Courtroom Paper

Court History and Purpose Paper

Charles McIntyre

CJA/224

October 12, 2014

Sylvia Beaver

Court History and Purpose Paper

The judicial arm of the government is an important function of said institution. Without which there would be no avenue to address disputes between parties and bring justice to criminals. Early legal code, common law and precedent serve as today's court system foundation.

Court Purpose

Courts make up the Judicial Branch of the Government. The textbook, Courts and Criminal Justice in America notes that it is hard to come up with a summarizing definition of a court. However, the U.S. Justice Department defines a court as " an agency or unit of the judicial branch of government, authorized or established by statute or constitution, and consisting of one or more judicial officers, which has the authority to decide upon cases, controversies in law, and disputed matters of fact brought before it ( Siegel, Schmalleger, & Worrall, 2011). " The court system's role in society is to decide what punishment should be assigned to individual crimes. Although, some crimes have mandatory minimum sentences which are passed by the legislature, judicial officers, or judges take great care in determining what the proper sentence is when dealing with the case in front of them. In United States' society there are many different types of courts with varying purposes. For example, individual counties within the several states have their own traffic court. This court determines the penalties for traffic injunctions such as speeding. Another type of court is a small claims court; the purpose of this agency is to adjudicate small matters of dispute between two individuals or groups.

Dual Court System

The dual court system in the United States of America is a crucial part of American society. The U.S. dual court system is one in which there is a separation between the federal and state courts. This type of system serves the country well because it reinforces...