Jury Nullification In The Justice System

The key topic that is under debate throughout this paper is jury nullification and how its procedures work within the justice system, as well as some of its strengths and weaknesses. There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding jury nullification being used as a primary rectification in the justice system as it tends to make equal outcomes become unequal outcomes. Jury nullification is a process in which a jury reaches a verdict of not guilty despite the fact that the defendant is actually guilty of the actions he or she is being charged for. The jury nullifies a law that is believed to be immorally wrong or wrongfully applied to the defendant.
The Canadian justice system should recognize jury nullification in any case where there are harassment …show more content…
There is cases that are presented that are not necessarily justifiable to what the law says its right and wrong and there can be many factors that play into why a certain individual in a special case may not be guilty even though there is clear evidence that the crime was committed. It gives the jury a chance to plug in the factors of who, what, where, when and why and to treat each case as its own. Having the responsibility to use your own judgment holds great potential in a jury system as well as having a wide variety of people from different backgrounds leads to having a wide variety of opinions in a …show more content…
An example of this can be where a violent crime is committed by a police officer against a citizen and the individual committing the crime is deemed not guilty. Another example of where jury nullification can be vital is in a case where a police officer is inappropriately touching a woman and the women lashes out against the officer and is then charged with assaulting an officer. A jury can nullify the factors that come into play and can consider the fact that the police officer did inappropriately touch this woman and she does not deserve to be judged guilty for her actions. She is no harm to the public community but the police officer is thus deeming her innocent. Jury nullification does have potential and good intentions but there are two sides to it, it also can create potential dangers to the justice system as it has its flaws.
Racially based jury nullification has been an ongoing issue and debate for a considerable amount of time in the jury system. Even though jury nullification also has great potential to produce good outcomes and provide a defendant with a sense of equality, it can also bring in a lot of inequality and potential danger to disrupt the justice