You must create a court system for the newly created state of Puerto Rico. To be certain you understand how courts are organized in other states, you must research at least three current state court systems and use those systems to create Puerto Rico's system.

You must describe your proposal for creating Puerto Rico's municipal courts, major trial courts, appellate courts, and the state's highest court. Remember to provide citations when you borrow some idea or structure from another state. How will the courts be structured geographically, for example?

You must also describe how judges will be chosen for each court and must discuss how judicial and attorney ethical standards will be structured and enforced. You should conduct basic research on Puerto Rico (size, geography, population, existing counties or municipios, etc.) to be certain your proposed system will actually work.

The body (not including cover page, works cited/bibliography, etc.) of the paper must be a minimum of ten pages in length, double spaced, using a 12-point font such as Times New Roman. A works cited page or bibliography (depending on the citation system used) must be included.

Must be 10 pages. Thoroughly researched. Clearly written with few grammatical and writing errors. Proper internal citations and bibliography or works cited page depending on citation system used.

IMPORTANT: A grading rubric for research papers may be found in the content section of your course website and also in the grading section at the end of this course syllabus. Remember that the assignment must be written entirely in your own words. Paper grades are based on quality of research and quality of writing.

ALSO IMPORTANT: Complete papers or portions of papers submitted for other classes, including other sections of Judicial Process, will not be accepted. If you have previously submitted a paper for another section of POSC 340 you must choose three different states and write a new paper for this class.

You are strongly encouraged to visit the plagiarism tutorial and complete the plagiarism quiz. Visit the Content section to find the tutorial.