The United States Court system is very diversified and also complex. The courts were designed to enforce laws, resolve disputes, and protect individual rights. Our country’s court system is broken down into two judicial systems, state and federal. The United States judiciary system has several different levels or hierarchies and all of the courts within the United States base their decisions on the Constitutional rights, statutes, and regulations within their jurisdictions. New York State has a Unified Court system structure. The state of New York has stated that “the mission of the Unified Court System is to promote the rule if the law and to serve the public just and timely resolution of all matters before the courts.”(New York Courts, n.d) The Unified Court System is made up of all the trial and appellate courts of New York State. Each court has a level of jurisdiction and discretion, from the Court of Appeals down to the City Courts or Specialized Courts.
The Court of Appeals
The highest court in New York State is the Court of Appeals and is also considered to be the “last resort in most cases” (New York Courts. n.d) except for those cases involving a federal question, and that is where the United States Supreme Court has the final say. A case does not reach this level of the judicial system in New York until one or two of the lower courts have already heard it. The Court of Appeals is based in its state capital, Albany.
The Court of Appeals is composed of a chief judge and six associate judges. Each judge is appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate and is given a 14-year term in office. The Chief judge of the Court of Appeals is currently the Honorable Judith S. Kaye and her duties include serving as the chief administrative judge for all of New York State.
In New York State, there are four Appellate divisions of the Supreme Court. These courts were introduced to resolve appeals from judgments or orders of the four superior courts, Supreme, County, Family, and Surrogate. The judges are also chosen by the governor from amongst the sitting Supreme Court justices. There are twelve judicial districts within the four Appellate Division departments. It is divided by a certain number of counties per district.
The Supreme Court of New York
Each of the twelve districts within the state, have a justice of Supreme Court that decides upon both criminal and civil matters. One distinguishing characteristic of The Supreme Court of New York is that it must be involved in proceedings to end a marriage. It is the only court that can grant a legal separation, annulment or divorce.
County Court
The county courts within New York handle most of the criminal cases committed within their county unless they are handles by a city, town or municipal court. The county court also has the ability to serve as an intermediate appellate court for review of various city and town court actions. (New York Courts, 8th judicial district, p2)
The Family Court handles most of the cases involving juveniles between the ages of eight and sixteen who are charged with offenses that are considered to be crimes when committed by an adult. The judges appointed serve a ten-year term, different from the fourteen-year terms of the Supreme Court justices. Many of the Family Courts, such as the 8th Judicial District have developed specialized divisions. These focus on different areas of concern within the Family Court system such as “Abuse and Neglect”, “Juvenile Treatment”, and “Persons in Need of Supervision, otherwise known as PINS”. (New York Courts, p3)
These courts within the cities, towns and villages in New York are the lowest level of the judicial system. They are designed to handle traffic violations and misdemeanors. The local courts also hold preliminary hearings for those charged with serious crimes and determine whether a person should receive bail or remain in jail.
Specialized Courts in New York
New York has developed specialized courts based on specific crimes that have had a major impact on their court system. The idea of drug treatment courts was adopted in the early 1990’s are a result of the growing drug epidemic. The basic concept behind drug courts involves a dramatic intervention by the court in cooperation with an entire team including the defense, prosecution, treatment, education, and law enforcement.” (Courts.state.ny, n.d) This specialized court gives an individual who is addicted to drugs, the opportunity of a reduced sentence and receive treatment. According to statistics reported, as of December 31, 2004, there were 126 drug courts in operation within New York. (Courts.state.ny, n.d) The results have proven to be positive and many drug courts have expanded throughout the United States.
Another specialized court developed with New York is IDV Courts, known as Domestic violence court. Due to the overwhelming problem of domestic violence, these courts were introduced to eliminate having domestic violence victims and their families appear in different courts before multiple judges. It was based on the “one family-one judge” model, which allows one judge to hear multiple case types- criminal, family and matrimonial, which relate to one family where the underlying issue is domestic violence. (opdv.state, n.d) The aim of IDV courts is to offer services to victims of domestic violence, reduce the amount of court appearances, greater consistency in court orders and to ensure offender accountability.
Overall, the New York judicial system is based around the concepts that courts were developed to provide. Every division of the court system plays a role in providing justice while protecting the rights of an individual accused. In the lower level courts, it seems to be on a more personalized level in dealing with specific crimes and offenses by the introduction of specialized courts. The structure of the New York judicial system is similar to those of many other states. Every state within our nation rely on the higher courts, such as the United States Supreme Court to make major decisions and to guide them in making fair decisions.
