.6%.
The USA also makes money from
Social Security/retirement taxes,
estate/gift taxes, etc.

Government Spending Habits

Scotland
Military: $3 billion
Education: $4.8 billion
Healthcare: $12 billion

USA
Military: $1.7 trillion
Education: $621 billion
Health care: $3 trillion

Law

Scotland
Crime rate: 815,000 recorded
incidents of crime over the last year
Prison population: 7,300
Punishments: either sent to prison
or serve their sentence in the
community plus fines (No death
penalty)

USA
Crime rate: 386.9 offenses per
100,000 inhabitants
Prison population: 2,228,424
Punishments: Sent to jail, prison, or
the death penalty (depending on
the crime and the state)

Prison population in Scotland

Court Systems

Scotland
Two types of criminal justice
procedure
Solemn procedure:
Rarely used
Most serious criminal
cases
Conducted with a jury
Summary procedure:
More commonly used
Less serious offences
Conducted without a jury

USA
Three main levels of the Federal
Court System
94 District courts
AKA trial courts
13 Circuit courts
First level of appeal
One Supreme Court
Final level of appeal

Current Relations
Scotland is very important in relations to the United States
Obama said that we have a special relationship with Scotland.
This has been in effect since the 1940s.