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• 5. Parties and Interest Groups: Elephants, Donkeys, and Cash Cows
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Chapter 8: Courts

Study

Chapter Summary
Chapter 8 explores the importance of state court systems in the legislative process. Paying particular attention to the process of judicial selection, the chapter examines the challenge of maintaining judicial accountability while preserving judicial independence. The process of judicial selection remains highly political: popular elections, both partisan and nonpartisan, maintain judicial accountability, executive and/or legislative judicial appointments preserve judicial independence. Judicial campaigns have become increasing political. Candidates are pouring more money into campaigns, particularly television ads, and interest groups are becoming more involved--which calls into question the notion of judicial independence.

The various actors in the judicial process, as well as important judicial provisions and the implications of these on court reform, are described later in the chapter. A significant problem facing state judicial systems is a rise in caseloads coupled with prison overcrowding. This problem has altered perceptions regarding sentencing guidelines and affected judges and their authority and the discretionary authority of prosecutors and defense attorneys. States have adopted programs, such as house arrest, halfway houses, alternative dispute resolution, and rocket-docket procedures, to alleviate overcrowding in prisons and to reduce the number of caseloads in their judicial systems. Judicial institutions remain highly political, with judicial decision making responding to various social and environmental constraints, including balancing the public’s desire to ensure both judicial accountability and judicial independence.

Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should understand…

• the role of state courts in the American judicial system
• what activist judges are and why they invoke such controversy
• how criminal cases and civil cases differ
• the structure of state-level appellate and trial courts
• the different methods for selecting and retaining judges
• the roles of prosecutors and defense attorneys
• the difference types of sentencing methods utilized by states
• the methods available to states to reduce judicial caseloads

Study Questions

1. What are activist judges, and why do they invoke such controversy?


2. How do criminal and civil cases differ?

3. What is the appeals process? Which courts hear such cases in the states?

4. What two values compete in the selection of judges? What is the Missouri Plan? How does the merit system for selecting judges differ from a pure appointive system?

5. What are the roles of prosecutors and defense attorneys? What political pressures does a prosecutor face?

6. What are determinant sentencing laws? What are habitual offender, truth-in-sentencing, and mandatory minimum sentencing laws? How do these laws affect judicial discretion?

7. What programs are used by states in an attempt to alleviate overcrowding in prisons?

8. What methods have states adopted in an attempt to reduce judicial caseloads?