THE ASSIGNMENT: Students will research their state’s court structure and write a paper responding to the statements and questions provided below:
HELPFUL HINT: One place to locate charts: http://www.courtstatistics.org/Other-Pages/State_Court_Structure_Charts.aspx (Links to an external site.)
Locate the court structure chart for (1) the State of Indiana and (2) the State of Alaska by researching. Make a copy of those charts to submit as part of your assignment. Using the chart as a reference, respond to the following questions:
What are the four layers of the typical state court system? Briefly explain each.
Compare the charts for Alaska and Indiana to those in Figures 3.1 and 3.2 (pages 94 - 95 in our textbook). How unified is Indiana’s court structure? How unified is Alaska’s court structure? Support your response!
Looking at the Indiana court chart, which of those courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and which courts are general jurisdiction courts? Be specific!
THE PURPOSE: Promote understanding of the diversity of different state court systems and articulate the differences between more and less unified systems.
THE PAPER: Here are the minimum requirements::
Cover page: In the following identifiers: Student’s name, Course Name, Assignment number and name, Instructor’s name, Date.
Header: Single-spaced, aligned to the right.
Body of the paper: Double-spaced.
Font: 12-point font, Times New Roman or Arial, black print.
Paper length: No minimum length.
Sources: Cited both within the body of the paper and in a Works Cited page.