I was looking around Facebook today when I ran across the following article about jury nullification by J. P. Crawford on the What is Normalcy in an Abnormal Society? page.
There are lots of jury nullification comments, statuses, and articles on Facebook, but I thought this one was especially clear and well-written.
The article is reproduced below or you can read the original article here. You can find more information about jury nullification on the Power to the Jury and Fully Informed Jury Association websites.
Jury Nullification
By J. P. Crawford
April 21, 2013
Did you know that a jury has the power to change laws through jury nullification? The people have a very important and powerful position in the American legal system. A jury has the discretion to acquit a defendant, regardless of their guilt, if they think that “law” is unjust and/or they do not think the defendant is deserving of punishment.
Jury nullification is an essential tool to thwart and possibly overturn bad “laws” that have been written and come into existence by the influence of lobbyist who represent corrupt corporations. “Behind every bad law is a trail of money that leads to lobbyists that represent powerful corporations. Corporations use the legal system literally to outlaw their competition through the enforcement of regulations, taxes, and fees that smaller businesses can’t afford.”[1]
Many victimless “crimes” were created because of the influence of corporations in which justice was not the motive. Corporations have one goal and that is profit. Jury nullification is key in guarding against these powerful entities. For example, there are countless men and women who have had there lives destroyed because of frivolous marijuana possession charges in which there was absolutely no victim. Many prisons today are privately owned and the corporations that own these prisons use there money to influence legislation. Of course these groups want stricter laws and longer jail terms as that increases their profits, all of which comes from the American taxpayer.
Remember, if you have the chance to participate in the legal system as a member of a jury you can acquit a defendant if you think the “law” is unjust. Not only will you be protecting one of your peers from injustice, but you will also be saving American taxpayers from unnecessary incarcerations. Furthermore, jury nullification can lead to a precedence in law. A precedence in law is: “a legal decision or form of proceeding serving as an authoritative rule or pattern in future similar or analogous cases.”[2] Jury nullification is a major weapon that the people can wield, it has, to a large degree, been concealed by those in the legal system. It is a guard against corrupt laws, against a system that is constantly bombarded by lobbyist, by money, power and greed. “Jury nullification of law,” as it is sometimes called, is a traditional right that was rigorously defended by America’s Founding Fathers. Those great men, Patriots all, intended the jury to serve as a final safeguard — a test that laws must pass before gaining sufficient popular authority for enforcement. Thus the Constitution provides five separate tribunals with veto power — representatives, senate, executive, judges — and finally juries. Each enactment of law must pass all these hurdles before it gains the authority to punish those who may choose to violate it.[3]
The legal system must be based on justice and the protection of the lives, the liberty, the property, and the happiness of the people who gave that system it’s power, and it’s legitimacy. The judicial branch of the government, like every branch of government, derived it’s power (jurisdiction) from the consent of the people. They were given this power for one purpose and that was for the protection of the rights previously mentioned. Outside of that role they were not granted any power, their jurisdiction is solely within those parameters.
“If a juror accepts as the law that which the judge states, then that juror has accepted the exercise of absolute authority of a government employee and has surrendered a power and right that once was the citizen’s safeguard of liberty.”[4]
Footnotes
- http://politicaloutcast.com/2012/10/how-juries-can-nullify-bad-laws/#ixzz2IvYp7glY
- http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/precedent
- http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/history-jury-null.html
- (1788) (2 Elliots Debates, 94, Bancroft, History of the Constitution, 267)
