State Courts

Children's Literature

Do court cases that are appealed from state trial courts go straight to the United States Supreme Court? Absolutely not, each state has its own Court of Appeals and Supreme Court that hear cases before they are taken to federal court. In fact, state courts handle over 95 percent of legal cases overall. This book provides an easy to understand overview of the judicial system at the state level. It includes information about the difference between a civil and criminal case as well as describes the function of the various personnel involved in the state judicial system. The thorough glossary of legal terms is useful as many of the terms used in the book are likely to be new to the reader. This book succeeds in making the state court system interesting to the elementary school age. For ease of use, a table of contents and index are included, as are web links for additional information on the topic. 2004, Kaleidoscope/Benchmark Books, Ages 8 to 11.
— Nancy T. Braverman