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Scholarly Paper 2 Instructions

CRM 220

The United States has a dual-court system, which means there are courts at both the state and

federal levels. The majority of crimes are tried at the state and local levels. Each level has trial

courts and appellate courts – the state appellate courts oversee the state constitution and laws,

and the federal appellate courts oversee the U.S. Constitution and federal laws; the U.S.

Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all state and federal decisions.

Read the assigned sections in your textbook. Describe the path that a case would have to take

from the state trial court level to the U.S. Supreme Court. Discuss specialized courts, such as

drug courts, and whether or not you think they are a good idea and why. Make sure to gather

evidence (law, policy, procedure, and data) and evaluate for relevance:

Are specialized drug courts used in your jurisdiction? What is their effectiveness? What are

some direct/indirect consequences: Specialized courts have shown moderate success rates, but

they are also expensive to run. Discuss which should be the most important consideration, cost

or effectiveness, and how these two conflicting attributes can best be balanced.

Your paper must be at least 700-800 words in length, excluding the title and reference pages,

and must adhere to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th

edition) writing format. If your paper does not comply with this format, you will lose points. You

may want to visit Purdue OWL for assistance with formatting your paper in APA style.

You must cite at least two scholarly references for your paper. Please be aware that websites

such as Wikipedia are not scholarly sources. You are encouraged to access the University’s

online library resources to find scholarly journal articles, etc. The ProQuest and EBSCO

databases may be helpful, but remember to limit your search to scholarly journal articles. You

may also want to view the instructions for locating articles for Saint Leo classes. Please

remember to review the information about locating and citing proper sources in your syllabus.

DISCUSION

The Judicial Division and the Standing Committee on Judicial Independence completed the first online, fully searchable diversity database. The database, the only one of its kind, provides the current composition of minority judges on the state bench, both nationwide, by level of court and by method of judicial selection used by the states.

Review the database and the Diversity Action Plan, and then assume you are appointed to a special committee to create recommendations and guidelines to assist in ensuring that women and members of minority groups have equal opportunities to become judges. What would you propose and why? Present three recommendations.