Implementing an Effective and Judicial System for Puerto Rico - Research Paper Example

s School Puerto Rico: Model Judicial System Puerto Rico, officially known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is the incorporated territory of the United States, however some of the recent developments indicate that it might get the status of a legal U.S state if the people of Puerto Rico vote in the favor, which will further be elaborated in the paper. In any case, there must be a proper judicial system in sync with the history, geography, culture and the government of Puerto Rico to oversee the effective dispersion of justice to all individuals belonging to the state. Thus, this paper aims at exploring the island of Puerto Rico in detail to suggest an effective and implementable judicial system after thorough research on the judicial systems prevalent in other similar states, or other states of the U.S in particular. Thus, a general conclusive view will aim at suggesting the inclusion of a four tiered court system, i.e. municipal courts, major trial courts, appellate courts and a highest state court, all of which will be addressed separately in the paper. Initiating with an introductory phase, it is crucial to shed light on the geography, economy and government of the state. Generally, Puerto Rico is an island which consists of the main island with other similar small islands, i.e. Culebra, Desecheo, Vieques, Mona and Caja de Muertos, out of which only two are the ones with inhabitants who belong to these areas while other consists of migrants usually. Connected to these main islands are other various small islands as well, for instance, the island of Old Sans Juan also the island of Puerta De Tuerra. Generally, Puerto Rico takes up about 14,000 square kilometers of land, thus being a small island overall, and can be compared to the size of Cuba in terms that it consists of about 8% of the land which Cuba takes. The latest census which took place in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 2011 indicated its population to be 3,706, 690, with many immigrants from the America`s especially Cuba, Venezuela and even other Caribbean Islands, whereas the general population of Puerto Rico consists of Irish, Scotts, usually whites and even the African Americans in general. Spanish, French and English are the main languages spoken in this state. In the beginning of the 20th century Puerto Rico was an agrarian economy, however with time it started moving towards being an industrial one, and eventually with MNC`s being dominant in the world economy, many American corporations took over the Puerto Rico`s economy. Resultantly, the debt of the state has been increased accordingly, and is ever increasing with every passing year. Further, to suggest a judicial system for Puerto Rico it is essential to analyze their government and politics as well, as both all components should complement each other. Puerto Rico is generally a self governing state which is run with association of the United States, though the future verdict may change the scenario. Just like any other state, the head of the state is the President of the United States while the head of the state is the governor of the state. Thus, the matters like commerce and trade, foreign relations of the state, immigration and emigration, constitutionality of laws, agriculture etc are dealt by the United States of America (Henderson 1984). The legislative power in turn rests upon the Senate and the Chambers of Representatives, and both the legislature and the governor is elected by the popular vote. Shedding light on the judicial system of the Puerto Rico, the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico while generally the structure of the courts consists of a court of appeals, superior court, district court, and also a municipal court. Thus, generally the citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are subject to all laws applicable to the residents of any other state, i.e. they pay their social security taxes, are subject to receive welfare funds from the state, can vote for American President etc. Since Puerto Rico is generally a state which comes under the United State of America, it is significant enough to analyze the structure of court system prevalent in America, especially the state court system. The judicial system of U.S is based on the British Common Law with the two parties system whereby one is the plaintiff and the other is the defendant, who defends the case which has been filed by a plaintiff. However, for a criminal case, generally, the government acts as a plaintiff for which a prosecutor is hired paid for by the government. Though all courts follow the same basic procedure, but all 50 courts belonging to all states have their own set of laws prevailing. As a general procedure prevailing in all 50 cases, a three tiered system is being followed throughout America. Any case in general is first brought in front of a lower court which may also be referred to as the district or a trial court (Henderson 1984). Once the court gives its verdict on a case in this court, if the plaintiff or the defendant or any of them have an issue with the verdict, they still have a chance to appear before another court which is considered higher in terms of hierarchy. Thus, the decision given by the lower court, if unaccepted by any of the parties can again be appealed in the appellate court which is also known as the court of appeals. However, the case will only be heard in the appellate court if there are chances of error in the decision, and not just because any of the parties is just unhappy with the verdict. Also, if still any of the parties is unsatisfied with the verdict, the decision can again be filed in the highest court of appeal, also known as the Supreme Court which generally consists of nine judges. No court in the United States is higher than the Supreme Court, as this is the highest court and thus its verdict is final, thus if any of the parties are unsatisfied with the decision, there is no way or no other place where they can appeal for it again. Moreover, moving towards the selection of judges in the United States, i.e. selection of the judges of the states within U.S, various procedures are being followed. The first method is the selection of the judges by virtue of elections, i.e. the member of state may chose the judges, or in some states, other judges and lawyers may choose the judges. Otherwise, another method which can be used for the purpose is the selection of the judge by the governor which would then be ratified by the legislature of the state. The appointment of the judges may be for a fixed number of years, or in another case depending on the setup of the state and to ensure transparency, judges may be appointed for a lifetime. However, in other states, a number of these methods can be used in combination to achieve the goals. Moreover, the kind of cases which should be heard in these courts should also be specified, i.e. mostly, the criminal cases are heard in these courts, for instance the cases related to real estate and property, Also, contract cases are heard in these state courts related to legal family cases such as divorce and adoption. For this reason, Hawaii can be taken as a model since both Puerto Rico and Hawaii Island are similar in many respects. Just like any other state, the Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of appeal, and the verdict given by this court can`t be challenged by any other state. The procedure implies that the cases brought forward to the court by the applicants under the writs or Certiorari to the Court of Appeals. In general, the Supreme Court of Hawaii hears the cases which come from the circuit courts, or even referred by the federal courts, writs from other judges or even the public officials, complaints coming which are relevant to the elections, issues with licenses and the discipline judges etc. Intermediate Court of Appeals is second in order to the Supreme Courts, and cases which are still being disputed after going through the district courts are generally referred here (Klein 1977). This court is generally comprised of six judges who often form panels of two. Cases if still disputed can still be sent forward to the Supreme Court for revision. The district courts being the lowest in order take up small cases, for instance, cases related to the traffic infractions, proceedings related to ejactions, the summary possession cases, claim cases with limit not exceeding $5000, debt cases which aren’t exceeding the limits of $25,000, petitions etc. As implied by the case, if not satisfied with the decision, the plaintiffs or the defendants can always take the case up to the higher courts of order. Hawaii also consists of other separate courts i.e., land and the tax appeal courts, the circuit courts and also the district courts for convenience. Similarly, Alaska is another state which can be considered similar to that of Puerto Rico, thus it should also be analyzed in terms of its court system to come up with recommendations for the Puerto Rican court system. The court system of Alaska is a federal one which is completely funded by the state government. Alaska consists of a four tiered structure for effective functioning and speedy justice for the citizen residing in this state. It consists of a Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Superior Court and the District Court. Now, the Supreme Court as well as the Court of Appeal are the referred to as the Appellate Courts, as these courts generally take up the cases which come forward from the lower courts. Similarly, the superior court and the district court are referred as to the trial courts, which often hear and decide upon these cases. Moreover, for convenience and to avoid a huge mess, the Alaska statues have specified the set of responsibilities to each of these courts. The system implies that the Supreme Court of Alaska being the highest in order has one chief justice and four associate judges, who meet up once in a month to hear court cases verbally, however, the court generally is called about twice a week to study the briefs on the cases to decide upon the matter. Similarly, the court of appeals consist of one chief justice and two associate judges, and it takes up either the merit appeals or the sentence appeals, while the other are directly referred to the supreme court. The Superior Court is the one which takes up the general jurisdictions, whereby about 40 judges are placed for the purpose. It takes up cases relevant to civil and criminal cases, cases involving children or even the deceased, domestic issues and personal relationship cases etc. The district court is the lowest in order and it has a limited jurisdiction as compared to the Superior Court and takes up cases related to arrest warrants, kidnapping, habeas corpus, domestic violence related issues etc. In the light of the above made arguments and discussions about the state court system prevalent in other states of the U.S, recommendations and conclusions can be made for the Puerto Rican Judicial structure considering its geography, economy and other features etc. Since it is a small state relying on the federal government for funds etc, with not much revenue generation, thus a system similar to that of Alaska as well as the Hawaii islands should be incorporated. The most suited structure for Puerto Rico would be the four tiered structure prevalent in Alaska, whereby for assistance, separate courts for taxes or family laws may also be incorporated, as this would reduce the burden from other courts. Thus generally, Puerto Rico should consist of a Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals as appellate courts where cases forwarded or disputed by the lower courts have been sent. The Supreme Court should be subject to deal with the cases very important for state matters, especially those cases where an example needs to be set in terms of making or breaking new laws. For instance, the cases where the state is directly involved or where a huge amount of money or big corporations are involved should be taken up to Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, which should consist of one Chief Justice and about four to six associate judges. However, other simpler cases of appeal relevant to property matters, dispute over financial matter, or other cases forwarded by other courts should be sent to the Court of Appeals which should also consist of Chief Justice and six to eight associate judges. For the trial courts, the Superior Court should be given a broader jurisdiction whereby the District Courts should be given a lower jurisdiction as it must be the lowest in order, thus only small cases be dealt here, similar to what happens in Alaska. (Mc Kenna 1993) The matter of how the judges should be chosen should also be dealt with in this context, as that would also be of crucial importance to the overall structure and system of judiciary and courts of Puerto Rico. A mixed method approach should be undertaken to choose the judges, as what happens in Alaska and the Hawaii Islands, thus initially the governor should choose the judges which then should be ratified by the legislature. However, to further improve the transparency of the situation, these judges should be put forth in front of the citizens and thus, elections should be held to further endorse these judges. Also, further on these judges should be appointed for life time to reduce any chances of corruption, thus if such a system be implemented, in this case, an implementable yet an efficient system will be implemented in Puerto Rico, speedy justice can be assured in minimum possible costs quite affordable for these states. Thus conclusively, given the economy, geography and the government of Puerto Rico, a four tiered structure as discussed in the paper would prove to be the most suitable system, and the judges must be selected after a series of steps i.e. first selected by the governor, then ratified by the legislature, and if required even a vote must be taken from the citizens of their state. This is the only way how an effective justice system can be maintained and effective decisions can be made at all levels. Reference: Henderson, T. A., National Institute of Justice (U.S.), & Institute for Economic and Policy Studies (Alexandria, Va.). (1984). The Significance of judicial structure: The effect of unification on trial court operations. Washington, D.C: U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Justice Klein, F. J., Bander, E. J., & Richert, J. P. (1977). Federal and State Court Systems - A Guide. United States. McKenna, J. A., & Federal Judicial Center. (1993). Structural and other alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals: Report to the United States Congress and the Judicial Conference of the United States. Washington, DC: Federal Judicial Center. Read More