Courts Essays (Examples)

However, it is unlikely that one system will ever be sacrificed entirely. Also, there are cases when jurisdiction between federal and state overlap, such as "any lawsuit where citizens of different states are involved in disputes concerning at least $50,000, the person being sued can insist on federal court," and "some criminal acts that involve single events or multiple events that violate both federal and state laws simultaneously ("Michigan Court System, the Civics Institute, 2004). This also means that combining the two systems would not be feasible, especially given how the system of laws in America currently exists.
Question

Outline the various sentencing goals. hich of these goals do you find most acceptable as the primary goal of sentencing? How might your choice of goal vary with the type of offense? Can you envision any circumstances which might make your choice less acceptable?

Sentencing goals may include providing punishment levels…

Courts and the Investigation Process
There are many aspects to investigations as they pertain to courts and upholding the law. An investigation is systematic inquiry to determine the facts surrounding an event or situation to determine who, what, where, when, how, and why an event or incident occurred that might be of particular interest to the courts. In the modern age, mainly due to anti-terrorism enforcement, US lawmakers and courts have changed the scope of police surveillance authority. As a result, a new privacy paradigm has emerged where police power to gather information in criminal investigations has expanded (Bloss, 2009).

Since the world has become more globalized in regards to crime and terrorism, this has transformed how public safety threats are perceived. Furthermore, the advancement of digital communication technology has provided a medium in which electronic records of communications are kept and can be accessed by law enforcement officials. This…

The results of these judicial performance evaluations then are dispersed to the public (Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, n.d.).
The Missouri Plan has been surrounded by disagreement since it was first proposed. Controversy persists over the advantages, disadvantages, and effects, if any, of merit plans on the quality of the judiciary. The passage of time has not resolved the debate. ather, additional issues have come about in response to legal, political, and operational factors. Proponents of merit selection offer it as a preferable option to the politics and fundraising intrinsic in judicial elections, but opponents uphold that the appointive process itself is political, and that, in addition, people have a right to elect their judges. In spite of lingering doubts by some about merit selection's success in getting rid of politics from judicial selection, and the lack of hard proof that it results in the choice of better judges, the merit…

Courts in World Cultures -- a eport on China
China

Discrimination is one of the most critical issues of the present times. It refers to the societal practices and behaviors which deprive a certain group of people or minorities from enjoying equal rights in a society (Yang & Li, 2009). Discrimination separates people on the basis of racial and ethnical differences, religious beliefs, gender, class and power, etc. To encounter this issue and eliminate it from their societies and workplaces, nations from all over the world have been devising their own anti-discrimination laws and practices (Wilson, 2012).

The following sections are dedicated to discuss this most serious issue from the context of Laws and Courts in the People's epublic of China (PC). That is, what are the role of Chinese Laws and Courts and the overall progress of Chinese nation in reducing different inequality practices and behaviors from its society?…

Judiciary ole
The author of this report is tasked with discussing whether courts can help solve complex problems. Of course, the guiding documents and many of the amendments to the United States Constitution were written a century or two ago but these are the documents that are supposed to be guiding the decisions made by courts of all levels. This would range from district courts to circuit courts and all of the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States. What will be discussed and answered to in this report shall include the limits of litigation as compared to political debate and social limits, the prerequisites for a successful litigation reform effort, the proper role of the courts when it comes to public policy issues, whether the courts should keep their rulings narrow or make them broader, and whether court decisions can change public policy and/or society. While…

Of the five criteria set by the courts for the reliability test, which one do you believe to be the weakest? Why?

The reliability criteria that have been developed as the science of eyewitness information advanced include the following: View, attention, certainty, descriptions, and time between crime and confrontation (Wells & Quinlivan, 2009). Of the five reliability criteria, three -- view, attention, and certainty -- are attributes of retrospective self-reports. Certainty is the criteria that I believe is the weakest since the literature is replete with studied that show how fallible the certainty of an eyewitness's testimony can be. Strong empirical evidence exists to show that retrospective self-reports frequently do not match the presentation of objective facts (Wells & Quinlivan, 2009). etrospective self-reports have been shown to be quite malleable and people are not skilled at identifying which factors influence their self-reports (Nisbett and Wilson, 1977). Several of the reliability…

Law Enforcement Jurisdiction & Authority
Law Enforcement Jurisdiction and Authority

As with many governmental agencies, law enforcement is partitioned by agency type, organizational mission, overall size, and jurisdiction. The law enforcement agency spectrum is broad, spanning a range from small town police departments to extensive federal agencies. The brief descriptions below correspond to the categorical jurisdictions and authority of U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Federal Law Enforcement Agencies

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the largest employers of Federal officers are as follows: Federal Bureau of Prisons, the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Each of these agencies has over 10,000 officers authorized to carry firearms and make arrests ("Discover Policing," 2015). The duties and responsibilities of Federal officers include corrections, court operations, criminal investigation and enforcement, inspections, police response and patrol, security and protection ("Discover Policing," 2015).

State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies…

Federal Courts
There are three branches of the federal government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The federal courts were established by Congress, which is given the power to establish them in the Constitution. The Constitution also empowers the Congress to establish the jurisdiction of the federal courts, determine the number of judges needed in the federal court system, to confirm Executive appointments of judges, and to manage the judiciary's budget. Congress impacts the establishment of the courts in several other ways as well. The various state-level governments have the same three basic branches, and their divisions of power and responsibility are likewise determined by their Constitutions or other founding documents.

The structure of the federal court system can be viewed as a top-down pyramid. At the top of the pyramid is the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the court of final resort for the entire United States. At the…

Juvenile Courts and Adult Court
Overview of Juvenile Justice System

According to the Office of Justice Programs, the Juvenile Justice System has "undergone significant modifications during the last 30 years." (2013, p.1) The first U.S. juvenile court was established in 1899 in Chicago. In the early 1990s, it is reported that views of juvenile crime, which became an epidemic "fueled public scrutiny of the system's ability to effectively control violent juvenile offenders." (Office of Justice Programs, 2013, p.1) For this reason, there were changes in the legislative process adopted by the U.S. states reported to be part of an effort "to crack down on juvenile crime." (Office of Justice Programs, 2013, p.1) Approximately two-thirds of youth arrested are referred to a court with a juvenile jurisdiction for processing such crimes. The court may decide in some cases to refer juveniles to other agencies for services however, prosecutors have a choice…

U.S. Courts
Until Bob Woodward wrote his book, The Bretheren: Inside the Supreme Court (Woodward, 1996), the inner workings of the United States Supreme Court were considered off-limits. For nearly two hundred years no one had the courage to investigate how the Supreme Court operates on a day-to-day basis but Bob Woodward, one of the reporters who broke the Watergate scandal to the world, stepped forward and in doing so provided the American public with its first real view of how the Court operates.

Inside the pages of The Bretheren the authors (the book was co-written by Scott Armstrong) covered the Court during the terms when Earl Warren and Warren Burger were Chief Justices. In doing so the authors offered a summary of the various cases ruled upon during the tenure of these two Chief Justices and provided a synopsis of how the two tenures were remarkably the same. The…

Drug Courts
The Department of Justice of the United States of America, in order to cope with heavy work pressure, had to introduce a separate court for the sole purpose of dealing with criminal offenses committed by drug abusers and drug dependants. This concept has proved to be so successful that other countries of the world, including Australia, are now contemplating the introduction of a separate court for dealing with the same issues of drug abuse. How did the need for such Drug Courts develop? To understand this, one must understand the different categories of drug abusers. These people can be generally categorized under two groups: the first group of people lead stable lives, out of reach of the drug criminal justice system. They are peaceful people who do not cause any disruption of societal peace and calm. The second group of people, however, is extremely disruptive and is always…

Adolescents and Children

The drug courts have become part of the solution, not the problem in the lives of thousands of children and adolescents across the country (Schwebel, 176).

Juvenile drug courts are increasing in the United States, as a result of increasing availability of external funding, raising the question of what constitutes a "serious" juvenile drug user. Nearly half of all adolescents in the United States will try some form of illegal drug before they reach 18 years of age. However, the majority of these drug users are able to control their behavior and go on to lead productive lives (Church II, Wesley, 2006, 89)."

The drug courts take the adolescents and children out of a system that could ostensibly lead to more serious crimes, and supervises their individual case loads and success. Social workers and therapists from the drug programs that work with the children make regular appearances…

It also illustrates how many of the same human rights that the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted and applied are protected by others in a similar way." (Youm, 2007)
It is noted that Louis Henkin stated of the U.S. constitutional system and international human rights, that each of these continue to influence each other. U.S. constitutional jurisprudence is invoked by international bodies, in particular by the European and the Inter-American human rights courts. U.S. courts are only beginning to look at the growing jurisprudence in the judgments of foreign constitutional courts or of international human rights courts. The texts of the U.S. Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights are far from the final words on freedom of expression. Various free speech theories influence and shape legal doctrines through judicial interpretations of the First Amendment and Article 10. Case law on the First Amendment and Article 10 thus is…

Media Impact on Perception of Courts
Residents of the United States have been noted many times for their poor understanding of American history and government. This is, no doubt, connected with the broken public education system at the K-12 levels. Many Americans not understand the political theory behind the U.S. Constitution and the principles of limited government. (Feith, xi). Thus, they cannot grasp the Constitutional principles governing the role of the Judge, the Jury, and the Prosecution in deciding a court case. (Feith, 13).

The lack of education in American Civics renders many people ignorant and impressionable in issues regarding the Court system. These people have unrealistic expectations of the courts and are unsympathetic to the challenges faced by the courts. Thesis: The American media plays a huge role in the perception of Courts as unfair, ineffectual, and unresponsive to citizens. Television programs and film tend to influence Whites regarding…

Juvenile Courts vs. Adult Courts
The juvenile justice system is a facet of the United States justice system that focuses exclusively on minors who commit crimes and other delinquencies. The system is utilized in order to focus on the child's best interests as well as society's best interests in terms of the punishments that are given to each offender at the time of their court hearing. The handling of cases within the system is largely undertaken by the states, which develop plans and programs for the rehabilitation of offenders as well as setting in place work on a community level to discourage first-time juvenile delinquency as well as additional issues from prior offenders. An outsider to the field of criminal justice and the workings of the juvenile system to be in alignment with that of the adult court system in nature, but this is not the case despite several commonalities…

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 system, overburdening current resources at each stage of the arrest, adjudication, incarceration, and post-release supervision process (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2010).

Clearly, police are not equipped to "fight crime" as they are legislatively required to do. Further, the conflicts between state and federal law enforcement components are an unnecessary impedance to effective law enforcement efforts. The importance of effecting change through the various state legislatures, as well as compelling the Federal government to change certain laws according to public desire…

American courts have established a number of important precedents that helped define the direction of both American society and law. This short paper describes the outcome and initial controversy of the case of Roe vs. ade, which provided an important precedent for both American law and the people.
A precedent can be defined as a "legal principle, created by a court decision, which provides an example or authority for judges deciding similar issues later" ('Letric Law Library). Precedents set by the U.S. Supreme Court are especially influential as they are generally binding on all lower courts throughout the country, in addition to influencing all of the citizens of the nation.

Perhaps one of the Supreme Court's most famous and controversial decisions was Roe v. ade 410 u.s. 113, which was decided in 1973. Prior to the court's decision, abortion was illegal in the State of Texas, unless obtained with medical…

Role of Courts in Curing Gender Disparity in Capital Punishment
There is no question that there is gender disparity in the rate at which men and women are given the death penalty. As of January 1, 2010 there were 61 women on death row, which was 1.87% of the total death row population of about 3,261 persons (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). Over the past 100 years, over 40 women have been executed in the U.S. (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). Twelve female offenders have been executed since 1976 (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). This pales in comparison to the number of men who have been executed; throughout American history, women have comprised approximately 2.8% of executions in the United States.

There does not seem to be an easy way for the courts to fix gender disparity in capital punishment. After all, the fact that so many women who are…

Drug Courts: The Best Can Get Better
Drug Courts

Drug courts: the best can get better i

Drug Courts: The Best Solution

Can Get Better

It has taken nearly two decades for consensus to solidify but now most authors agree that drug courts reduce recidivism and long-term social cost. Huddleston, Marlowe and Casebolt argue that "no other justice intervention can rival the results produced by drug courts" (2008, p. 2). Drug courts are the most cost effective way we have found of improving addiction treatment results and reducing crime (Huddleston, Marlowe and Casebolt, 2008, p. 5). Congress agrees and asserts the economic benefits very likely far exceed what we are able to tally directly (United States Government Accountability Office, 2005, p. 74). This masks significant differences both within and between programs. Not all drug court programs are the same, and not all offenders respond the same within the same drug…

Child Custody
Family Law, Divorce law

The Price of a Child's Future

In family law, there are a myriad of philosophical and ethical issues which society must confront. The very personal and intimate nature of family, as well as the permanent ties which bind members of a family together, contribute to the complex and delicate nature of the circumstances where the state gets involved in family litigation. The state has legitimate interest in outcomes of such cases, as it has both immediate and long-term effects for the state. These interests range from how the individuals are taxed to its obligation to the general welfare of its members. In this particular case child custody investigation is analyzed and evaluated to see if current trends are in the best interest of all members involved, particularly for the children, and what could change to give the best possible future for children involved. This…

Federal Courts
On Linda Greenhouse's Op-Ed: "Lessons Maybe Learned"

Linda Greenhouse in her New York Times article titled Lessons Maybe Learned reminds us that the federal courts still exist, despite the weakening of Constitutional protections for privacy, free speech, and due process, and against cruel and unusual punishment since 9/11. She opens her opinion piece by relating her sentiment of the almost invisibility of judicial branch in the post-9/11 America. Of course this is an overstatement intended to catch the attention of readers, because numerous cases have been heard and decided, such as challenges to military tribunals, indefinite detentions of 'enemy combatants', and elements of the PATRIOT Act. Yet, Greenhouse seems to have captured the arguably pervasive feeling that the federal courts have been effectively sitting on the sidelines while the executive branch and the Congress set domestic policy that often undermines Constitutional protections.

This naturally begs the question of…

The State Judicial Selection Process Pennsylvania
Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts
The Judiciary of Pennsylvania consists of a supreme court, superior court, commonwealth court, court of common pleas and minor courts. The commonwealth, superior and supreme courts are appellate courts responsible for hearing and reviewing the appeals of cases that have already been heard at lower level courts, with Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court being the highest court level for appeals to go to.
Selection process. When it comes to selecting judges for the different Pennsylvanian courts, there are numerous spots to fill: there are seven justices of the state’s supreme court, 15 judges on the superior court, nine judges on the commonwealth court, and 439 judges in the court of common pleas. All of them are selected in the same manner: they run in partisan primaries which are then followed by a general election process, in which the winners of the…

1. Judicial selection process – New Jersey state Choosing New Jersey state court judges happens mostly through a system whereby the judges are appointed by the Governor and then confirmed by the state senate. All individuals of the judiciary besides the municipal court judges are appointed to serve their first seven-year terms. The appointed judge can serve a second term if reappointed but must not be above 70 years, which is the constitutional limit. The American Judicature Society, 2014a provides the guidelines for the selection of the following: The Appellate Division, the 371 judges of the Superior Court of New Jersey, the seven supreme court justices of New Jersey, the 34 Superior Court judges of the New Jersey. The State of New Jersey employs senatorial courtesy in appointing relevant Judicial personnel. This practice was largely retrieved from selection methods of the federal judiciary. Just the way U.S. senators are given the final say on the appointment of federal judges so is…

Citation: Polera v. Board of Educ. of NewburghCourt or Commissioner: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mark D. Fox, 479 United States Magistrate JudgesProcedural Background: Southern District of New York found the school board liable and awarded Polera a judgement of $30,000. The school board then appealed the decision.Facts: Santina Polera, a visual impaired high school student is suing New York State for punitive damages that she alleges occurred during her high school years. Polera, through her lawsuit alleges that she did not receive the appropriate public education require by the state for disabled students. These benefits include study materials, compensation for tutoring, and proper recognition for academic achievements. Polera, is requesting…

Court Systems
The structure and platform on which the legal system is based upon is very important in understanding the total landscape of how justice is carried out within the confines of the government. The purpose of this essay is to explore the inner workings of both the federal and state court systems and highlight their similarities and differences. Also, this essay will investigate the roles of court administrators in the different types of functions that a court serves. A investigation into the state of Colorado and its court structure will also be presented to help give a practical example of the court system. Finally, the essay will address quasi-judicial bodies and their impact on the courts and legal system.

The Basis for Authority

The United States Courts Government Website (n.d.), details a comprehensive overview of the basis of America's court system. The United States Constitution is understood to be…

Court Analysis
Justice and Court Administration

Administration and management of courts is filled with challenges. Often depending upon the geographical context of the court, such challenges will include resource shortage, a perpetual docket of criminal cases and the broader complexity of providing civil order and justice to communities while balancing constitutional law and local ordinance. Moreover, the complexity of administering justice in and of itself plays a part in the difficulty of court management, with issues such as the deepening ethnic diversity of encountered populations and shifting ideas about victims' rights playing defining roles in the tasks before any given court. The discussion here on language interpretation services and the timeline in the evolution of victims' rights are offered within the context of court administration.

Language Interpretation Services:

It is often the case that courts will find themselves burdened with the task of wading through the details of officer-defendant confrontations…

Court Service Management
How does a court system cope with a changing of the guard when a new administration is elected and key executives and managers are replaced, and/or when policy changes direction as a new political party assumes power?

The court deals with transitions of power by maintaining the established traditions and principles from the Constitution. This is used to ensure that case precedent is respected and to provide stability for the entire political system. As the basic guarantees of the Constitution will not change and cannot be adjusted based upon a new party coming to power. In this case, the structure and attitudes will remain the same. This is from the institution and its practices remaining in place. egardless of what is happening with transitions in power. (Koopmans, 2003) (Neubauer, 2012) (Oakley, 2009)

However, the courts will be impacted by these changes to a certain extent. This will…

Courting Disaster
This study reviews Pat obertson's "Courting disaster: How the Supreme Court is usurping the power of Congress and the people." Pat obertson is the founder and chairperson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, founder of egent University, and The Center for Law and Justice. He and his wife have four children and thirteen grandchildren. They reside in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Using both legal and religious points-of-view, obertson attempts to prove that the current operation of the judicial system is dangerous to both the republican form of government and our individual freedoms. While seeking to strengthen his argument, the author has compiled fascinating facts, quotes, case decisions, and opinions of the Court (Mu-ller-Fahrenholz, 2007).

From this study, it is evident that obertson undertook a political expedition seeking to identify various issues that bedeviled the American society. However, he fails to provide solutions to the identified problems. This is an action…

Robertson illustrated his point about the dangers of the Supreme Court's power anecdotally, such as when, later in the book he talks about the McCain-Feingold Bill which was designed to restrict campaign finance and reform the ways political campaigns were funded both privately and via government assistance. Although the Republicans in neither the Legislative or Executive branch supported the bill, they agreed to pass it in order to end the debate, believing that the bill would be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in that it violated first amendment laws, among other things (Robertson 2004,-page 234). hen the voted for or signed the bill as the case may have been, they believed that the court would ultimately overrule the other branches by finding the proposed legislation unconstitutional based on the text of the law itself. The Supreme Court, however, did not agree with this perspective and ruled the law legal.…

Court System
The basic structure of the United States legal system comes from the Constitution. Constitutions are living documents that lay down principles and rules, as well as overall functions of how law should be used within society. Constitutions tend to be macro in scope, in that they define responsibilities between the three organs of U.S. Government (Judicial, Legislature and Executive). Laws are individual (micro) edicts that are made to define specific issues under the Constitution. The Constitution is the basic framework, or the strategic direction of law; defining relationships and allowing for reasons that are fundamental to other laws (e.g. privacy, search, etc.). Laws are the manner in which the tactics of the legal system and/or philosophy are carried out and used within society. A Constitution defines the theoretical basis of law, while laws incorporate the process of law and allow the government and its officers to use the…

In his joint aticle with Oleg Sminov, "Dift, Daft, o Dag: How the Supemes React to New Membes," Smith takes an even close look at the Supeme Cout and the histoy of its political (o intepetive) makeup. Specifically, these authos find that the Cout counte-balances changes to its ideological makeup though the addition of new membes by changes in the oveall intepetative stances of opposing justices -- the addition of moe libeal justices esults in consevative justices becoming moe consevative, and the addition of consevative justices leads to moe libeal thinking on the pat of libeal justices. This view sees the Supeme Cout and couts in geneal as an essentially political body, just like any othe political body at wok in the fedeal govenment o at othe levels of govenment within any given society, whethe past o pesent.

A Mediation of Theoies and Pactice

Though the thee theoies biefly descibed…

One of the pending cases involved a dispute between France and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Like the dispute with Belgium, this involved France's attempt to hold one of the Congo's ministers responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. France sought to compel the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to appear as a witness, which the Congo claimed was a violation of its sovereignty.

References

nternational Court of Justice. (2008). Certain Criminal Proceedings in France (Republic of the Congo v. France). Retrieved April 10, 2008, from nternational Court of Justice

Web site: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=1&code=cof&case=129&k=d2

nternational Court of Justice. (2008). Judge Kenneth Keith. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from nternational Court of Justice.

Web site: http://www.icj-cij.org/court/index.php?p1=1&p2=2&p3=1&judge=157

nternational Court of Justice. (2008). Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from nternational Court of Justice.

Web site: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=4&k=5a&case=131&code=mwp&p3=6

nternational Court…

S. No. 04-1739 (2006)
Facts:

Issue(s):

Ruling:

Analysis:

Minority Rationale:

Comments:

wo examples of where rights are limited in the ownership of land or property:

Servitudes and easements are put into place...

Servitudes and easements can be protected by...

It is vital to protect Servitudes and easements because...

III. Intellectual Properties

Eric Eldred, Et Al., Petitioners V. John D. Ashcroft, Attorney General

U.S. 01 -- 618 (2003)

Facts:

Issue(s):

Ruling:

Analysis:

Minority Rationale:

Comments:

he differences between copyrights, trademarks, and patents include:

he title to real property is permanent, whereas some intellectual property is limited in the time that it is protected due to...

IV. Business and the Bill of Rights

Humana Inc., Et Al., Petitioners V. Mary Forsyth Et Al.

U.S. 97 -- 303 (1999)

Facts:

Issue(s):

Ruling:

Analysis:

Minority Rationale:

Comments:

he major difference between business speech and political speech is that...

Whether or not "Closely regulated industries…

U.S.C. § 48 is not aimed at specific instances of animal cruelty, but specifically at the creation and distribution of depictions of such abuse for the purposes of interstate and/or foreign commerce. This is the act that the appellant was unarguably engaging in when apprehended by law enforcement, and the fact that the law is not aimed at those participating directly in acts of animal cruelty does not in and of itself create a constitutional objection.
The statutes specific mention of interstate commerce renders the appellant's claim that the constitutionality of the statute is in question due to a dependence on state definitions also moot. Not only were the acts depicted in the videos the appellant old to law enforcement agencies unquestionably illegal in all fifty states, but the federal government has a duty to regulate interstate commerce specifically because state definitions and regulations differ. Failing to regulate the interstate…

Court Proceedings Experience
Premise

year-old Nicholas Lindsay was charged for the murder of Officer David Crawford. esides Lindsay's own confession to the murder, there is no other evidence that he committed the murder. Lindsay made this confession at the urging and in the presence of his mother, without a lawyer present. He told the police officers that he shot David Crawford after being apprehended by Crawford.

The official police report stated that, after apprehending Lindsay, Crawford was reaching for his notepad when Lindsay pulled out his own handgun and shot him five times in the chest. Hence, Lindsay was arrested and charged for murder. The prosecution, which included the State Attorney, decided to prosecute 16-year-old Lindsay as an adult.

Lindsay was indicted on the count of Murder in the First-Degree, which is defined by Florid State law as "The unlawful killing of a human being perpetrated from a premeditated design…

court of criminal appeals of Texas, PD-0307-09 Ronald Wilson, and appellant v the State of Texas. (CCA (a), n. d.) The court of Appeals case was: 04-07-00737-CR, and was affirmed. The appeal came from the trial court: 290th District Court of the Bexar County. The case number there was 2006CR2564 and the judge was Sharon S. Macrae. (Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 2009)
What it was basically about

The trial of the appellant was for murder and the facts of the case show that Amos Gutierrez was killed with a single gunshot. The magazine clip for a pistol was found near his body. The appellant was arrested on unrelated misdemeanor warrants. Later the appellant confessed to the shooting, and was charged with capital murder. Appellant filed motion to suppress the confession on the grounds that it was involuntary and was obtained in violation of the constitution and Texas law. The…

9/11 terror attacks was characterized by enactment of new laws and executive orders that focused on enhancing homeland security. However, these laws and orders have become controversial because they have ceded power to the executive branch and limited people's rights. Some examples of these limitations include restrictions on privacy, limitation of free speech and association rights, and limitation of religious freedom. While these actions were necessary to help prevent another attack, they are inappropriate since they compromise civil rights and checks and balances established in America's democracy. The federal government would have taken less drastic measures through reordering priorities of law enforcement instead of generating fundamental changes in law.
Week 5: Discussion

In the American judicial system, the Supreme Court reviews very few cases most of whom are appeals from lower courts. It should not be mandatory for the Supreme Court to review more cases despite having appellate jurisdiction. The…

At this time the court may decide to vacate the TRO or to convert it into a preliminary injunction. (Ibid.)
hat is a Court Order Used for?

A court order may be used for:

Restraining a party from changing the status quo until the decision of the court;

To provide temporary relief to an aggrieved party; or Facilitate the smooth functioning of a trial through, for example, clarification of a law typical example of an interim court order to maintain status quo is the issuance of a TRO or a Temporary Protective Order (TPO) in a case of domestic violence to prevent any further violence or threat of violence by a spouse.

Examples of providing temporary relief may occur in family law trials in which temporary child custody, rights of visitation, spousal support and/or maintenance are ordered by the court pending final judgments.

Court orders that facilitate the functioning of…

Court System
In recent times, no court case has attracted as much attention as that of George Zimmerman. In this text, I summarize the most significant facts of the said case and explore the key laws that were violated. Further, amongst other things, I will also summarize the outcome of the case and my opinion on the outcome.

The State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman

The Case in Brief: A Summary of Important Facts

Charged with second-degree murder in one of the most publicized court cases in recent times, George Zimmerman was on 13 July declared a free man after the jury deemed it fit to render a not guilty verdict. The charge in this case stemmed from the shooting to death of an individual by the name Trayvon Martin. Pursuant to the said shooting, the state charged that Zimmerman stalked and shot at Martin who was unarmed at the…

court process for the below mentioned case would be either litigation by judge or by jury. The facets that we are looking at include the actions of Mr. Smith and if these actions actually deserve the sentence that he received. The process would entail Mr. Smith filing a complaint. In the decision of whether or not this is a criminal or civil matter depends solely amongst the facts. In the facts provided below the court that Mr. Smith was sentenced in there is no reason for him to have been tried on a civil level considering no one was hurt. From the view of Smith -- he questions whether or not the penalties upon him were too harsh or not. Given the fact that he did come forward, to tell what had happened. A problem is that he is faced with the prosecution stating that the only reason he came…

Murder Trial of Nicholas Lindsey, March 2012
Factual and Procedural Background

On the evening of February 21, 2011, Police Officer David Crawford of the St. Petersburg, Florida police department was fatally shot while investigating a report of a suspicious person or prowler in a residential neighborhood. After a 24-hour search expedition, police arrested and booked 16-year-old Nicolas Lindsey on charges of first-degree murder. Lindsey confessed to the killing in a taped statement to police shortly thereafter.[footnoteRef:-1] [-1: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-23/justice/florida.officer.shot_1_police-officer-fatal-shooting-petersburg-police-maj?_s=PM:CRIME]

Lindsey was arraigned in court the next day, and the judge ordered that he be held in custody without bail. A grand jury which convened the following week indicted Lindsey on first-degree murder of a police officer, whereupon the state Attorney General charged Lindsey as an adult based on the seriousness of the offense and that he was over age 14.

Jury selection began on March 19, 2012 and the jury heard…

It takes place during the war in 1916, (before America became involved), and it shows the attack by French soldiers of a German position known as the "Ant Hill." The position is on the Western Front, near Verdun in France, and it is a gripping look at the trench warfare tactics of the war. The French soldiers are clearly unready for an attack, but the crazy General makes them attack in spite of their worthiness, because of his own selfish needs and wants. Ultimately, it is no surprise that the attack fails, the men simply were not ready, and some of them will not even leave the trenches because they know it is hopeless. The General is enraged because of this, and he convinces his commander that he must discipline the men because of their "mutiny." He chooses three men to court-martial as an example to the other soldiers.
The…

Winship was decided by the Burger Court in 1970, Docket number 778. The case involves a twelve-year-old boy, Samuel Winship, who was arrested for stealing $112 from a woman's locker. Section 744(b) of the New York Family Court Act provided that determination of a juvenile's guilt differs from an adult defendant, requiring only a "preponderance of evidence" and not evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt." Based on the "preponderance of evidence" clause, the Family Court initially found Winship guilty, "despite acknowledging that the evidence did not establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," ("In Re Winship"). Winship appealed, and the appeal was rejected and later sent to the Supreme Court, which granted certiorari and deemed "preponderance of evidence" methods unconstitutional based primarily on the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause.
The outcome of the case strengthens the burden of proof requirements for all criminal cases, juvenile or not. However, juvenile defendants are…

Criminal Court Observation
I must admit that when I entered the courthouse I was a bit nervous. It was my first time to attend any trial, let alone a criminal one. However, I thought that a criminal case would be far more interesting than a civil one. Yet, despite my decision, and my belief that it would be "no big deal" to watch a criminal court case, I began to feel very nervous the minute I hit the line for the metal detector. It's funny -- but I always feel just a little bit paranoid before I go through one of those machines -- almost as if I really were hiding some kind of weapon without knowing it.

Anyway, as I finally made my way into the courtroom after a long wait at security, I certainly did not feel any more at ease. For one, the room was too warm,…

Further, these individuals are able to work and contribute to their own keep as well as pay child support. The timeliness of the process of the Death Penalty Appeal is one of the measures that have attempted to be built into the justice system to bar rash action on the part of justice that often too late becomes informed of errors of great magnitude. The Ohio State University report states that the College of Social and ehavioral Sciences' Center for Survey Research conducted a study in determining the general consensus of the American perspective on the use of the death penalty. When asked whether they favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, 74% of Ohioans report being in favor with 11% of those indicating that their being in favor was contingent upon the presence of certain circumstances. 23% reported opposition to the use of the death…

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. I chose this program because it is part of a nonprofit organization's attempt to prevent abused and neglected children from getting lost in the welfare system. For this reason, the program chooses court-appointed volunteers to watch over these children. This is a fantastic program because it teaches children about role models and the role an adult can have in a child's life. The program also offers children a stable environment that can be continued until the child is placed in a permanent home. Most importantly, the CASA program has been found to be an effective program, which is great, because, again it helps the children have a stable environment, rather than bounce between foster homes. Despite all these positives, however, I also included some issues and challenges. The first challenger was that a volunteer could become too emotionally attached, and the second includes maybe…

How does a court system cope with a “changing of the guard” when a new administration is elected and key executives and managers are replaced, and/or when policy changes direction as a new political party assumes power?
The best coping technique is instituting a system characterized by power separation. Accountability may be attained within the domain of administrative rulemaking by means of various institutional plans and practices. One may perceive bureaucratic accountability to be a classic agent-principal issue. Governmental cabinets, rather than parliaments, form the main bureaucratic controllers, being ideally positioned, owing to their central location in administration as well as legislative politics, to guarantee that implementation will be governed by the very political agenda that drives lawmaking. Ministerial workers are answerable, via a hierarchical command chain, to the Prime Minister, other ministers, the cabinet, and a coalition or the majority party. Thus, whilst drafting regulations, the very politicians responsible…

Furthermore, the media has been known to slant certain criminal trials in particular directions. For example, the Casey Anthony trial of just a few years ago, some argue, was slanted in such a manner that the entire nation thought she was guilty. The jury, however, found her not guilty. Given the portrayal of this woman in the media, an entire nation thought that justice had not been served. Jurors were ridiculed and even threatened. An entire uproar had occurred. By allowing court proceedings to be covered by the media, there's a lack of authenticity which is surrendered for recording everything on television.
Furthermore, allowing court proceedings to be televised cheapens the process of justice, by making it a form of entertainment for the masses. This is simply unacceptable. It negates the entire reason that the judicial process was created: the judicial system was developed in order to employ a level…

She has the right to call witnesses on her behalf and have them testify for her and she has the right to face and question any witnesses that are brought forth by the opposition.

There are several possible alternative solutions to this problem. The first solution is that the girl can be grandfathered in. Being grandfathered in means that a situation existed before a particular situation was decided upon. In this case the girl had the tattoo long before the decision was made to seek out and stop gang symbols. If she was grandfathered in it would mean that her tattoo would be ignored because she had it on her hand before the new rules applied.

Another possible alternative solution would be to have the student cover her tattoo when she was in school. Many times businesses will ask their teen employees to cover any facial piercing that they may…

WEEK 1 CHAPTE EVIEW JOUNAL BLWeek 1 Chapter eview Journal BLQuestion 1In my opinion, if the Court were to hear a new flag burning case, it should follow precedent and find that setting the American flag ablaze essentially constitutes free speech and is secured by the U.S. constitution. This is more so the case given that in some scenarios, this may be the only powerful way to protest against certain ills or inefficiencies attributable to the government. For instance, when the government of the day has an ineffective or poorly implemented foreign policy, or when the government engages in brutal acts against the very people who elected…

Contracting and Construction
The case of White-Spunner Constr., Inc. v. Constr. Completion Co., 103 So. 3D 781; 2012 Ala. was about a general contractor's right to challenge an illegal subcontract. In this case, the Supreme Court saw fit to reverse the decision of the lower courts, which had previously awarded the subcontractor $1.2 million by ruling against the general contractor. With the Supreme Court's decision, the general contractor's argument was validated and the lower court's decision reversed in the general contractor's favor. Essentially, the illegal subcontract was deemed invalid due to its illegality and therefore had no standing and the subcontractor was not entitled to any payment. The Court also stated that licenses are needed by construction labor brokers -- otherwise they are not allowed to represent clients or perform construction work. The Court had to define what was meant by labor brokers in this instance and it even pointed…

Some of the best military leaders of the time ignored him, and that is a pretty sad statement about our country's military. Mitchell was a war hero, but he was a real hero too, because of the way he stood up to the military and made matters public.
This film is based on the true story of Billy Mitchell, and it is well acted and very dramatic at times. I found myself hoping that he would be found innocent, but cynical enough to believe in the power of the military leaders. Again, this film finds fault with the people at the top, and it shows just how poorly run the military really is. Of course, this took place in the 1920s and 1930s, but there is no reason it could not (and does not) happen today. One very real example is the body armor and truck armor issue in Iraq…

Freedom of Speech
The Brandenburg Case

The central holding in the Brandenburg case is the debate about whether suppressing hate speech or speeches that have the potential to incite violence is, in fact, violates the guarantee to freedom of speech as given by the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution. In the case of Brandenburg, while the state of Ohio declared him to have incited potential violence through his speech that he made on TV and sentenced him to 1-10-year prison and a fine, the Supreme Court of the U.S. overturned the verdict and found Brandenburg not guilty and opined that the Ohio state had violated Brandenburg's right to free speech. The supreme court noted: "Freedoms of speech and press do not permit a State to forbid advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action…

Court Opening Argument
It is humbly submitted to the Hon'ble Court that this respondent as per the issues and syllabus cited submit that the issues of the litigation pertain -- not only to the law of marriage, but also to the recognition if it must be accorded to same sex marriages and unions, and whether no recognizing this social development amounts to denial of the constitutional rights of a group of citizens. It is also pertinent to question if the states in allowing adoption to opposite sex couples and denying the same to same sex couples. The question then becomes still deeper with the challenge of the validity of same sex marriages.

It is still with various states to give effect to the Defence of Marriage Act -- DOMA and the definition of marriage as per section 3 of the act makes marriage between a man and a woman alone…

Superior Court
In business law, one of the ways that disputes are resolved is through going to court and presenting evidence to the judge about each party's position. They will render a verdict and award a judgment based upon case precedent and their interpretation of the law. To fully understand what is taking place requires carefully examining one case that is occurring. This is accomplished by: studying the citation of the case, facts, issues, the court's decision and legal reasoning. Together, these elements will highlight how this is affecting the way various statutes is interpreted and how the rule of law is enforced.

Citation of the case: The court case took place in Maricopa County Superior Court in Maricopa County, Arizona. The name of the case that was decided is Moray vs. Toyota Financial Services. Its case number is CV2012-097376. The time of the hearing took place at 10:30 AM…

Obtaining a warrant to take blood sample of a person suspected of drunk driving but has refused to take breath test takes longer time and undermines the essence of time in this process. The Chief Justice John G. oberts Jr. together with other judges; however, expressed discomfort with what they termed government sanctioned bodily intrusions using sharp needles (Liptak, 2013).
Missouri prosecutors' petition was occasioned by a case where one Tyler G. McNeely was pulled over for speeding on a highway. Tyler, according to the Supreme Court, had the telltale signs of intoxication (Liptak, 2013). He had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and had the smell of alcohol in his breath. Besides, his performance in field sobriety test was poor. Tyler was adamant about taking breath test. He did not consent to taking blood test either. A blood test was nevertheless taken and the results showed that the blood alcohol level…

etrieved 21 Mar. 2013 from http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/65mcrm.htm#9-65.700.
Doyle, Charles. (2011). Crimes of violence committed against federal official or employees: A brief overview of federal criminal law. Congressional esearch Service. etrieved 21 Mar. 2013 from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/41574.pdf.

New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. (2005). Crimes Against Police Act. Criminal Justice.NY.gov. etrieved 2 Apr. 2013 from http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/legalservices/ch765_crimes_against_police_act.htm.

Office of Coast Survey. (n.d.). Law of the sea. History of the maritime zones under international law; From the cannon shot rule to UNCLOS. Office of Coast Survey, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. etrieved 2 Apr. 2013 from http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/law_of_sea.html.

Peters, ichard (ed). (1846). The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. Arranged in Chronological Order with eferences to the Matter of Each Act and to the Subsequent Acts on the Same Subject and Copious Notes of…

T.C. Memo 2010-54: The court decision located at T.C. Memo 2010-54 is that of David J. And Letitia B. Crawford v. Commissioner of Internal evenue, appearing as the petitioners and respondent respectively.
The Court that Heard the Case: The United States Tax Court. This particular court according to aabe, Whittenburg, Sanders, Sawyers, and Gill (2011) hears and determines Federal tax cases. In the words of the authors, "its jurisdiction is limited to cases concerning the various Internal evenue Codes and evenue Acts that were adopted after February 26, 1926" (aabe et al., 2011, p. 156).

The Judge(s): B.L. Garber

Case Decided on: March 22, 2010

Issues Involved:

The respondent in this case discovered a deficiency of $2, 230 in the Federal income tax of the petitioners for the year 2006 (U.S. Tax Court, 2010). As the court further points out, the deficiency was, essentially, "attributable to the respondent's disallowance of…

San Fran Court Observation
Court Visited: Northern California Federal District Court

Judge: Harold Baer Jr.

Plaintiff: United States

Defendant: Douglas Alan Goldberg

Sentencing Hearing

Holding: Goldberg was sentenced commensurate with a plea deal arranged in 2010 as a return favor from the government for testifying against former fellow CDR employees Z. Stewart Wolmark, Evan Zarefsky and Matthew Rothman (who were sentenced that same day to terms ranging from 18 months to 6 months)

Your Remarks: Pretty basic sentencing based on the fact that the sentence was already agreed to in advance between the defendant and the authorities and Goldberg presumably met the terms of the deal.

Based on some research the author of this response gave, this was part of a much larger scheme that involved municipal bond rigging at places like Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, Wells Fargo and General Electric Company. United States v. Rubin/Chambers is…