Jurisdiction
Instructions Unit 2: State and Federal Court Systems
What is jurisdiction?
Jurisdiction is the foundation of every case. A case must be filed in a court that possesses jurisdiction.
You are currently working in the District Attorney’s Office as an investigator, and you have been asked to investigate the court that has jurisdiction over a case that involves the robbery of a local bank and two murders.
The district attorney has asked you to research the questions to help her make a decision.
Jurisdiction is very important within the court system because it is what decides whether the state or federal government has the authority to prosecute the case. In a 2-page paper, research the following:
What is jurisdiction, and how does it impact state and federal courts?
What is concurrent jurisdiction?
Provide 1 example of a crime for which the state court has jurisdiction and another example of a federal crime for which the federal court has jurisdiction. Why does each respective court have jurisdiction for the crimes that you have listed?
Provide 1 example of a crime for which concurrent jurisdiction exists, that is, the criminal act could be prosecuted in state or federal court or both. In the example that you provided; in which court do you think that the case should be prosecuted? Why?