Utah OnLaw: The Utah Law Review Online Supplement
Abstract
Utah’s justice of the peace courts look and feel exactly like district courts, yet they lack the benefits and protections afforded to citizens charged with more serious offenses. Utah should strongly consider abolishing its justice courts in order to integrate them into a statewide system of justice that would “keep the peace” for all of the state’s citizens. If Utah does not abolish its justice courts, then it should implement the procedures and reforms outlined in this Article. Utah continues to have an opportunity to provide meaningful, and constitutional, justice administered at its local level. Once these reforms were implemented, Utah could return once again to a system of local courts that could truly be called courts of justice.
Recommended Citation
Newton, Samuel P.; Welch, Teresa L.; and Hamilton, Neal G.
(2012)
"No Justice in Utah's Justice Courts: Constitutional Issues, Systemic Problems, and the Failure to Protect Defendants in Utah's Infamous Local Courts,"
Utah OnLaw: The Utah Law Review Online Supplement: Vol. 2012
, Article 2.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/onlaw/vol2012/iss1/2