Court Vs Court System
Joy Fearon October 24, 2013
GENDER VS. THE COURT SYSTEM
Is there gender bias in our Court System? The United States of America is acclaimed for having one of the most sophisticated judicial systems in the world. Almost every day thousands of people, including law enforcement officers, lawyers, judges, government officials and even accused criminals, take part in this system, hoping to settle disputes and work for justice. A court is place to settle arguments and impose penalties for those who disobey the laws of society. An overview of the Court System in the United States would be basically two separate levels of courts, which is state and federal. The type of court that a case is tried in depends on the law that …show more content…
is allegedly violated. Today, most of the laws that govern our day-to-day living are state laws. The American Court system is based on the English Common Law system. The basic idea is that there are two sides, the plaintiff and the defendant, who present their arguments before an impartial judge (and sometimes a jury).
In a criminal case, the prosecutor acts as a plaintiff on behalf of the citizens or state.
Where as each state is free to arrange its own court system (that meaning its within certain constitutionally defined boundaries). Most states justice systems have several things in common. The lowest level court in trials where the state law is alleged to have been violated is the trial court, which is also known as the Superior Court or Supreme Court Trial Division. This is the only court with the power to determine the actual facts involved in a case usually however done by a jury.
If a party that is involved in the case feels that the trial judge made an error in one of his rulings, for example whether they either included or excluded a certain piece of evidence, making a bad call on an important objection, they can call for a appeal, or bring the case to a Court of Appeals (or Supreme Court Appellate Divison in some states). The Supreme Court Justices have the option of whether or not they wish to hear the case. Four Justices must vote to hear it in order to have it brought before the Court. Believe it or not out of the approximately 5,000 cases each year appealed to the United States Supreme Court, it actually hears between 100-125 of them. The method at this level is similar to that at the appeals court; each attorney addresses the panel of Justices, which can interrupt at almost any time with questions. The ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court is final, though a future Court may …show more content…
overturn that decision (such as Plessy v. Ferguson).
In cases on the federal level, the action again begins at federal trial courts.
Cases can be appealed from there to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which there are 13 throughout the country. Rulings of this court can again be appealed to the Supreme Court. As one might imagine, this entire process is not free and it can be absolutely pricey. One of the primary reasons that parties in a case might appeal their case to the Supreme Court is because they feel that the law, which they violated, was unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court alone has the power to strike down Federal or state laws that it finds to be contrary to the United States Constitution. In that sense, the judicial system is the guardian of civil liberties in
America.
Gender Bias is the discrimination or prejudice based on gender of a person. It has been commonly said that justice is blind. However, gender bias has occurred as a common problem in our court system from time to time. The case of Mary Winkler, who killed her husband in 2006, supports various arguments on the issue of gender bias in our court system. Mary Carol Freeman; born December 10, 1973 is an American woman who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting of her husband, Matthew Winkler, the stage minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in the small town of Selmer, Tennessee.
Winkler gained national attention because of public speculation about her motives and mental health, allegations of abuse by her husband, her brief flight from the state, and again for the brief length of her jail sentence. In August 2008, Winkler was granted full custody of her three daughters. Many claim that this is not justice for the killing of Matthew Winkler. Men's rights activists such as Glenn Sacks are questioning why men like Scott Peterson are getting the death penalty, while women like Mary Winkler are being treated as if they committed a misdemeanor.
They point to society's biased view that only males are victimizers. They claim that society believes that Mary Winkler killed because she was being abused and that "abuse" now includes such minor things as "being critical" of someone therefore giving anyone who does not like being criticized justification to commit murder in order to end the criticism, while men kill wives as an escalation of their abuse.
GENDER VS. THE COURT SYSTEM
Is there gender bias in our Court System? The United States of America is acclaimed for having one of the most sophisticated judicial systems in the world. Almost every day thousands of people, including law enforcement officers, lawyers, judges, government officials and even accused criminals, take part in this system, hoping to settle disputes and work for justice. A court is place to settle arguments and impose penalties for those who disobey the laws of society. An overview of the Court System in the United States would be basically two separate levels of courts, which is state and federal. The type of court that a case is tried in depends on the law that …show more content…
is allegedly violated. Today, most of the laws that govern our day-to-day living are state laws. The American Court system is based on the English Common Law system. The basic idea is that there are two sides, the plaintiff and the defendant, who present their arguments before an impartial judge (and sometimes a jury).
In a criminal case, the prosecutor acts as a plaintiff on behalf of the citizens or state.
Where as each state is free to arrange its own court system (that meaning its within certain constitutionally defined boundaries). Most states justice systems have several things in common. The lowest level court in trials where the state law is alleged to have been violated is the trial court, which is also known as the Superior Court or Supreme Court Trial Division. This is the only court with the power to determine the actual facts involved in a case usually however done by a jury.
If a party that is involved in the case feels that the trial judge made an error in one of his rulings, for example whether they either included or excluded a certain piece of evidence, making a bad call on an important objection, they can call for a appeal, or bring the case to a Court of Appeals (or Supreme Court Appellate Divison in some states). The Supreme Court Justices have the option of whether or not they wish to hear the case. Four Justices must vote to hear it in order to have it brought before the Court. Believe it or not out of the approximately 5,000 cases each year appealed to the United States Supreme Court, it actually hears between 100-125 of them. The method at this level is similar to that at the appeals court; each attorney addresses the panel of Justices, which can interrupt at almost any time with questions. The ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court is final, though a future Court may …show more content…
overturn that decision (such as Plessy v. Ferguson).
In cases on the federal level, the action again begins at federal trial courts.
Cases can be appealed from there to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which there are 13 throughout the country. Rulings of this court can again be appealed to the Supreme Court. As one might imagine, this entire process is not free and it can be absolutely pricey. One of the primary reasons that parties in a case might appeal their case to the Supreme Court is because they feel that the law, which they violated, was unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court alone has the power to strike down Federal or state laws that it finds to be contrary to the United States Constitution. In that sense, the judicial system is the guardian of civil liberties in
America.
Gender Bias is the discrimination or prejudice based on gender of a person. It has been commonly said that justice is blind. However, gender bias has occurred as a common problem in our court system from time to time. The case of Mary Winkler, who killed her husband in 2006, supports various arguments on the issue of gender bias in our court system. Mary Carol Freeman; born December 10, 1973 is an American woman who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting of her husband, Matthew Winkler, the stage minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in the small town of Selmer, Tennessee.
Winkler gained national attention because of public speculation about her motives and mental health, allegations of abuse by her husband, her brief flight from the state, and again for the brief length of her jail sentence. In August 2008, Winkler was granted full custody of her three daughters. Many claim that this is not justice for the killing of Matthew Winkler. Men's rights activists such as Glenn Sacks are questioning why men like Scott Peterson are getting the death penalty, while women like Mary Winkler are being treated as if they committed a misdemeanor.
They point to society's biased view that only males are victimizers. They claim that society believes that Mary Winkler killed because she was being abused and that "abuse" now includes such minor things as "being critical" of someone therefore giving anyone who does not like being criticized justification to commit murder in order to end the criticism, while men kill wives as an escalation of their abuse.