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Text A. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS

1. At the national level, the district courts are trial courts of original jurisdiction. There is at least one U.S.district court in each state. No district court crosses state lines, but some states have more than one court; California, New York, and Texas, for instance, each have four. Altogether there are ninety-four district courts-eighty-nine within the fifty states, one in the District of Columbia, and four in the U.S. territories (which may also have jurisdiction over local as well as federal matters). The number of judges in each district ranges from two in sparsely populated Wyoming to twenty-seven in densely inhabited Man­hattan (formally known as the Southern District of New York). Because district courts often encompass large geographic areas, some hear cases in various locations, termeddivisions. While some districts hold court in only one division, others have as many as eight.

2. The district courts are staffed by 576 district court judges, who are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and appointed for life. District court judges possess full judicial powers, including conducting trials, accepting guilty pleas, and imposing sentences. In addition, there are 286 full-time and 183 part-time U.S. magistrates. Created by Congress in 1969 to replace the former position of U.S. commissioner (who had very limited powers), U.S. magistrates are empo­wered to hear petty and some minor offenses, as well as to conduct the preliminary stages of felony cases and numerous civil matters. Unlike district court judges, U.S. magistrates are not presidential appointees and do not have lifetime tenure. Rather, they are appointed by the district court judges for either eight years (full-time magistrates) or four years (part-time magistrates).

3. The district courts have original jurisdiction over both civil and criminal cases, so they are trial courts for all violations of the federal criminal law other than those tried by U.S. magistrates. For several decades, the number of federal criminal prosecutions (primarily for drug violations, embezzlement, and fraud) remained fairly constant, but from 1980 to 1987 they increased by 74 percent. Persons charged with drug offenses accounted for much of this increase. Indeed, prosecutions for drugs were up 153 percent, and convictions increased by 161 percent. Nonetheless, civil lawsuits consume more of the federal courts` time than do criminal cases. Although federal district courts handle far fewer cases than state trial courts, civil cases in federal courts often raise more complex legal issues than those in state courts, and the amount of money in controversy is also often quite a bit larger.

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