Comparison Of Appelte Courts Vs. Lower Courts

Appellate Courts v. Lower Courts State Court Systems have a unique two tier structure, which is broken down into specialized courts. Each branch of these structures have their own unique set up and hear different types of cases. Some have different guidelines, boundaries, and laws they must abide by, but ultimately the highest court in a state is the Supreme Court and the lower being a mayor or magistrate court. Federal Court have their own system with a similar tier structure to it, but is made up of fewer court.
Lower Courts Starting with what is commonly referred to as the lower courts, the first of the two tier structure is made up of courts like Juvenile, Divorce, Family, Housing, Small Claims, Probate, County, Municipal, Traffic, Drug, Mayor, and Magistrate court. In most of these courts the judge is dealing with misdemeanor offenses or civil issues, with penalties ranging from a small
The Appellate court is where appeals are first heard. This court was established to help reduce the backlog of cases waiting to be heard by The Supreme Court, also referred to the court of last resort, is the highest level of court within a State. The Appellate Courts rule on if there are grounds for another hearing or if rights have been violated moving that case to the next phase, The State Supreme Court. One of the biggest factors that distinguishes this high court from the lower courts is the “amount of control these judicial bodies exercise over their dockets” (Neubauer & Fradella, 2011). Not every case that is sent to the Court of Last Resort will be heard. The use of a discretionary docket is to avoid devoting time and resources on minor court disputes brought to them by disgruntled litigants and allows them to devote more time and resources on cases brought forth, “usually for reasons of advancing public participate” ((Neubauer & Fradella,