The Judiciary: Structure, Jurisdiction, Pretrial, Bail, Plea Bargaining, And Trial

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please complete the assigned readings in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of the Wright (2012) text, and review the website, About Federal Courts (Links to an external site.). https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts Be sure to support your descriptions with references to Wright’s text and/or scholarly sources

The judiciary is an important part of the criminal justice system. After police arrest an individual, an extensive chain of events is set off in the American court system. As noted, Section 6.2 of Chapter 6 of the Wright (2012) text indicates that there are 51 separate court systems in the United States. The federal government operates one court system, referred to as the federal court system. Each of the 50 states operates a court system, referred to as state court systems. Both the federal courts and the state courts have three main levels: trial courts, appeals courts, and supreme courts. Note that Wright (2012) also includes a discussion of the term jurisdiction in Section 6.2 of Chapter 6.

Your instructor will assign you a section for this discussion. Respond to the prompts within your assigned group. For the fourth part (in each group) consider how knowledge of cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness could apply to positively influence a process or responsibility. Based on your assigned section, address the following:

• Section 1: State and Federal Trial Courts
  • Describe processes for preliminary hearings and for the grand jury.
  • Describe the main responsibilities of state trial courts and federal trial courts.
  • Interpret how at least one constitutional principle relevant to social and criminal justice relates to one of the above processes or responsibilities.
  • Apply knowledge of cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness to at least one of the above processes or responsibilities.
• Section 2: State and Federal Appeals Courts
  • Describe processes for arraignment and for plea bargaining.
  • Describe the main responsibilities of state appeals courts and federal appeals courts.
  • Interpret how at least one constitutional principle relevant to social and criminal justice relates to one of the above processes or responsibilities.
  • Apply knowledge of cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness to at least one of the above processes or responsibilities.
• Section 3: State Supreme Courts and the United States Supreme Court.
  • Describe processes for jury selection and for the jury.
  • Describe the main responsibilities of state supreme courts and the United States Supreme Court.
  • Interpret how at least one constitutional principle relevant to social and criminal justice relates to one of the above processes or responsibilities.
  • Apply knowledge of cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness to at least one of the above processes or responsibilities.
• All Students
  • Briefly define the term jurisdiction as it relates to courts.

Guided Response: Your initial post should be at least 350 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required material(s) and scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.

*******NOTE FROM THE PROFESSOR*********

“Hi Class, The instructions indicate that I will assign one of the three sections to each of you. While I have no issue with doing so, my preference would be that you pick the section that you are most interested in and complete your response. Respond to the prompts within your assigned group. For the fourth part (in each group) consider how knowledge of cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness could apply to positively influence a process or responsibility.

Also, notice that I will be sending you some points to review and respond to that relate to sentencing and corrections. As you know, next week we will be covering corrections and accordingly, I thought it would be useful to send you some discussion points and questions that relate to this week and next week.

Optimally, I would like for you to address all three sections either through your initial post or responses to peers and/or instructor. Please indicate which section your are responding to and ensure you meet the required length and content requirements. Good Luck! ”