Exam 4: Court Organization and Structure

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State courts usually include four levels. These levels are courts of limited jurisdiction, courts of general jurisdiction, courts of appeals, and courts of last resort (state supreme court). The first level of state trial courts includes the trial courts of limited jurisdiction. Courts of limited jurisdiction are those courts that deal with the less serious offenses and civil cases. These courts are referred to by a variety of names, including justice of the peace court, magistrate's court, municipal court, and county court. These lower courts handle a wide variety of matters, including minor criminal cases, traffic offenses, violations of municipal ordinances, and civil disputes under a certain amount. On the criminal side, these courts may also be responsible for issuing search and arrest warrants and conducting the preliminary stages of felony cases, such as the preliminary hearing and arraignment. On the civil side, these courts may handle a variety of matters, including juvenile delinquency, family law, and probate. The next level in a typical state court system includes the courts of general jurisdiction. These are the trial courts for civil and criminal matters. They are also courts of original jurisdiction in that it is here that trials for felonies are held. They are generally authorized to hear any matters not exclusively designated for courts of limited jurisdiction; in some states, they may even have concurrent jurisdiction with lower courts on some matters, such as misdemeanors. They may also hear appeals, in the form of a trial de novo, from lower courts. At the next level of the state court system are the appellate courts. These courts--which go by such names as appeals courts, appellate courts, appellate divisions, and courts of appeals--are found in 39 states. Larger states often have several such courts, and they may divide them into civil and criminal divisions. The state appellate courts--like the federal circuit courts of appeals--hear civil and criminal appeals from the lower courts within their jurisdiction. Appellate courts have both mandatory and discretionary jurisdictions. The court of last resort is in most states called the state supreme court. The courts of last resort usually hear the majority of appeals on a discretionary basis, similar to the U.S. Supreme Court. This allows them to control their docket and focus on cases involving significant legal issues. The exceptions are those states that do not have an intermediate appellate court and, in other states, death penalty cases. In states without an intermediate appellate court (usually the smaller, less populous states), the state supreme court is the only appellate court and thus is mandated by law to hear all appeals. Most states also require that their supreme court hears all appeals in cases involving the death penalty. This is provided as an extra safeguard, as the punishment in these cases is obviously the most severe possible, and the states wish to be absolutely sure the defendant has received a fair trial. For most cases, the state supreme court is the end of the line, the final arbiter of the dispute. The only option for a losing party in the state supreme court is to appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, and to do so, the party must be able to identify a legal issue that involves the U.S. Constitution or a federal law.

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After a person is arrested, he or she is booked. Booking involves entering into the police blotter the suspect's name, arrest time, and offense charged, as well as the taking of fingerprints and a "mug shot."