Editing State court (United States) (section)

===Superior court===
All these courts are distinguished from courts of [[general jurisdiction]] (also known as "superior jurisdiction"), which are the default type of trial court that can hear any case which is not required to be first heard in a court of limited jurisdiction. Most such cases are civil cases involving large sums of money or criminal cases arising from serious felonies like rape and murder. Typically, felonies are handled in general jurisdiction courts, while misdemeanors and other lesser offenses are handled in inferior jurisdiction courts. Unlike most European courts (in both common law and civil law countries), American state courts do not usually have a separate court that handles serious crimes; jurisdiction lies with the court that handles all other felony cases in a given county. But, many state courts that handle criminal cases have separate divisions or judges assigned to handle certain types of crimes such as a [[drug court]], sometimes also known as a "problem-solving court".

Courts of general jurisdiction tend to be better funded, better staffed, more professional, more dignified, and more solemn than courts of limited jurisdiction.<ref name="Friedman_Page_57">{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Lawrence M. |last2=Hayden |first2=Grant |author1-link=Lawrence M. Friedman |title=American Law: An Introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780190460594 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2bJjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |access-date=December 3, 2023|edition=3rd}}</ref>  They also tend to have jurisdiction over larger geographical areas and more people.<ref name="Friedman_Page_57" /> 
 
A few states like [[California]] have unified all courts of general and inferior jurisdiction to make the judicial process more efficient.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} In such judicial systems, there are still ''departments'' of limited jurisdiction within the trial courts, and often these departments occupy exactly the same facilities they once occupied as independent courts of limited jurisdiction.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} However, as mere administrative divisions, departments can be rearranged at the discretion of each trial court's presiding judge in response to changing caseloads.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}