Court Systems Free Essays

The article looks at a number of mental health services provided by a number of mental health courts in various counties in different states. For example, the specific mental health services offered by the Marion County in Indiana, Broward County in Florida, Alaska’s Anchorage and King County of Washington. The article then discusses the various issues that would ensure a successful implementation of mental health courts. We will write a custom essay sample on Court Systems or any similar topic only for you Order Now Such issues as due process, resource control and availability of the services will have to be addressed first. These authors are right with their insightful argument on what would work best for different groups of populations. In their analysis, they contend that some models of mental health courts would only be appropriate for small cities, suburban or rural populations. However, as they advocate for mental health services appropriate for the mentally ill offenders, they do not take into account the attainment of justice and do not talk about the role of the victim(s) in the rehabilitation process. From their point of view, it is clear that the authors were clearly biased and argued their case from the mentally ill offenders’ position. Sex Offender Commitment Law Rued Unconstitutional (Daly, R. March 2009). The author reports on the federal appellate court’s decision to overturn the ruling that requires sexual offenders to be subjected to prolonged civil commitment beyond their jail terms. The author then presents the opinion of the APA committee on the issue. The committee concurred with the court’s decision terming the subjection of sexual offenders to civil commitment as lacking in treatment but rather turns psychiatrists into jailers. This report is quite comprehensive because the author does not only present the history of this law but also presents the professional’s opinion and solution to this controversial issue in the criminal justice system. The author seeks neutrality in his reporting and only presents events and opinions of others. However, he fails to provide accounts and cases where the law has been successful in reducing recidivism in sex offenders. Readers of this report may get the impression that the law is totally wrong and incarcerating to the prisoners and therefore do not serve to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders into the community. Reference Daly, R. (March, 2009). Sex-Offender Commitment Law Ruled Unconstitutional, Psychiatric News, Vol. 44(5):11 Watson, A. Hanrahan, P. Luchins, D. Lurigio, A. (April, 2001). Mental Health Courts and the Complex Issue of Mentally Ill Offenders, Psychiatric Services, Vol. 52:477-481. How to cite Court Systems, Papers Court Systems Free Essays The modern dual system of courts incorporates both federal and state or local courts. This system is the product of many years of gradual development. Outside this formally established structure, however, personal relationships between key court participants can guide court proceedings and procedures. We will write a custom essay sample on Court Systems or any similar topic only for you Order Now This paper will examine the history of the criminal courts, the dual system of the United States and modify the difference between the historical development and the dual court system of the United States.The origins of the contemporary criminal courts can be traced back through their colonial predecessors the Anglo-Saxon and English court systems. Contributions from outside this lineage were minor; although Louisiana’s legal system reflects a strong French influence, owing to the substantial early French settlement there. The earliest records of legal procedures for criminal matters in Anglo-Saxon England are found in proclamations (know as dooms) issued by King Aethelbert of Kent in 601-604C. E. that prohibited theft and provided for a variety of punishments for â€Å"violation of the king’s interests).Anglo-Saxon courts, in an attempt to move away from blood feuds (the long-running cycle of violent retaliation, typically between families or clans), used a variety of oaths and ordeals to determine an individual’s truth or guilt. The compurgatory oath required that the accused swear an oath of innocence: If the defendant’s testimony was supported by statements of a sufficient number of others (known as oath helpers, who were often relatives of the accused), the defendant would be acquitted and released.However, if the testimony was not convincing, the accused would face either trial by ordeal or trial by battle. The absence of burns or scars from an ordeal or simple survival in battle was indication of innocence. English common law and the English court system were the primary role models for the beginnings of the American court system. Colonial courts performed a variety of functions, ranging from legislative and executive activities, such as the determination of tax assessments, to more traditional activities associated with the judicial branch.These courts were relatively simple, with most of the judicial personnel being local influential citizens who were appointed to their positions by the colonial governor. Justice of the Peace courts were established at the local county level; they were typically administered by a person with some degree of status or recognition within the community rather than someone with formal legal training. When the American Revolution took place, the royal colonial courts were closed down and then reestablished as state courts by the new state assemblies.Although the basic structure of the courts remained essentially the same, the new state courts were move dec entralized than the colonial courts, and judges were either elected or appointed by the state legislature or governor. With the growing emphasis on popular democracy and responsiveness to the local community by the middle of the nineteenth century each new state entering the Union required the popular election of all or most of it judges, although only white male were allowed to vote. Specialized local courts and family courts were eventually created in larger cities to handle the growing number of cases as the U. S. population expanded. Most state courts were assigned general trial jurisdiction over both criminal and civil matters, and each state created at least one court appeals. As the states developed their individual constitutions, outlining the structure and the process of governmental operations, most also included in their constitutions a section protecting many rights of citizens accused of crimes that had been stipulated in the earlier colonial laws.The Constitution provided for the establishment of a federal judicial system, even as the states developed their own court structures, thereby creating a dual system of courts. Today, there are fifty independent state court systems as well separate court systems in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and territorial courts in the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. For the most part, these systems have very similar structures and procedures.Each provides for general trial courts, appellate courts, and some sort of Supreme Court. Each state court system administers and interprets its own state’s laws, whereas the federal system deals with federal laws and violations. When a case that has been tried in a state court is appealed, it is appealed through the state appeals court system. In contrast cases that were originally tried in the federal courts are appealed through the federal appellate courts.In issues of the constitutionality of a particular law or procedure, state courts must consider both the state constitution and the federal constitution, whereas federal courts are generally limited to issues stemming from the federal constitution. It should also be noted that decisions made by a U. S. Court of Appeals are binding only on its specific jurisdiction, not on the entire country. The criminal court system in the United States today is largely a product of the Anglo-Saxon and English common law courts and the rights of citizen enumerated in the Magna Carta.Many of the procedural safeguards of the English courts were incorporated into the early colonial legal codes. After the American Revolution, each of the new states created its own independent court system. Congress established the basic structure of the federal court system in the Judiciary Act of 1789. Although there are many variations in the state court structures, all of them make similar distinctions between the courts according to their basic jurisdictionReferences Regoli, R. Hewitt, J. (2008) Exploring Criminal Justice. Jones and Bartlett Publisher, Inc. Sudbury, MA http://www. ovw. usdoj. gov/safehaven_desc. htm How to cite Court Systems, Papers Court Systems Free Essays When the founding fathers of the United States began to conceive the notion of how the nation’s legal system should work, they were determined we should have a country that operated differently and more effectively than the one left behind in the days of British control. They decided that states should have the power to make and govern their own laws and also the ability to enforce those laws. This did not eliminate the need for federal court systems, however, and so the dual court system was born. We will write a custom essay sample on Court Systems or any similar topic only for you Order Now The dual court system is the formal name for the way our country’s legal system works. The dual courts it refers to are the federal and state court systems. The state court system is constructed of local and state courts that are under the purview of state governments. The federal court system was established by the legislative body under the influence of the Constitution of the United States (Schmalleger, 2009). The state legislatures are free to create and enforce their own laws, but the federal government is there to oversee and intervene when necessary to ensure that there are no conflicts within the state systems or when the necessity exists because of multiple state involvements. In the state court system, each individual state has a separate system of courts that operated under the Constitution and laws of that particular state. Historically, the state courts are modeled after the British judicial system that was first brought to the United States when it was composed of English colonies. During that time, each of the original American colony had its own court system for resolving both civil and criminal disputes. As the colonies grew in size, it became necessary for counties to have their own court systems as well, which allowed the general court to focus its attention on appeals. The general court did reserve jurisdiction on certain cases, but typically only simple civil trials were heard there. All of the American colonies had a fully functional court system in place with these sort of arrangements in place by 1776 (Schmalleger, 2009). The turn of the century and early 1900s brought a measurable increase in civil litigation and criminal arrests, which forced the government to find new ways to keep up with the heavier load of reported cases (Schmalleger, 2009). Their answer was to establish multiple new courts at different levels of jurisdiction; including trial, appellate, and supreme court levels. They assigned particular duties and responsibilities to each level of court, from regulating ordinances and city laws to handling minor disputes like property and divorce. One especially important model that was adapted for use in state courts was the New York State Field Code of 1848. This code clarified jurisdictional claims of different issues and gave specifics in the matter of court procedures and regulations. It also established a set of simplified rules for pleadings and how they were to be brought before the court in different situations. It was named the â€Å"Field Code† because it was proposed by a man named David Dudley Field (Field Code of New York, 2011). The court system we have today is much more advanced, thanks mostly to new changes that have been introduced by the American Bar Association and the American Judicature Society (Schmalleger, 2009). Most of the changes center around reducing redundancies in the court system. This makes the courts much more capable of handling a bigger load of cases because they are not wasting time on cases that are also being handled at another level. The three tier system of the courts is still used, but the court system is much more effective and centralized thanks to the changes by these organizations. Like the state court system, the federal court system also has its foundations in the United States Constitution and in colonial law. Specifically, Article III Section 2 of the United States Constitution gives the federal courts jurisdiction over federal laws and treaties (Schmalleger, 2009). In general, this means that federal courts have purview over cases that cross between states or have clear federal jurisdiction such as terrorism cases or cyber crime. In the federal court system, there is only one of the three tiers that is actually mandated by United States Constitution. This is the Supreme Court of the United States. It was formed in 1869 and has always had one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. As the name suggests, the Supreme Court is the final and â€Å"supreme† word on any case that it hears. The Supreme court rules on appeals and also has jurisdiction over certain proprietary cases like those involving high ranking diplomats of both the United States and other foreign nations (Supreme Court of The United States, 2011). The other two tiers of the federal court system are the federal district courts and the court of appeals. The kind of cases handled by the federal district courts are cases relating to alleged Constitutional violations, maritime cases, cases that directly involve a state, cases involving the federal government, and cases that include foreign governments or citizens. The appeals court, on the other hand, addresses exactly what it sounds like. It has direct jurisdiction in cases that involve a challenge to an order of a federal regulatory agency, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission or Department of Homeland Security. There are also a few exceptions to federal jurisdiction, such as the military justice system, which is special and applies only to members of the United States Military and is carried out in the form of non judicial punishments and court martial proceedings (Supreme Court of The United States, 2011) Since the concept first formed in England and was carried over and adapted by our nation’s founding fathers, the dual court system as continued to become more effective and make American Justice some of the most effective and civilized in the world. From an outside perspective, our court system may seem complex and confusing, but the different levels of government all work effectively together because of the decades of improvements and legislation changes on both a state and federal level. Once you understand the details of the dual court system, it is actually much simpler than it seems. How to cite Court Systems, Essay examples