Alternative Assignment Unit 6

Unit 6 Alternative Assignment

MCP

Introduction to Criminal Justice

Prof:  Jack McCoy

May 2, 2016

Unit 6 started out by talking about the dual court system. This system “reflects the state’s judicial autonomy separate from the federal government.” Basically stating that most criminal cases begin with state courts.

You asked what type of cases go to federal court? I think the cases that go to the federal court are appeals, crimes crossing state lines and federal law violations.

While going through the slides you gave good points on what to put in our group projects and what not to include. You pointed out what was too much information on the slides and what actually looks good and will flow well.

1629 the Massachusetts Bay Colony had only one court. If you were arrested, then you were usually guilty.

In 1639 the county courts were established, the general courts became the primary court of appeals.

I found it interesting that early on the thought was “Every man could serve as their own attorney.” You, asked if we thought that was a good idea in today’s society and I don’t believe it is. To many things can go wrong and you have no help to protect yourself. During the early years the number of lawyers were limited to a small amount. If you look at today’s society, there is an attorney on every corner and they all specialize in different areas of the court system.

The Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 had a three tiered court system. It began with trial courts and limited jurisdiction, trial courts of general jurisdiction and appallet courts.

Appeals are request by the defendant to a higher court asking it to review the decision was made. There are some cases that are automatically appealed such as death penalty cases or life sentences. Per the United States Constitution everyone has a right to appeal their cases.

You asked how many supreme court justices do we have? We have 9 supreme court justices. There is one Chief justice and eight associate...