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Show r Judicial system reform helped streamline courts its time hearing appeals from District courts (mostly civil cases). It may also be called upon to determine deter-mine the constitutionality of state laws. The Supreme court has original jurisdiction over state law questions from the federal court. There are five justices who each serve ten year terms. They sit en banc (together as group) to hear cases. The justices elect a chief justice to serve a four-year term. The current chief justice is Gordon R. Hall. One of the goals of the Commission Commis-sion on Justice for the 21st Century is to redefine these jurisdictions of the various court levels so as to do away with overlapping jurisdictions and eliminate wasted resources in the system. JUDICIAL DISTRICTS Morgan, Weber and Davis counties make up the Second Judicial District in the state of Utah (same district for all court levels). There are eight districts in the state. FEDERAL SYSTEM The country is divided into U.S. judicial districts. Utah belongs to the 11th federal district These courts have original jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases. There are 12 circuits for the U.S. Courts of Appeal which hear appellate cases from the District courts. Utah is in the 10th Circuit Remembering how this complex judicial system works is not always easy. However, leaders in the Utah justice system are presently working work-ing to simplify and streamline the justice process to make it more 'user friendly" for the average Utahn. In the meantime, if you have any general questions about how the system works, a good resource person per-son is the Public Relations Director of the Administration Council on the Judiciary (listed in the blue pages of the phone book). I By SHERRI EINFELDT Editor's note: This is Part II in a series explaining the Utah Judiciary system. As Utah has grown and changed over the years, so has its judicial system. Over the last couple of decades, judicial reform has resulted in what is now a streamlin-! streamlin-! ed and fairly easy to understand court system. While the reform process is ongoing in order to keep up with the continual changes in our society, the following is a brief description of the structure of the Utah system as it currently stands. JURISDICTION: Justice cou rts have limited jurisdiction and are not courts of record. Concurrently with Circuit courts, they have authority over the following types of cases: class B & C misdemeanors, infractions and traffic, felony preliminary hearings and small claims under $1,000. There are 171 justice courts in Utah, and they serve counties and municipalities. They are under local funding and administration, and the judges that serve in these courts need not be attorneys. Circuit courts deal with criminal class A misdemeanors and infractions, infrac-tions, preliminary hearings of felony cases and civic cases of less than $10,000 (with some exceptions). excep-tions). There are 37 Circuit court judges in Utah; these courts are state funded. Juvenile courts have jurisdiction over all cases involving youth under 1 8 years old charged with criminal violations, dependency, neglect, child abuse and certain traffic offenses. They also handle cases of adults contributing to delinquency. These courts are state funded, and there are currently 13 juvenile judges in Utah. In addition, these ! courts administer a staff of proba tion officers who work with the j" court. District courts have authority over civil cases above $10,000, all criminal felonies, extraordinary writs, and the review of administrative ad-ministrative agency proceedings. The majority of District court cases deal with domestic issues. There are 29 District court judges in the state. The District court is the state's I highest trial court. The Court of Appeals is a seven-member body recently created to share the growing caseload of the Supreme Court It ! hears all appeals from the juvenile and Circuit courts and from most District court cases. It also hears appeals from some administrative agency hearings. The judges sit in panels of three to hear appeals. The Utah Supreme Court as a court of last resort, spends most of |