The Commonwealth of Virginia’s court structure goes from District Court, at the lowest level, to the Virginia Supreme Court at the highest level. In between are the Circuit Courts, at the second lowest level, and the Court of Appeals at the next level, just below the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has seven (7) justices that sit in panels and en banc. This court has jurisdiction over capital criminal, criminal, administrative agency, and disciplinary cases. The Supreme Court also has discretionary jurisdiction in civil, noncapital criminal, administrative agency, juvenile, disciplinary, original proceeding, and interclocutory decision cases. The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Virginia is also known as the “court of last resort” (ncsconline.org).
The procedure for the Supreme Court for the Commonwealth of Virginia is they meet for five-day sessions beginning in September and continuing every seventh week thereafter until the completion of the June docket. All Supreme Court sessions are held in Richmond, Virginia. The justices conduct extensive legal research during the six-week recesses in between sessions. They draft and review their opinions and study the cases in which petitions for appeal have been filed.
In most cases, Appellate review is a two step process. A petition is filed with the Clerk. Petitions are assigned to a law clerk for research and preparation. Oral arguments are heard before a panel of three justices; one justice may grant an appeal but three justices must concur before an appeal is denied.
If the petition is granted, the appeal proceeds before the full court. Prior to each session of the Court the clerk gives each justice a copy of the docket and the cases to be heard to they may be studied prior to being argued. Both parties’ Attorneys are usually given fifteen minutes to present their arguments. Discussion and debate continues; when a justice completes his opinion it is circulated to the other members and the Court Reporter. Opinion conferences are held prior to the beginning of each session. Opinions are made public on the last day of each session of the Court.
The Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the Commonwealth, has eleven (11) judges sit in panels and en banc. They have mandatory jurisdiction in some civil cases, some administrative agency cases and some original proceedings cases. They have discretionary jurisdiction in noncapital criminal cases. The Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court.
Cases for the Court of Appeals are presented by petition, a formal written application, for appeal; each petition is reviewed by a judge. If the petition is granted, briefs are filed and the clerk of the Court of Appeals refers the granted appeal to a panel of the Court; decisions are issued by the Court of Appeals by written opinion or order.
The Circuit Court, consists of thirty-one (31) circuits and one hundred twenty (120) courts, one court in each city and county, and has one hundred fifty seven judges Circuit court judges are elected by the General Assembly for 8-year terms; the circuit court conducts jury trials. They hear tort cases, contract cases, real property above $3,000, mental health, probate and estate cases, civil appeals and miscellaneous civil cases. They also hear domestic relations and criminal cases. The circuit court handles all civil cases with claims of more than $15,000 and shares authority with the general district court to hear matters involving between $4,500 and $15,000. The circuit court has the authority to hear serious criminal cases called felonies.
The Circuit court is a general jurisdiction court and has the broadest powers of all trial courts in Virginia.
To bring about a civil action in a circuit court, the (plaintiff) files a complaint with the clerk of the circuit court. The (defendant) has 21 days after he is served with process to answer. If the defendant does not respond he is in default, and judgment may be awarded to the plaintiff.
In a criminal case involving a felony, the person may be arrested on a warrant. The defendant may be either committed to jail pending a hearing or may be released on bail. A preliminary hearing is then held to determine if there is probable cause if so, the case is (sent) to the grand jury. If the grand jury also finds probable cause and returns an indictment, the accused is held for trial in circuit court. Following indictment, the accused is arraigned; the charges are read and a plea is entered. In misdemeanor cases appealed from district court, the preliminary hearing, the grand jury indictment, and arraignment are not necessary.
The District Court, which has thirty two districts and one hundred ninety one courts, The District Court does not hold jury trials. There is a general district court in each county and city in the Commonwealth and general district court judges are elected to six year terms by the General Assembly. They hear tort cases, real property cases in the amount of zero to $15,000, small claims cases up to $4,500, mental health cases, support cases, and custody and visitation cases. They also hear cases involving family abuse, child abuse or neglect and domestic criminal cases. They also hold preliminary hearings for felonies and misdemeanors. They are the court for DWI/DUIs, juvenile, traffic and ordinance cases. The general district court is the court most people in the Commonwealth have dealings with. Some examples of civil cases they hear are landlord and tenant disputes, personal injury actions, and contract disputes. The juvenile and domestic relations district court hears all criminal or traffic matters involving juveniles; any person under the age of 18. An offense committed by a person under the age of 18 that would be considered criminal if committed by an adult, is considered a juvenile delinquency case. Acts that are committed by someone under the age of 18, and are only unlawful for that reason, are referred to as status offense; buying cigarettes would be an example of this.
The procedure in district court for criminal and traffic cases is quite simple. The defendant’s name is called and the defendant goes forward to stand in front of the judge. The charges are read and a plea is entered. If the plea is guilty, statements are heard and the judge will sentence the defendant. If not guilty, witnesses will be heard and cross examined, evidence is presented and the judge gives his decision.
The five goals of sentencing are retribution which is the earliest known form of punishment. This calls for punishment of the defendant as a need for settling the score. Incapacitation seeks to protect society from offenders who might harm them if not prevented to do so. Incapacitation works well with offenders who have committed crimes that have a high rate of recidivism, such as pedophiles and rapists. Deterrence uses the real or perceived threat of punishment in an effort to convince criminals that it is just not worth committing the crime. There are two types of deterrence, specific and general. Specific deterrence focuses on offenders that have already been convicted while general deterrence attempts to prevent people from turning to crime. Rehabilitation tries to change the behavior of offenders. It is an attempt to retrain criminal, so to speak, and teach them a more productive way of life. And restoration which attempts to help the victim and the community after a crime has been committed. Restoration may be in the form of having the defendant pay back money that he or she has stolen, or give an apology to the victim or the victim family.
I believe rehabilitation is a crucial part of a well designed criminal justice system. Without rehabilitation it would not be possible to release anyone from prison because there would be no hope of that person not returning to a life of crime. Retribution, which is simply a nice word for revenge, should be eliminated from our criminal justice system. Revenge never actually solved anything and I truly don’t believe that it makes the victim feel any better. I think it results in a lot of bitterness, especially on the defendant’s part, which may result in higher recidivism.
Throughout the history of Virginia corporal and capital punishment has been the norm for penal measures. Virginia first began using small county jails for sentences of confinement and after the Revolutionary War, began to construct a “penitentiary house” (vadoc) The Virginia Department of Corrections, and Virginia Department of Probation and Parole Services were formed in 1944 by an act of the Virginia Legislature (Wikipedia).
The Parole Board was established in 1942 and continues to be empowered by Virginia Code to make decisions regarding release of inmates who are eligible for parole or to revoke parole. They also supervise those released on parole and investigate, prepare reports and advise the Governor on Executive Clemencies, as appropriate.
The legal rights that juveniles are entitled to, today, are the same rights as adults. They must be read their Miranda rights and they should only be given the opportunity to waive those rights if they are old enough to completely understand what waiving those rights could mean to their case. If they do waive their rights, either in the presence of an attorney or their parents, the will most likely uphold anything resulting from that. Juveniles also have rights as to investigative procedures. For example, schools cannot search a student’s personal property unless there is a logical suspicion, by the school, that it is relevant to the matter at hand. A search is fair if it is based on commonsense thought that the behavior is rule breaking, or that it is required to maintain authority, and wellbeing, and it does not surpass the extent of the initial suspicion.
Five important juvenile court decisions are Kent v. U.S., In re Winship, Breed v. Jones, Schall v. Martin, and Illinois v. Montanez. In 1966, 14 year old Morris Kent, was arrested, charged, placed on probation and released into his mother’s custody. A couple of years later he was arrested again, this time on more severe charges. As a result he had psychological and psychiatric evaluations performed. Without informing anyone and without giving reason the judge remanded the case to adult court where he was found guilty and sentenced. The Supreme Court ruled that a hearing should have been conducted prior to the case being transferred. In re Winship a 12 year old boy was found delinquent for stealing and sent to a training school. However, he was subject to the sentence being extended up until his 18th birthday. This sentence was found unconstitutional because he was not tried properly; he was denied the use of evidentiary standard in adjudicating his case. In Breed v. Jones, a 17 year old was tried in juvenile court and then tried again in adult court. This violated the double jeopardy clause and defined when a court can move a trial from the juvenile jurisdiction to adult court. Schall v. Martin determined that juveniles cannot be held in jail while awaiting their trial. And Illinois v. Montanez determined that a juvenile must have a concerned adult present if that juvenile waives his or her Miranda rights.
Juveniles have the right to due process; however they may not have the right to all the aspects of due process that are given to adults. Juvenile courts place a higher emphasis on treatment for the defendant than adult court. Juveniles have the protection of sealed records and of their names not being published; adults do not enjoy this privilege. Juveniles are usually released from prison by their twenty first birthday, whereas adults could spend the rest of their lives in prison for an offense they have committed.
References
Department of Criminal Justice (2008). Virginia Parole Board. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from http://www.dcjs.state.va.us/
National Center for State Courts (2008). Virginia Court Structure Chart. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from http://www.ncsconline.org
Schmalleger, F. (2007). Criminal justice today an introductory text for the 21st century. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing
Virginia Department of Corrections (2008). Virginia Parole Board. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from http://www.vadoc.state.va.us
Virginia’s Judical System (2008). Virginia Courts. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://www.courts.state.va.us
Wikipedia (2008). Virginia Department of Corrections. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org
