Just like any government entity or large corporation, the Administrative Office of the Courts has a purpose statement on the homepage stating that “They (judicial system of Georgia) provide valued professional service in support of Georgia’s judicial system.” (www.gerogiacourts.org) Basically the AOC overlooks the judicial systems in the state of Georgia. Within the AOC, there are four court services that include” the Office of Accountability, Courts and Grants Management, Office of Certification and Licensing, Office of Children, Families, and Courts, and the Office of Research, Planning, and Data Analysis. Each office deals with specific issues and how they can be improved. I found the Office of Children, Families, and Courts to be interesting ironic because I always hear about how children fall through the cracks but a committee was created in 1995 that is suppose to correct this but I still feel as though no one is really looking out for or protecting these children. …show more content…
The Municipal Courts tries cases of shoplifting and 1oz and under marijuana cases while also issuing out warrants. Probate Courts involve estates, last will and testaments, and power of attorney cases. The Magistrate Courts begin to deal with civil cases, issuing warrants on a person, and/or restraining (protective) orders. The Juvenile Courts deals with juveniles and the crimes that they commit and/or the welfare. State Courts have jurisdiction over the whole state; basically this means that the GPS can issue anyone within the state of Georgia a
The social problems face by these groups is poverty, discrimination, and criminal justices system. I was interested in learning more about the children in the criminal justices system because in social services we often encounter minorities who have been marginalized, face oppression and systemic racism that has a negative effect on individuals, including wage gaps, redlining, social inequality, and often times results in incarceration. According to The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons across the country at more than five times the rate of whites, and at least ten times the rate in five
While sitting at juvenile court, I never got a night’s sleep without waking to wonder if at least one decision I made that day had been the best for a child. It struck me that it might be possible to recruit and train volunteers to investigate a child’s case so they could provide a voice for the child in those proceedings, proceedings which could affect their whole lives.” -Judge David W. Soukup, Founder of CASA
pleas may be choose for the punishment likely to be associated with them rather than for their accuracy in describing the criminal offense in which the defendant was involved. For instance, a charge of indecent liberties, for example, in which the defendant is accused of sexual
The Circuit Court is where most criminal and civil court cases take place. There are twenty Circuit Courts in the state of Florida. According to the Florida Courts website, “The Constitution provides that a circuit court shall be established to serve each judicial circuit established by the Legislature. Within each circuit, there may be any number of judges, depending upon the population and caseload of the particular area.” (FL Courts, n.d.) Lastly, the final court system, and the second of two Trial Courts in Florida, is the County Courts. There is a County Court in each of Florida’s sixty-seven counties. County Court judges serve a six-year term and may be assigned to help out in Circuit Court cases if needed. The number of judges in a County Court varies because the populations of each county are different, some being larger than others. Florida Courts website states, “The county courts are sometimes referred to as "the people's courts," probably because a large part of the courts' work involves voluminous citizen disputes, such as traffic offenses, less serious criminal matters (misdemeanors), and relatively small monetary disputes.” (FL Courts,
Each of the 159 counties in the state of Georgia has a magistrate court. Funded by the county, magistrate court has limited jurisdiction over civil matters such as county ordinance violations, check fraud, landlord/tenant disputes, and eviction proceedings. Criminal matters in which magistrate courts have jurisdiction include certain minor offenses, holding preliminary hearings, issuing warrants to law enforcement officials and in some cases setting bail for defendants. There are 159 Chief Magistrates that are either elected or appointed depending on the county. An additional 354 Magistrates that have been appointed by the Chief Magistrate serve...
The court system is composed of lawyers, judges, and juries. Their job is to ensure that everyone receives a fair trial, determine guilt or innocence, and apply sentences to guilty parties. The court system will contain one judge, and a jury of twelve citizens. The jury of the court will determine the guilt or innocence of the individual. The jury will also recommend a sentence for the crime the individual committed.
Whenever a law case is issued, Trial Courts are always the first court people would have to go through. The U.S. District Courts are the Federal Trial Courts. As the lowest level of the Federal Court System, The U.S. District Courts take care of most of the Federal cases. The State of California courts is called the Superior Courts. Similar to the U.S. District Courts, Superior Courts heard most of the State cases (Superior Court of California).
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
The judges that are a part of this group has many different roles, some of which are to issues warrants, making a determination of probable cause in evidence, denying or granting bail to offenders, overseeing trials, making rulings on different motions and even overseeing hearings. The prosecuting attorney is the one who will represent that state in c...
According to Roger Miller, “trial courts that have general jurisdiction as to the subject matter may be called county, district, superior, or circuit courts.” The majority of their cases are to be handled in-county first before proceeding further through the court system. Just as businesses and organizations have a chain-of-command or protocol system, the government has the same. Then, there are the circuit courts coming in as the middle step of the judicial system.
The US court system consists of a trial court, an appellate court, and a supreme or high court. The trial court is the first to hear the facts of a case and has original jurisdiction. The appellate court hears cases whose resolution is disputed by the losing party in the trial court. The supreme or high court hears cases whose outcome is disputed by the losing party in the appellate court. The supreme or high court chooses which cases warrant a hearing. The federal and the state court system have the same basic structure. Each consists of a trial court, an appellate court, and a supreme or high court. The Federal Court of Appeals has thirteen (13) circuits which cover most states except the District of Columbia. The federal system also has specialty courts such as the Court of Federal Claims and the United States Tax Court.
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
The American Court System is an important part of American history and one of the many assets that makes America stand out from other countries. It thrives for justice through its structured and organized court systems. The structures and organizations are widely influenced by both the State and U.S Constitution. The courts have important characters that used their knowledge and roles to aim for equality and justice. These court systems have been influenced since the beginning of the United State of America. Today, these systems and law continue to change and adapt in order to keep and protect the peoples’ rights.
The courts have the function of giving the public a chance to present themselves whether to prosecute or defend themselves if any disputes against them rise. It is known to everyone that a court is a place where disputes can be settled while using the right and proper procedures. In the Criminal court is the luxury of going through a tedious process of breaking a law. Once you have been arrested and have to go to court because of the arrest, you now have a criminal case appointed against you. The court is also the place where a just, fair and unbiased trial can be heard so that it would not cause any disadvantage to either of the party involved in the dispute. The parties are given a chance to represent themselves or to choose to have a legal representative, which is mostly preferred by many.
Where the Magistrates Court, Crown Court and the County Court are considered as inferior courts; both civil and criminal divisions of courts have little difference. The court hearing first instance of a criminal case is the Magistrates Court. However, when there is a case concerning on a more serious criminal offence, the case would be first heard in the Crown Court instead. First instance of civil cases are usually tried in the Magistrates Court and rarely in the County Court.