Chapter 4 Federal & State Courts

• There are 3 main things courts do to constitute justice. As the book says, one of the main purposes of the courts is to "do justice" by ensuring their rights to due process. Another way they constitute justice is, courts make public policy decisions, which involves things like money, property, and rights to competing claims. The third thing is that courts serve to clarify the law by interpreting statutes and the main principles in a certain fact pattern. I can't say that I've been in an actual court trial, but I have watched quite a few trials and I think that if I were the one on trial I would want all of those three facts to apply to me during my trial. Although some people may not think that they are not ensured of their rights to due process, it is guaranteed, you just have to know your laws.

• Learning about search warrants was interesting in a sense that I didn't know that an officer could not search your car without a search warrant unless there was probable cause of something illegal or endangering to other people. And I thought it was unique that in class we talked about how if you told the officer they couldn't search their vehicle, that the officer would automatically think the person was indefinitely hiding something or they were afraid the officer might find something a person is not supposed to have in a vehicle like a non-permitted gun. I have never been arrested or been locked up, and I thought I knew what bail was, but in class we talked about it more in depth from what I initially thought it was. I thought it was just that a person pays a certain amount of money to get out of jail until their actual court date, but then I learned that it was an amount of money that the defendant pays to the court in assurance that the defendant returns to their trial.

• When chapter 4 talked about felonies, it reminded me of when I watched a court case a week ago about a 68 year old man was charged of sexually assaulting a 16 year old girl. He had taken nude pictures of her and put them on the internet, and molested her in his own home. This case was a felony case and a felony is classified in jurisdiction as crimes the possible punishment of a sentence of imprisonment of at least one year. This man was sentenced to 12 years in prison at the penitentiary and a minimum of 3 years. I thought it was really interesting to actually get to watch a person getting sentenced for committing a felony. In a criminal process like the one I watched at the Ada County Court House, their are 3 main trials that a defendant has to go through. Those are the initial appearance, where they are informed of their rights and the charges against them, and this is also when a bail decision is made whether they are granted one or not. The next appearance is the preliminary hearing which is where the magistrate determines if there is probable cause to believe that an offense was actually committed and it was the defendant who committed the felony. And the next step is the sentencing or arraignment of a formal hearing where the defendant is again told the charges against them and told their rights. In any court case, you are allowed to have a defense attorney whether it be appointed to you or a private attorney. It guarantees that a defendants' rights aren't violated, making sure defendants' know all options before making a decision, and to argue for a lower sentence or best possible plea.