From Hot Coffee to Murder: Going Inside the American Legal System
From Hot Coffee to Murder: Going Inside the American Legal System
(35) From Hot Coffee to Murder: Going Inside the American Legal System - Mark Weaver and Douglas Drushal, Department of Political Science
Each year in the United States, there are about 34 million cases filed in state courts and over 350,000 cases filed in federal district courts. Unfortunately, most Americans have very little understanding of the complex legal system that affects the lives of all citizens. This seminar analyzes how the U.S. legal system is organized and how it actually handles the numerous civil and criminal cases that are filed each year. We will read both fictional and non-fictional accounts of how these cases are resolved within the U.S. legal system, we will talk with various members of the legal community—including attorneys, prosecutors, public defenders, and judges—about their experiences inside the system, and we plan to observe court proceedings. We will study several dimensions of U.S. civil and criminal law, including constitutional law, civil procedure, and criminal procedure. We will also trace the various steps in the legal process of two of the very few cases that made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the central goals of the seminar is to provide an understanding of both the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. legal system.