NCJ Number
77250
Date Published
1974
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Definitions of court terminology and background information on Indiana's court system are provided in this manual intended for citizen observers of municipal and criminal courts in Marion County, Ind.
Abstract
The manual was prepared by the Marion County Victim Advocate program, which is the first judicial monitoring program in the United States. Program volunteers are interested in justice and all court procedures within the municipal and criminal courts. Court observers are supplied with forms which they complete at each session they observe in court. They gather information regarding the cases appearing in court that day and their disposition. The manual begins with background information on municipal and criminal court procedures in Marion County. General information about the court systems of the United States, Indiana, and Marion County is next provided. The bulk of the manual consists of legal definitions take partially or totally from Black's Law Dictionary. Among the terms defined are accused, affidavit, assault, bench warrant, bill of discovery, change of venue, peremptory challenge, and competency. Additional terms defined include entrapment, hearsay, injunction, lesser offense, nolo contendere, and parole. Further terms include positive evidence, real evidence, remand, cumulative sentences, and voir dire. The form used by the judicial monitors is provided.