Exam 2 Ch 9

Question 1

Role and Structure of State Courts

Answer 1

100 million cases filed in lowest state courts every year

Question 2

Criminal Cases

Answer 2

Legal cases which punish law violations

Question 3

Civil Cases

Answer 3

Legal cases between two private parties

Question 4

Trial Court

Answer 4

1st level of court

Question 5

Settlement

Answer 5

Mutual agreement between parties to end civil case before a trial

Question 6

Plea Bargin

Answer 6

Agreement where accused admits guilt for a lesser sentence

Question 7

Appeal

Answer 7

Request for a lower court’s decision to be review by higher court

Question 8

Intermediate Appellate Court

Answer 8

Court reviews court cases to find possible errors in proceedings

Question 9

State Supreme Court

Answer 9

Highest level of court in state

Question 10

Precendent

Answer 10

Use of past to determine current interpretation and decision making

Question 11

Trial Courts

Answer 11

Court of First Instance:
– The court in which a case is introduced and nothing has been determined yet.
* Bench Trial:
– A trial in which no jury is present and the judge decides the facts as well as the law.
* General Jurisdiction Trial Courts:
– Courts that hear any civil or criminal cases that have not been assigned to a special
court.
* Limited Jurisdiction Trial Courts:
– Courts that hear cases that are statutorily limited by either the degree of seriousness or
the types of parties involved.

Question 12

Appeal Courts

Answer 12

Appeal must be based on if errors were prejudicial (error that affects outcome of case)

Only 11 states and DC have only one level of review

Question 13

Discretionary Jurisdiction

Mandatory Jurisdiction

Answer 13

• power of court to review or not
• requirement that court hears every case

Question 14

En Banc -

Answer 14

Appeal court sessions where all judges hear case

Question 15

Panels

Answer 15

Groups of 3 judges who sit to hear cases in state court of appeals

Question 16

Selecting Judges

Answer 16

Most states hold
nonpartisan elections
for judges on trial
courts.

• The northeast is the
  one area of the country
  that relies upon
  gubernatorial or
  legislative
  appointments for
  judges.

Question 17

Appointment - Pure Appointive System

Answer 17

Judicial selection system where only governor elects without preselection

3 states - California, Maine, New Jersey, governor appoints state judges alone

Question 18

Appointment - Merit Selection

Answer 18

Hybrid of appointment and election. Involves bipartisan judicial nominating commission who creates list of qualified candidates from which governor or legislature picks form

Question 19

Appointment - Retention Election

Answer 19

Judge runs uncontested and voters asked to retain judge for another term or not

Question 20

Terms of Ofice

Answer 20

Most serve fixed terms,

The rare exceptions are judges in Rhode
Island, who serve life terms, and judges in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, who
hold their positions until the age of 70

Question 21

Impeachment

Answer 21

“All states have provisions for the impeachment of
state court judges” (275).
* “These typically mirror the language of the federal
system and require a majority vote of the house of
representatives and conviction by two-thirds of the
senate”

Question 22

Prosecutor

Answer 22

lawyer who conducts criminal cases for people

Question 23

Public defender

Answer 23

Lawyer who gives free legal services for those who can’t afford lawyers

Question 24

Prosecutor

Answer 24

Authority comes from the state, but offices are local

Handle more than 2 million felonies and 7 million misdemeanors annually

Question 25

Prosecutors

Legislative Overcriminalization

Indictment

Grand Jury

Jury Nullification

Answer 25

Tendency of government to make crime of things public doesn’t like

formal criminal charge

group of 6-23 citizens who decide if case goes to trial, if does, indictment

Jury cancels out law that jurors believe is immoral or wrongly applied

Question 26

“A fresh wave of prosecutors
redefines justice”

Answer 26

“skepticism about the death penalty and
nonviolent drug cases, or greater scrutiny when
police shoot unarmed suspects” (277).
* “The new wave of progressive, big-city prosecutors
are using that discretion to seek alternatives to
incarceration…” (278).

Question 27

Defense Attorneys.

Felonies, Misdeameanor

Assigned counsel

Contract Attorneys

Answer 27

assigned - private lawyers who handle cases paid from public funds

Contract - private attorneys who work with states/local gov on fixed fee for period of time

2012 study found that average time spent by public defender with client is less than 6 minutes

Question 28

Juries

Answer 28

“Jurors must be residents of the county in which the court sits and
must generally be at least 18 years old” (281).
* “The right to a jury trial in state criminal proceedings is granted by
the Sixth Amendment” (281).
* Liability:
– A legal obligation or responsibility.
* “A majority of states continue to require 12-member juries to make
unanimous rulings in felony criminal cases, but seven states use 6-
member or 8-member juries for noncapital felonies” (283).
* “Oregon is the only state that does not require unanimous verdicts in
[felony criminal cases]” (283).
* “Unanimity is not required in most civil trials; instead, most states
provide for verdicts based on a supermajority of either five-sixths or
two-thirds” (

Question 29

Sentencing

Indeterminate and Determinate Sentencing

Answer 29

“In most states, after a jury finds a defendant guilty, the judge holds a
separate sentencing hearing” (284).
* “In capital cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that only a unanimous
jury, and not the judge, can sentence a defendant to death ” (284).
* Indeterminate Sentencing:
– The sentencing of an offender, by a judge, to a minimum and maximum amount of
time in prison, with a parole board deciding how long the offender actually remains in
prison.
* Determinate Sentencing:
– The sentencing of an offender, by a judge, to a specific amount of time in prison
depending on the crime.
* Forty years ago we were closer to indeterminate sentencing, but now most
courts employ some form of determinate sentencing

Question 30

Sentencing

Mandatory Minimum Services

Habitual Offender Laws

Truth-In-Sentencing Laws

Answer 30

Mandatory Minimum Sentences:
– The shortest sentences offenders may receive upon conviction
for certain offenses. The court has no authority to impose shorter
sentences.
* Habitual Offender Laws:
– Statutes imposing harsher sentences on offenders who
previously have been sentenced for crimes.
* Truth-In-Sentencing Laws:
– Laws that give parole boards less authority to shorten sentences
for good behavior by specifying the proportion of a sentence an
offender must serve before coming eligible for parole.

Question 31

Recidivism

Answer 31

Relapse into criminal behabiors

Question 32

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Answer 32

Way to end disagreement by means other than litigation. Involves appointment of mediator