Jury as a Political Institution Jury functions more

Jury as a Political Institution • Jury functions more than simply as fact-finding body • Injects community evaluation of acts of alleged wrongdoing • Jury can offer protection from government oppression • Ambiguity in jury-both extends power of state through formal law and is vehicle for popular participation • Jury nullification-right to ignore the law as matter of conscience

Jury does more than… Determine the facts in a specific case and apply them the law l Reason that technological methods of finding the truth are inadequate is that juries inject the community’s snse of justice into a situation l Jurors must make judgments about the significance of facts and the fairness of applying these to law-truth serums etc. cannot do this l

Duncan v. Lousiana(1968) Defendant convicted of misdemeanor simple battery l No jury trial-convicted-appeal based on denial of right to jury trial-violating 6 th and 14 th amendment. l Court held that because right to jury trial is a “fundamental” right, states are required to guarantee it in all criminal cases-not petty offenses l Court recounts history of jury trials as critical to the protection against arbitrary rule l

De. Tocqueville l The jury system is as direct and as extreme a consequence of the sovereignty of the people as universal suffrage l Means of education of the people

Jury Nullification: The Right to Say No l Jurors have the inherent right to set aside the instructions of the judge and to reach a verdict of acquittal based on their own consciences l Debate over whether the defendant has the right to have the jury so instructed