{"id":1349,"date":"2020-06-15T05:57:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T12:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=1349"},"modified":"2020-06-15T05:57:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T12:57:04","slug":"a-new-slant-on-jury-nullification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=1349","title":{"rendered":"A New Slant on Jury Nullification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jury nullification is the theory that a jury should be able to render a verdict it believes is just notwithstanding what the law and the facts of the case may require.\u00a0 Most often, jury nullification is pushed by libertarians in the context of drug prosecutions.\u00a0 Under libertarian theory, drugs should be legal, and obstinate legislative refusal to repeal drug laws should be nullified by juries’ refusal to convict defendants in drug cases.\u00a0 An offshoot of the same theory is that juries should acquit because, even if drug laws are arguably acceptable in some circumstances, the punishments, particularly mandatory minimum sentences, are so wildly excessive that a justice-oriented jury should prevent their imposition.<\/p>\n

There are numerous problems with nullification theory.<\/p>\n

One is that it displaces law with will; why have a legislature at all if a random selection of 12 people is adequate to “enact” its own “law” as it feels moved to, one case at a time?\u00a0 A second is that nullification undermines one of the central purposes we have law to begin with, to wit, so that citizens will know what the rules are.\u00a0 If a pro-drug jury can acquit a defendant on the very same evidence an anti-drug jury would find warrants conviction, what’s left of the idea (inscribed above the Supreme Court) of Equal Justice Under Law?\u00a0 A third problem is that nullification is not, contrary to what nullifiers assume, guaranteed to benefit the accused over the state.\u00a0 Suppose the long-time town bully is on trial for his latest act of menacing, but the prosecution’s evidence comes up short.\u00a0 Is the jury free to ignore the law requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt because it believes (not without reason), that the defendant has had it coming for years, and even if the government didn’t quite get there in this particular case, what the heck, the just result is to give the bully the punishment he’s spent his life earning?<\/p>\n

The problems with nullification have been known for years, which is why the theory essentially goes nowhere (except on libertarian blogs).\u00a0 One of the most florid illustrations of its deficiencies lies simply in its history.\u00a0 We did<\/em> have nullification in this country\u00a0 —\u00a0 in the Jim Crow days of the Deep South, when juries simply refused to convict white defendants of even the most vicious and well-proven crimes against blacks.\u00a0 It’s hard to find a more vivid illustration of why displacing law with will is a bad idea.<\/p>\n

The mirror image of this kind of rank injustice has now shown up, however.\u00a0 As this story in the Washington Times<\/a> describes it:<\/p>\n

In response to the mistrial of a former South Carolina police officer accused of murdering a fleeing black man, the editor of a prominent legal site is calling on black jurors to acquit black defendants accused of, among other things, murdering white people.<\/p>\n

Elie Mystal, editor of Above The Law, said acquitting black defendants regardless of guilt would \u201cput the shoe on the other foot for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s time for black people to use the same tool white people have been using to defy a system they do not consent to: jury nullification,\u201d Mr. Mystal said in the op-ed published Wednesday. \u201cWhite juries regularly refuse to convict or indict cops for murder. White juries refuse to convict vigilantes who murder black children. White juries refuse to convict other white people for property crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s time minorities got in the game?\u201d he continued. \u201cBlack people lucky enough to get on a jury could use that power to acquit any person charged with a crime against white men and white male institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Mystal, a graduate of Harvard Law School, said the severity of the crime makes no difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cAssault? Acquit. Burglary? Acquit. Insider trading? Acquit,\u201d he said. \u201cMurder? \u2026 what the hell do you think is happening to black people out there? What the hell do you think we\u2019re complaining about when your cops shoot us or choke us? Acquit.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jury nullification is the theory that a jury should be able to render a verdict it believes is just notwithstanding what the law and the facts of the case may require.\u00a0 Most often, jury nullification is pushed by libertarians in the context of drug prosecutions.\u00a0 Under libertarian theory, drugs should be legal, and obstinate legislative refusal to repeal drug laws should be nullified by juries’ refusal to convict defendants in drug cases.\u00a0 An offshoot of the same theory is that juries should acquit because, even if drug laws are arguably acceptable in some circumstances, the punishments, particularly mandatory minimum sentences, are so wildly excessive that a justice-oriented jury should prevent their imposition. There are numerous problems with nullification theory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-procedure","category-equal-protection","category-jury-trials"],"yoast_head":"\nA New Slant on Jury Nullification - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=1349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Slant on Jury Nullification - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jury nullification is the theory that a jury should be able to render a verdict it believes is just notwithstanding what the law and the facts of the case may require.\u00a0 Most often, jury nullification is pushed by libertarians in the context of drug prosecutions.\u00a0 Under libertarian theory, drugs should be legal, and obstinate legislative refusal to repeal drug laws should be nullified by juries’ refusal to convict defendants in drug cases.\u00a0 An offshoot of the same theory is that juries should acquit because, even if drug laws are arguably acceptable in some circumstances, the punishments, particularly mandatory minimum sentences, are so wildly excessive that a justice-oriented jury should prevent their imposition. 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