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> Judges specifically filter out for people who know about jury nullification. I guess you mean subconsciously? Directly asking someone if they know about jury
by black_puppydog 9y ago
> Judges specifically filter out for people who know about jury nullification.
I guess you mean subconsciously? Directly asking someone if they know about jury nullification, then rejecting them on whatever grounds would intuitively sound very fishy to me. Rejecting them explicitely for knowledge of jury nullification would sound to me like a direct attack on the jury system itself. And I don't know how to find out if someone knows about it without asking them... Then again, I'm not a lawyer.
- kasey_junk 9y agoThere is case law suggesting that jurors can be removed if you suspect they are going to nullify the law. There is also case law supporting jury instructions against nullification and for preventing defense attorneys from using it as a tactic. I'd go so far as to say that there is an explicit bias against jury nullification in the courts system. The wikipedia article is particularly weak on this subject, but the reference list is good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification#United_Stat...
- lozenge 9y agoJuries' decisions have to be respected regardless of their reasoning, which is how "jury nullification" arose. However, they are supposed to only determine matters of fact (ie whether the defendant did something, rather than whether the law is just) and judges can deselect people who they don't trust to give an honest verdict based on fact alone. So, judges deselecting such people is actually preserving the jury system, not attacking it.
- ergothus 9y agoSee my other comment where a judge explicitly asked me about jury nullification. I know of no reason they can't ask, and voir dire allows both prosecution and defense the option to exclude some potential jurors without saying why.