Scholarship@WashULaw
Gatekeeping and Filtering in Trial Courts
Document Type
Book Section
Publication Date
2017
Publication Title
The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Judicial Behavior
Abstract
Trial courts and their actors play critical gatekeeping and filtering roles within the judicial hierarchy. As this chapter discusses, the decisions made by litigants and judges in the millions of criminal and civil trial court cases in the United States each year affect things like what cases get filed, how cases develop, what cases settle or plea bargain and when, whether losing litigants will appeal, and, if they do, how the appellate courts will respond. This chapter proceeds by first examining the selection of disputes and charges that takes place by parties, prosecutors, and other lawyers prior to a case being filed in a trial court. Next, the chapter details the decision-making of trial court parties, lawyers, and judges. As the chapter concludes, it discusses the unique set of challenges present for interdisciplinary research on trial courts.
Keywords
District Courts, Judges, Trial Court, Litigation, Prosecution, Gatekeeping, Judicial Hierarchy
Publication Citation
Christina L. Boyd, Gatekeeping and Filtering in Trial Courts, in The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Judicial Behavior 129-148 (Lee Epstein & Stefanie A. Lindquist eds., 2017)
Repository Citation
Boyd, Christina L., "Gatekeeping and Filtering in Trial Courts" (2017). Scholarship@WashULaw. 823.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_scholarship/823