The Courts

1
The Courts

• I know youve been sworn and I have read your
  complaints
• Judge Wapner

2
The Judicial (Courts) System

• PUROPOSE?
• Formally charge
• Pre-trial Detainment?
• Determine guilt or innocence
• Impose a sentence
• Hear appeals

3
The Structure of the Courts

• State Courts
• Layers of Trial Courts (Superior and inferior)
• Appellate courts
• Supreme court
• Federal Courts
• Trial courts
• Federal Appeals courts District courts
• The Supreme Court

4
Who are the players in the judicial system?

• Prosecutor
• Defense Attorneys
• Judges

5
The Prosecutor

• Represents the state in criminal matters
• Federal Attorney general and U.S. attorneys
• State District or State attorney
• Prosecutorial Discretion (400 Gorilla)
• Whether or not to charge specific charge
• Decision to drop case, or nolle prosequi
• May enter and end plea negotiations

6
The Defense Attorney

• Private Attorneys (Johnny Cochran)
• Sixth Amendment right to counsel
• Attorney list system
• Contracting with law firm
• Public defenders system (large, urban)
• Roughly ¾ of state inmates were represented
• by publicly funded attorneys

7
Role of the Defense

• Represent their client in a vigorous, adversarial
  manner
• Investigate incident, interview client/witnesses,
  represent client at all proceedings, negotiate
  plea with district attorney
• Conflict of interest? The Devils Advocate
• Low pay and conflict of interest burnout

8
The Judge

• During Trial
• Rule on questions of procedure (how to question
  witnesses, rules of evidence)
• May determine guilt in a bench trial
• After trial or plea bargain
• Responsible for determining sentence

9
Is the process really adversarial?

• Sam Walkers Wedding Cake
• Celebrated cases may approach ideal of an
  adversarial process
• Lower layers administrative rather than
  adversarial
• Judge, defense, and prosecutor have a shared
  understanding of what a case is worth

10
The Courtroom Workgroup

• Term coined by Malcolm Feeley
• Judges, prosecutors and defense work together
  daily
• Minimize conflict and develop informal procedures
  for dealing with cases
• The Going Rate
• Seriousness of offense
• Prior record of defendant
• Relationship between victim and defendant

11
Plea Bargaining

• What is bargained?
• Charge
• Sentence
• Conservatives loophole
• Liberals perversion of the system
• Reality? Given the going rate, it is not so
  much a bargain as administrative process

12
Benefits of Plea Bargaining

• State
• Prosecutor assured of guilt verdict
• Save the court time and cash
• More time for serious cases
• Defendant
• Avoid pre-trial detention
• No uncertainty in sentence
• May get more lenient sentence

13
Pre-Trial Decisions

• Prosecutor must issue a criminal charge
• Formal document, lays out facts of case,
  circumstances of arrest, penal code
• Felony cases bill of indictment or
  information
• Misdemeanors criminal complaint

14
Pre-Trial Decisions

• Arraignment
• Judge makes sure defendant understands charge
• Makes sure defendant has counsel
• Defendant enters plea
• Guilty
• No Contest
• Not Guilty
• Decision regarding pre-trial detainment

15
Pretrial Detainment and Bail

• Purpose of Pretrial Detainment
• Original risk of flight
• Preventative Detention danger to society
• Case

16
The Trial

• Jury Selection
• Trial Process
• Opening statement
• Prosecutor
• Defense
• Closing argument
• Verdict
• Sentence

17
Purpose of Sentencing

• Rehabilitation
• Deterrence/Incapacitation
• Just Desert

18
Sentencing Structures

• Indeterminate
• Tied to rehabilitation
• Open ended
• Determinate
• Fixed

19
Sentencing Disparity

• When 2 people who commit similar crimes receive
  different sentences
• Causes?
• Plea bargaining
• Different type of case
• Different offenders (prior record)
• Sentencing judge (discretion)

20
Reducing Sentencing Disparity

• Sentencing guidelines
• Grid (priors and seriousness)
• Mandatory minimum sentences
• Three Strikes
• Truth in Sentencing