Ch. 4 -

 

1.     How many state courts are there in the United States?

 

50 (one separate court in the District of Columbia)

 

2.     When did prosecutors and defense attorneys come on board?

 

Public prosecutors came on board in the 17th century

 

Defense attorneys came around in the 1730s

 

3.     What city had over 556 separate state courts in 1931?

 

Chicago!

 

4.     What does unification mean?

 

Simplifying the state court system (to avoid having too many like Chicago, IL)

 

 

5.     What are two crimes that have the highest conviction rate?

 

-        Drug-related

-        Murder

 

 

6.     What’s unique about Nebraska ‘s court system and what about “Poor Ed”?

 

Probation falls under the judicial branch instead of the executive branch. Instead of the separation of power, probation and judges can make decisions together (table analogy)

 

-        Ed was a probation administrator (made chief) in Nebraska. When he came in, he said, “if you don’t like how I do things, then jump off my train”. But then he got arrested for drunk driving, which gave him a bad look. He was let off, but not because of the DUI. He was fired because he annoyed a senator while trying to do business (in terms of a lawsuit).

 

 

7.     List three facts on county court.

 

-        Only handle misdemeanors and traffic violations

-        Called limited court because they can only serve up to 1 year in jail

-        Civil court hearings under $70,000 injury

 

Additional: probation is the most popular sentence in county court!

 

8.     List three facts on district court.

 

-        Handle felony cases – serious cases

-        Can sentence to prison/death/jail – probation is most popular

-        Spend 51% of their time on divorce cases

 

9.     List three facts on appeals court.

 

-        Review courts only

-        6 judges (3 women, 3 men)

-        Boring

 

10.  List four facts on the State Supreme Court?

 

-        Highest court in the state

-        Court of “last resort”

-        Hear both civil and criminal cases

-        NE Chief Justice is named Jeffrey Funke

 

11.  List three facts on juvenile court.

 

-        Three separate juvenile courts in Nebraska (Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster)

-        County judges serve as the juvenile judge everywhere else

-        Juveniles cannot be sentenced to jail if the case is filed in juvenile court