Explain how a court case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court

What will be an ideal response?


• First a case is heard within a trial court and then it goes to an appellate court if an appeal is filed.
• After that a party can petition the Supreme Court to issue a writ of certiorari, but whether the Court will do so is entirely within its discretion.
• With a writ of certiorari the Supreme Court orders a lower court to send it the record of a case for review.
• More than 90 percent of the petitions are denied. A denial is not a decision on the merits of a case, nor does it indicate agreement with the lower court's opinion.
• The Court will not issue a writ unless at least four justices approve of it; this is called the rule of four.
• Although the justices are not required to give their reasons for refusing to hear a case, most often the discretionary decision is based on whether the legal issue involves a "substantial federal question.". If the justices do not feel the case addresses an important federal law or constitutional issue, they will vote to deny the writ of certiorari.

Criminal Justice

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Identify a true statement about white-collar crimes.

A. They are not an official category of criminal behavior in the Uniform Crime Report. B. They are not connected to financial activities. C. They usually involve violence. D. They are usually committed within boundaries of legality.

Criminal Justice

Research consistently demonstrates that sex offenders have a recidivism rate that is ______.

a. higher than the rate for all other offender categories b. lower than the rate for all other offender categories c. the same as the rate for all other offender categories d. impossible to determine

Criminal Justice

Latent prints are constituted of materials which are either __________ or ____________ in water

Fill in the blank(s) with correct word

Criminal Justice

Only people of color are characterized by intersectionality

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Criminal Justice