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Is it true or false that when you sit on a jury, you may vote according to your own conscience? ... What John Adams is describing is called jury nullification. ... This can be seen through the evidence
about the attacks on jury nullification, then deliberating the effects this has on everyday life, and finally
reaching a verdict concerning the necessity of this process to the judicial system by presenting the
solutions to solve this problem.
But first we will take a look at the attacks and hindered use of this controversial idea and why
judges view it as jury anarchy.
The exact definition of jury nullification or jury independence is where a jury deliberately rejects the
evidence or the application of the law either because the jury wants to send a message about a social issue or because the result dictated by law is against the jurys idea of justice or morality. ...
In a trial by jury, it is the judges job to act as neutral legal body to the jury, starting with a a full and
truthful explanation of a jurors rights and responsibilities. ...
Supreme voted 7-2 to uphold the conviction in a case in which the trial judge refused the defense attorneys
request to let the jury know their nullification right. ... In an article
for Litigation Magazine from April 1999 titled, "Jury Nullificaiton: The Top Secret Constitutional Right",
Professor James Joseph Duane of Regent University said, "Judicial hostility to jury nullification goes well
beyond the stone wall of silence erected around the jury box. Case after case has proven that jury
instructions are inplied that jurors do not have such power at all."
Judges have worried that informing juries of this right will lead to jury anarchy, with jurors following
their own feelings, completely disregarding the law, and increasing the number of hung juries.Also some
judges have argued that informing jurors of their right to nulify places to much wieght on the jurors
shoulders--that is easier for the jury to decide simply the facts, not the complex issues that may be
presented in decisions about the appropriateness or morality of a law.
Approximate Word count = 1546
Approximate Pages = 6.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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