Jury nullification

Garcia August 26th, 2017 A recent episode of Radiolab, titled “Null And Void,” discussed the issue on jury nullification. As the podcast progresses, it explained that jury nullification is when a defendant is in clear guilt of breaking the law, but the jury feels the defendant is not guilty and the law is unjust. Throughout the episode, a variety of emotions were displayed on whether jury nullification is beneficial or dangerous to our court system. Some may defend it and state people have to…

laws that made people property? I hope not. The law no longer protected the people but the people protected the people. Jury nullification was used to acquit, or free someone from all charges. Would freeing a slave not be considered justice? In light of this information I can only hold true this statement. Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, jury nullification ought to be used in the face of perceived injustice. I am now tasked with providing definitions to clarify the…

The Secret Power of Jury Nullification Response In the Podcast “The Life of the Law, Episode 1, The Secret Power of Jury Nullification”, Shannon Heffernan explains the often overlook power of jury nullification in the U.S. court system. She defines nullification as, when a jury is convinced that a defendant is guilty but find the defendant innocent anyway. Heffernan provides examples of cases throughout history that aid the idea that nullification among juries can potentially benefit…

The article, Racially Based Jury Nullification: Black Power in the Criminal Justice System is written by Paul Butler and in his essay he writes about four major topics describing the racial influence in jury decisions. He also writes about the ways in which we can prevent theses racial based jury decisions. In my essay, I will be summarizing Butler’s article and analysing the way he approaches the criminal cases against African-Americans. Furthermore, I will describe my opinion of the way he…

A Professor of Law at George Mason University wrote an article about the jury nullification in the Washington Post. In it he focuses of various aspects that make this process so interesting and contradicting. The author give his personal view on jury nullification and his initial attitude toward it. Jury nullification can be seen as a two edged sword, because it is not applied on constant and consistent basis. The author, Ilya Somin agrees that it can curb unjust laws, however it…

right to a jury trial has a central role in the American justice system that prevents unlawful acts from being continued. Thus, juries have a political significance outside the judicial branch. The jury system acts as a check on government power preventing government officials from making laws that are morally wrong. With the inclusion of everyday citizens in a trial, it fosters political and civil engagement among citizens. Juries uphold their political power with the use of jury nullification.…

capital crimes. With the law providing that no jury, once having recognized a criminal as guilty of a capital offense, could legally avoid the death penalty, by this time in the United States, capital punishment was not only widely accepted, but required. As a result of these conditions, if a jury collectively found a person guilty of a capital crime, but did not believe that the death penalty was an appropriate punishment, they would pursue jury nullification, in which the guilty criminal is…

Org. (1994, January 1). History of Jury Nullification. Retrieved from Constitution: http://www.constitution.org/jury/pj/fija_history.htm 2. Julian Heicklen. (2017, November 1). Jury Nullification . Retrieved from Personal.psu: http://www.personal.psu.edu/jph13/JuryNullification.html 3. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. (2008, January 1). Jury Nullification. Retrieved from The Free Dictionary: https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/jury+nullification History I. Pre1700…

assemble in the plaza area of Lindsey Flanagan Courthouse in downtown Denver. Occupiers protest for Jury Nullification and against Police Violence. Eric removed a piece of paper from his pocket entitled Ask Me About Jury Nullification and states “Jury nullification occurs when a jury returns a judgment of not guilty in spite of its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation charged. The jury in effect nullifies a law that it believes is wrongly applied to the defendant whose fate they…

Introduction The article Racially Based Jury Nullification: Black Power in the Criminal Justice system was written in December, 1995 in a Yale Law Journal by Paul Butler, and than later republished in 2015 in Introduction to Legal Studies. This article was published in North America, for academics in law stream, or anyone with an interest in law. The author poses different views on the racism in todays court rooms faced by African American, particularly by the men. In this essay, I will be…