During the 70's and 80's some of these opportunities were eliminated by the actions of the Burger and Rehnquist courts but habeas corpus actions remain a major problem for both systems and our a source of much acrimony. In 1996, Congress amended the federal habeas corpus statute in order to provide some clarification as to how habeas corpus was to be applied and interpreted nationwide. XI. The Eleventh Amendment and

In this particular case the court found that the GFSZA contained "no jurisdictional element which would ensure, through a case by case inquiry, that the firearm possession in question affects interstate commerce." ("United States v. Lopez") in effect, the court said that the federal government can only pass laws involving activities that substantially affects interstate commerce and the possession of a gun in a school did not rise to

S. COURT SYSTEM FUNCTIONS (http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/0999/ijde/fine.htm)." The highest tier of this federal system is the United States Supreme Court. This court has nine Supreme Court Justices who are appointed for the term of their life unless they choose to step down. A majority is not needed to win a Supreme Court hearing request. If four of the nine think the case brought before them is worth hearing then the case will be

In 1993 there were 155,704 recorded crimes of burglary and of these 20,200 were residential burglaries. Since the mid-1970s the level of recorded burglaries has fluctuated around a level of 130,000 to 150,000 crimes per year although during the three last years, 1991 to 1993, the level has been close to 155,000. The number of recorded car thefts in 1993 was 61,141 and of these 18,300 were attempts. During

Police Courts and Corrections According to Merrill and Fox (1999) the total impact of substance abuse on Federal entitlement programs is more than $77 billion. This constitutes in excess of $66 billion directly associated with substance abuse. Further, the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on substance abuse would accounts for nearly 10% of total Federal spending (Merrill and Fox, 1999). The cost of drug use affects the entire criminal justice

Not all offense levels are entitled to a jury trial and each jurisdiction has its own standard in this regard. As a general rule, however, any offense involving the possibility of incarceration as a sanction is entitled to the benefit of a jury trial. This same standard is applicable, as well, to the right of every defendant to be represented by counsel. In all cases, regardless of the seriousness