[Jury Nullification] is when the jury in a criminal trial gives a verdict of not guilty even though they think a defendant has broken the law. The jury’s reasons may include the belief that the law itself is unjust
Until the wealthy and powerful are held to account, why punish your fellow everyday citizens? Use your brain. Decide if what they’re charging people with is suppression or actually keeping society safe.
When those prosecutors start losing these cases, maybe they will start to rethink who they are focusing on.
I will also warn that you are likely committing perjury when they ask at the jury if they have an inability or refusal to follow the instructions or the law of the judge. Now this is difficult to prove, but it’s not something risk free
You’d think so, but no. You cannot be punished as a juror for voting your conscience. So long as you don’t say “I intentionally lied during voir dire to sabotage due process” they cannot even ask you why you voted the way you did unless you volunteer for questions afterwards.
You’d be surprised at how stupid people can be. Obviously we’re all dancing around one case and I assure the members of that jury will be pestered about it for a long time after
I am actually not dancing around any case. I believe people should be aware of this in EVERY CASE as long as the rule of law is being unequally applied to us.
So the remedy to a system which applies the law unequally is to have juries apply the law unequally?
If the state acts in bad faith, why should the citizenry respond with good faith?
Obviously the citizenry should push back on a corrupt state, but that doesn’t mean that jurors should just make up the law because they like the defendant.
I didn’t say to make up laws. No one I have seen in this thread said to make up laws. Not clear on what you are talking about.
Legislation is made by governments, case law is made by judges when they issue rulings on cases.
A Jury’s role is to determine whether a defendant committed the acts they are charged with. If a Jury oversteps that role and undermines the judges ability to apply the law, they are literally making up the law.
Yeah, people can be stupid, but they can be less stupid if they know the things they should know. Hence this post.
I think you’d be hard pressed to find any lemmy users who did not already know about Jury Nullification, sadly however most users seem to have a poor understanding of it. As though Juries should just make up the law for cases they hear based on the vibe of the case.
Here again you discuss making up laws. That isn’t what this is.
That is not actually true.
The right to a jury trial is guaranteed to the accused by the constitution. You are empowered by that constitution. You owe a constitutional duty to the accused; not to the court, judge, or government.
The law is not limited to the acts of Congress and the States that the defendant is accused of violating. When the judge asks if you can follow the law, you are free to remember that the "Constitution is part of that law.* Where legislated law is in conflict with your constitutional responsibulity, your responsibility supersedes that legislation entirely.
If you actually believe that the person your judging does not deserve punishment, then this is a risk that you should be willing to take.