Running head: STATE COURT STRUCTURE
1
State Court Structure: Unified or Not?
Assignment 2
Shiane Barnhart
Introduction to Courts
Ivy Tech Community College
STATE COURT STRUCTURE
2
State Court Structure: Unified or Not?
The four layers of the state court system in Indiana are as follows: Supreme court, Superior
court, Circuit court, and Probate court. Supreme court is where appeals are made for felonies and
other cases such as civil and administrative, the death penalty is a possible sanction, and is
known as a court of last resort. Superior courts handle criminal cases, including juvenile criminal
cases, domestic relations, civil, traffic infractions, and real property. Circuit court handles mental
health, probate, civil appeals, miscellaneous civil cases, domestic relations, juvenile, criminal
and traffic infractions. Probate courts handle probate cases, miscellaneous civil cases, adoption,
miscellaneous criminal and juvenile cases.
The four layers of Alaska’s court system are as follows: Supreme court, Court of appeals,
Superior court, and District court. The supreme court in Alaska handles the same types of cases
