can anyone offer me some assistance in doing legal research

[jdswifey02]

OK.... When it comes to psychological functioning, personality or relational dynamics, I can hold my own... but this "legal" stuff is new to me, and my own ignorance is annoying me!! Can someone provide a little "edumacation"?? I hate feeling stupid!!
I have been given some cases to "fetch" from the internet, with these nice little "cites" that have all these numbers and letters and I don't understand what they mean and I can't find the stuff OR don't know if I am finding the right stuff when I DO find some stuff....
Here's the cases (as written in the letter I received requesting them...) Can someone explain the little "cites" and give me any direction in the best way to find this stuff?!? How can I tell if it's what I need.... (I am sending this stuff to another inmate who is helping JD write some grievances...) Any help is appreciated... I will apologize in advance for being a moron!!

Jones El v. Berge, 164 F.Supp.2d 1096

Ruiz v. Johnson, 37 F.Supp.2d 855; in RE G.O., 727 N.E. 2d 1003

People v. Prude, 363 N.E.2d 371; in RE L.L., 693 N.E>2d 908

????????????

[38special]

Ms. jdswifey02:
I will do the best that I can in helping you, but I feel confident that your help is with a law literate person such as a law student at some college. Think about this idea, go to the university in your area that teaches a law ciriculum (law school). These guys love strutting their stuff with their law capabilities. I believe a little direction at a law text and a law dictionary will put you on the top of all law questions. Some law libraries have librarians that are extremely helpful in guidance and material recognition. Try this idea and let me know your results.................38 Special........................

[KConnor56]

38 special is right, law students love to show off what they know.

I did a quick scan to see if anything would pop up & I got something, but I need to check it out further. Give me a day or two & I'll have some info for you, I just don't know how much.-------Ken

[KConnor56]

jdswifey,

OK, heres what I found out it didn't take anywhere near as long as I thought.

Jones El v. Berge: This case is from wisconsin & has to do with conditions in their supermax prison.

People v. Rude: is an Illinoise case having to do with interogations of juveniles arrested for a crime.

Ruiz v. Johnson: This is a big one. This case has been going through the courts in one form or another for 20 years. This case is one of the ones cited for the backlash against prisoner lawsuits, & for Clinton signing the PLRA (prisoner litigation reform act), This was one of the first cases that caused courts to actually get involved into how prisons were run. It's a Texas case. It has to do with conditions in Texas Ad Seg, & mental health & psychiatric care in the institution.
The case against Texas was so strong the Federal Government joined Ruiz in suing the state. The Judge also allowed it to be a class action suit for all Texas prisoners. Needless to say Texas was pissed!!

I have more details to tedius & long to post here. If you want to you can e-mail me & we can go over them further. I don't know what your looking for.

Hope this helps----Ken

[DJohnson]

Ken...

You are a wonder in finding legal stuff out!! I sure could have used your expertise when I was looking for cases & even a few civil suit lawyers for EJ. Actually I may need some assistance in the near future for some "tough" civil suit lawyers in EJ's police brutality lawsuit.

JDs...

Girl I am just like you when it comes to legal stuff!! Talking to lawyers for EJ a while back was the pits, I felt STOOPID when they got their "lawyer lingo" going!! I was like SPEAK ENGLISH please, small words....haa haa!!
If I can find anything more, I will let ya know!!

[soraya]

would law students be allowed to use a real case and prepare it for parole, as a practise?

[jdswifey02]

Thanks for your help!! I found some stuff on the web too, but the "jail house lawyer" who is helping JD wanted me to get actual copies of these cases to send to him... I found a few official looking things on the internet for one of the cases, but still am not sure if it's what he wants/needs.... This is one of those times when I hate the fact that I work full time... the closest "real" university is an hour away... I WILL try to find SOME time to check out libraries here... I think there is a legal library at the country courthouse, but not sure if it is open to the public (you would think it would be..) But who knows if I will find a helpful soul there... I will keep you posted and if someone tells me something about what all those little letters and numbers mean I will share the info!!! Last night I was just sooooo frustrated!! I am feeling reassured now!! Thanks!! Look for an update soon (and keep your fingers crossed that all my kids will behave themselves for 24 hours so I can get a few hours to myself!!!)

[vnvdvc]

I believe those little numbers & letters refer to the series of books , volume, and page # in which you will find your case indexed??? Have fun figuring them out! Start w/ a legal reference guide or a book on legal research. Flip to the index and start digging. It is something I am looking into here at home for no particular reason. But it really only seems to put me to sleep. Let me know what you find out!

[jdswifey02]

Well... here's the update... my kids DID manage to maintain on Friday and I had a little time to make a trip to the county courthouse where there is a law library..... Once I started wandering around in the stacks, the citations made perfect sense and I found it very easy to find exactly what I needed!!!
To translate (just in case others would find the info useful...)

Ex: Jones El. v. Berge, 164 F.Supp.2d 1096

the "Jones El. v. Berge" is obviously the case name....
"164" is the volume number on the book
"F.Supp." means 'Federal Supplementary' (which is also printed right on the book)
"2d" is the 'series' (again right on the book)
and "1096" was the page number in that book that the case started on....

In some of the other cases, the "in RE G.O." was in place of a case name, because when the case involved a juvenile, they can't use the name....

And the "N.E." means 'North East', because in addition to the 'Federal Supplementary', litigation through the rest of the country is divided and recorded by regions....

I would DEFINITELY recommend a field trip to the county courthouse to see if they have a law library if you are interested in seeing a case... I found that the full cases were VERY interesting and included a lot of details that the summaries that I found online didn't include.... these little "citations" are pretty standard and are used when referencing a case within a case....

Even though I eventually figured it out... thanks to everyone who responded and helped.... I had been so frustrated I was ready to give up and y'all kept me going!!

[Shortie]

I LOVE TO GO TO THE LAW LIBARAY I HAVE TO GO LATER THIS WEEK SO I AM GOING TO SEE IF I CAN FIND SOME MORE CASES THAT WILL HELP OUT JD.. IF I DO I WILL EMAIL YOU WITH THEM.. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS.. LOVE YA,

[38special]

Ms. jdswifey02:
Good job! You have broke the ice to a new world. Carry on, you may become a lawyer yourself. You could be the court appointed that did the most for all your clients. Closely watch the wording for inside of the case discussion as the lawyer represented the case in its trial. He/she refers to other cases of major importance. Find those cases also for they are what is called the "precedence" of the case. Cases are won by the "preponderence" of evidence; meaning the most argument weight) for the point you argue. .........38 Special......................................... .................................