Since 1968, all Pennsylvania courts have been organized under the Unified Judicial System. The highest court in the state is the supreme court, which, having been established in 1722, is the oldest appellate court in the US. The supreme court consists of seven justices, elected to ten-year terms; the justice with the longest continuous service on the court automatically becomes chief justice. In general, the supreme court hears appeals from the commonwealth court. A separate appellate court, called the superior court, hears appeals from the courts of common pleas. There are 15 superior court judges, also elected to 10-year terms, as are the commonwealth and common pleas, which have original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases not otherwise specified.
In counties other than Philadelphia, misdemeanors and other minor offenses are tried by district justices, formerly known as justices of the peace. The Philadelphia municipal court consists of 22 judges, all of whom must be lawyers; the six judges who constitute the Philadelphia traffic court need not be lawyers. Pittsburgh's magistrates' court, appointed by the mayor, comprises five to eight judges who need not be lawyers. All of Pennsylvania's judges, except traffic court judges and Pittsburgh's magistrates, are initially elected on a partisan ballot and thereafter on a nonpartisan retention ballot.
Pennsylvania's overall crime rate in 2001 was 2,961.1 per 100,000 people, including a total of 50,432 violent crimes and 313,408 crimes against property in that year. In June 2001, there were 37,105 inmates held in state and federal correctional facilities, an increase of 1.3% over the previous year. The state's incarceration rate stood at 302 per 100,000 population.
Pennsylvania imposes the death penalty and executed three persons between 1977 and 2003. In 2003, there were 244 persons under sentence of death.