1. What is meant by a dual court system in the U.S.? What impact does the court system in the U.S. have on criminal law? The judiciary is composed of two court systems, with courts at both the national and state levels. The impact of these two court systems allows for criminal laws to be imposed by Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies, each with its own jurisdictional requirements and enforcement criteria. The differences in impact can be in areas such sentencing, policies in sentencing options, appellate court opinions and Supreme Court decisions that result in case law determinations. 2. List and explain the various types of jurisdiction listed in the text.
State jurisdiction means that the state has authority of trying cases involving violations of state and local laws, the states have general jurisdiction. State jurisdiction is at times concurrent with federal jurisdiction. State courts hear civil and criminal cases related to state laws and state constitutional issues. Federal jurisdiction means the federal government has authority in cases involving crimes committed on federal property. Federal courts have limited jurisdiction, federal courts hear criminal and civil cases that involve constitutional and federal law, policies and special subject matter. Federal laws take precedence over state and local laws, and state law has precedence over local law.
3. Explain the hierarchical jurisdiction of the federal court system. The lowest trial court
Imagine someone close that’s lived the straight and narrow to get where they are at. They are not perfect, maybe they could have put a little more time into their assignment at work or held their temper towards the grandpa driving too slow in front of them, but they’re just human living life the best way they know how. When a not-so-freak accident occurs and they find themselves behind bars imprisoned for the rest of their life. Sounds like the plot to “Shawshank Redemption” right? At this very instance, this story is being told of ordinary citizens behind the curtains of the New York Court System in rapidly increasing numbers. What may seem like an isolated incident is part of an ever-growing
Limited jurisdiction courts only have jurisdiction in specific in only well-defined areas of law. General jurisdiction courts have general jurisdiction over all subject matters within their local jurisdiction.
The main differences between federal and state courts falls under jurisdiction. Jurisdiction refers to the kinds of cases a court is authorized to hear.
The courts play a huge role in the criminal justice system. The dual court system of the United States (U.S.) was established through the U.S. constitution. The court systems have a multiple purposes and elements of court. Federal and state court system is what makes up the dual court system of the U.S. Today the U.S. court system is what it is today because of previous legal codes, common law, and the precedent it played in the past. Making the U.S. court system a vital role in the criminal justice system..
These three components dependent upon each other, the law enforcement enforces the laws interpreted by the courts. Courts hear cases brought to them by law enforcement, and the corrections system enforces punishment doled out by the courts, they are independent from each other as well. Once a certain component has completed its job (apprehended criminals, heard court cases etc.) they leave the next step of the process to the next component in
In reviewing the court system of the United States there is a definite hierarchy between the trial courts, appellate courts and the supreme courts of both the state and federal levels. However, the actions of the court systems move at such a slow and hindered pace because of the bureaucracy of motions and objections among many others. The following is a review of the type of court system the United States has and why. Along with judges sentencing goals and philosophy; and sentencing innovations.
The American court system reinforces positive behavior and was designed to protect and provide justice to the members of society. To fully understand how the criminal court system operates, one must examine the role of courts in today’s criminal justice system. They must also understand the purpose of the court system and examine the role early legal codes, the common law, and precedent played in the development of courts.
The three components of the American criminal justice system are the police, courts, and corrections. These components operate independently of one another and maintain different goals, histories, and operating procedures (Neubauer & Fradella, 2017). There are two commonly accepted models of the criminal justice system, the crime control model and due process model. These two models vary at the basic level, the crime control model aims to protect society at all costs while the due process model protects the rights of individual citizens (Neubauer & Fradella, 2017). Americas criminal justice system is plagued with multiple issues that drive a wedge between the people and the criminal justice system, such as inconsistencies within the law,
Many years ago, before courts existed matters was handled in a privately or informally. This often led to violence and unjust treatment of innocent people. During the rise of the Greek City States and the Roman Empire law enforcement became a public affair instead of private. (Siegel, Schmalleger, & Worral, 2011). Along with this movement became formalized courts and other criminal justice institutions. This allowed for law enforcement matters to be handled in a more civilized manner for resolving human conflict.
The California and Federal judicial systems are very similar in how they are designed and how they function. California state courts are established and primarily obtain their power from the California State Constitution. This is similar to federal judicial system in that federal courts derive their power from the United States Constitution. The following paper will compare and contrast the extreme similarities between both judicial systems as well as some of the distinct differences.
“The judicial system of the United States is unique in so far as it is actually made up of two different court systems, the Federal Court System and the State Court System”. ( United States Courts).
The United States court system is the institution were all the legal disputes in the american society are carryed out and resolved. However, one single court is not enough to resolve every single dispute in society and that is why the court system is made up of two different courts, the federal courts and the state courts. Moreover, the federal and state courts are made up of several divisions made to handle legal disputes differently depending on its seriousness. For example, the state court is made up of trial courts of limited jurisdiction and probate courts were cases and disputes originate and then move up to trial courts of general jurisdiction, intermediate apellate courts, and courts of last resort respectively depending on the case.In contrast, the federal court consists of district courts, territorial coutrs, tax court, court of international trade, claims court, court of veterans appeals, an courts of military review which then move on to courts of appeals respectively and may ultimately end up in the United States supreme court. In addition, cases from state court may also appeal into the federal court system but not the other way around.
There are three women on the Supreme Court, one of whom is Latina, and there is one black justice serving on the Supreme Court (Brown, 2016). This is a major issue. The United States, the “melting pot”, has an extreme lack of diversity in their court system. This is an issue that affects several aspects of society. Decisions made by judges will affect the lives of men, women, and their families. The decisions made by judges can also create law. Unlike political officials, the people do not always have the power to vote judges into their positions. Instead, the people hope that their peers with the power to affect the system choose a candidate that will fight for them. Often times, this does not happen.
The criminal justice system of the United States is based on a system fragmentation and operation. This system consists of overlapping powers between the state and federal laws that creates a conflict with regards to criminal justice. Consequently, this generates a dysfunctional and inefficient system that a times fails to produce credibility in criminal justice. The rationale behind this is that there is no clear interpretation concerning where federal law ends and where state law begins.
The justice system in the United States is one of the most unique in the world. It consists of two separate levels of courts, state and federal.. Most of the laws that govern our day-to-day living are state laws; violations of federal law include offenses involving federal government employees, kidnapping or evading arrest, and fraud such as income tax or postal fraud.