Exam 2

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy

Public agencies and the programs and services that they implement and manage.

Bureaucrats

Employees of public agencies

Policy Implementation

The process of translating the express wishes of government into action

Street-Level Bureaucrat

A lower-level agency employee who actually takes the actions that represent law or policy

Rulemaking

The process of translating laws into written instructions on what public agencies will or will not do.

Contracting Out

Government hiring of private or nonprofit organizations to deliver public goods or services.

Professionalization

The rewarding of jobs in a bureaucratic agency based on applicants' specific qualifications and merit.

Spoils System

A system under which an electoral winner has the right to decide who works for public agencies.

Patronage

The process of giving government jobs to partisan loyalists.

Neutral Competence

The idea that public agencies should be the impartial implementers of democratic decisions.

Merit System

A system used in public agencies in which employment and promotion are based on qualifications and demonstrated ability; such a system blends very well with the organizational characteristics of bureaucracy.

Collective Bargaining

A process in which representatives of labor and management meet to negotiate pay and benefits, job responsibilities, and working conditions.

Seniority

The length of time a worker has spent in a position.

Affirmative Action

A set of policies designed to help organizations recruit and promote employees who are members of disadvantaged groups.

Representative Bureaucracy

The idea that public agencies that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve will be more effective.

Activist Judge

A judge who is said to act as an independent policymaker by creatively interpreting a constitution or statue.

Criminal Case

A legal case brought by the state intending to punish a violation of the law.

Civil Case

A legal case that involves a dispute between private parties

Trial Court

The first level of the court system

Settlement

A mutual agreement between parties to end a civil case before going to trial.

Plea Bargain

An agreement in which the accused in a criminal case admits guilt, usually in exchange for a promise that a particular sentence will be imposed.

Appeal

A request to have a lower court's decision in a case reviewed by a higher court.

Intermediate Appellate Court

A court that reviews court cases to find possible errors in their proceedings.

State Supreme Court

The highest level of appeals court in a state.

Precedent

In law, the use of the past to determine current interpretation and decision making

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 Court

A court that hears any civil or criminal cases that have not been assigned to a special court.

Limited, or Special Jurisdiction, Trial Court

A court that hears cases that are statutorily limited by either the degree of seriousness or the types of parties involved.

Prejudicial Error

An error that affects the outcome of a case.

Discretionary Jurisdiction

The power of a court to decide whether or not to grant review of a case.

Mandatory Jurisdiction

The requirement that a court hear every case presented before it

En Banc

Appeals court sessions in which all the judges hear a case together.

Panel

A group of (usually) three judges who sit to hear cases in a state court of appeals.

Retention Election

an election in which a judge runs uncontested and voters are asked to vote yes or no on the question of whether they wish to retain the judge in office for another term.

Pure Appointive System

A judicial selection system in which the governor appoints judges alone, without preselection of candidates by a nominating commission.

Prosecutor

A government official and lawyer who conducts criminal cases on behalf of the people.

Public Defender

A government lawyer who provides free legal services to persons accused of crimes who cannot afford to hire lawyers.

Legislative Overcriminalization

The tendency of government to make a crime out of anything the public does not like.

Indictment

A formal criminal charge

Grand Jury

A group of between sixteen and twenty-three citizens who decide if a case should go to trial; if the grand jury decides that it should, an indictment is issued.

Jury Nullification

A jury's returning a verdict of "not guilty" even though jurists believe the defendant is guilty. By doing so, the jury cancels out the effect of a law that the jurors believe is immoral or was wrongly applied to the defendant.

Felony

A serious crime, such as murder or arson.

Misdemeanor

A less serious crime, such as shoplifting

Assigned Counsel

Private lawyers selected by the courts to handle particular cases and paid from public funds.

Contract Attorney

A private attorney who enters into an agreement with a state, country, or judicial district to work on a fixed-fee basis per case or for a specific length of time.

Liability

A legal obligation or responsibility

Voir Dire

The interviewing and examination of potential jurors by the attorneys for both sides of a case.

For Cause Challenge

A lawyer's asking the judge to excuse a potential juror because the individual appears to be biased or unable to be fair.

Peremptory Challenge

A lawyer's dismissal of a potential juror for any reason except race or gender.

Indeterminate Sentencing

The sentencing of an offender, by a judge, to a minimum and a 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.

Mandatory Minimum Sentence

The shortest sentence that an offender may receive upon conviction for a certain offense. The court has no authority to impose a shorter sentence.

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 becoming eligible for parole.

Recidivism

A return to, or relapse into, criminal behavior.

Rocket Docket

Fast-tracked cases that often have limited, specific deadlines for specific court procedures.

Magistrate

A local official or attorney granted limited judicial powers.

Recusal

The disqualification of a judge because of an actual or perceived bias or conflict of interest calling the judge's impartiality into question.

Veto

The power to reject a proposed law.

Supermajority Vote

A legislative vote of much more than a simple majority, for instance, a vote by two-thirds of a legislative chamber to override a governor's veto.

Formal Powers

The powers explicitly granted to a governor according to state law, such as being able to veto legislation and to appoint heads of state agencies.

Informal Powers

The things a governor is able to do, such as command media attention and persuade party members, based on personality or position, not on formal authority.

Appointment Powers

A governor's ability to pick individuals to run state government, such as cabinet secretaries.

Bully Pulpit

the platform from which a high-profile official, such as governor or president, commands considerable public and media attention by virtue of holding office.

Impeachment

A process by which the legislature can remove executive branch officials, such as the governor, or judges from office for corruption or other reasons.

Recall Election

A special election allowing voters to remove an elected official from office before the end of his or her term.

Executive Orders

Rules or regulations with the force of law that governors can create directly under the statutory authority given them.

Majority Rule

The process in which the decision of a numerical majority is made binding on a group.

Coalition Building

The assembling of an alliance of groups to pursue common goal or interest.

Logrolling

The practice in which a legislator gives a colleague a vote on a particular bill in return for that colleague's vote on another bill to be considered later.

Filibuster

A debate that under U.S. Senate rules can drag on, blocking final action on the bill under consideration and preventing other bills from being debated.

Rider

An amendment to a bill that is not central to the bill's intent.

Committee

A group of legislators who have the formal task of considering and writing bills in a particular issue area.

District

The geographical area represented by a member of a legislature.

Constituents

Residents of a district

Compromise

The result when there is no consensus on a policy change or spending amount but legislators find a central point on which a majority can agree.

Representation

Individual legislators acting as the voices of their constituencies within the house of representatives or senate.

Constituent Service

The work done by legislators to help residents in their voting districts

Casework

The work undertaken by legislators and their staffs in response to requests for help from constituents

Incumbent

A person holding office.

Oversight

The legislature's role in making sure that the governor and executive branch agencies are properly implementing the laws.

Caucus

All the members of a party - Republican or Democrat - within a legislative chamber. Also refers to meetings of members of a political party in a chamber.

Rank-and-File Members

Legislators who do not hold leadership positions or senior committee posts

Delegates

Legislators who primarily see their role as voting according to their constituents' beliefs as they understand them.

Trustees

Legislators who believe they were elected to exercise their own judgment and to approach issues accordingly.

Professionalization

The process of providing legislators with the resources they need to make politics their main career, such as making their positions full-time or providing them with full-time staff.

Apportionment

The allotting od districts according to population shifts. The number of congressional districts that a state has may be reapportioned every ten years, following the national census.

Redistricting

The drawing of new boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts, usually following a decennial census.

Gerrymanders

Districts clearly drawn with the intent of pressing partisan advantage at the expense of other considerations.

Malapportionment

A situation in which the principle of equal representation is violated.

Majority-Minority District

A district in which members of a minority group, such as African Americans or Hispanics, make up a majority of the population or electorate.