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In reply to the discussion: San Diego Mayor Urges Jury Nullification for MJ Dispensary Case [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)24. Ed Burns, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon and William F. Zorzi Jr
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1720240,00.html
As The Wire series wound down, writers for the series called for the American people to engage in jury nullification to fight the war on the war on drugs.
Jury nullification is American dissent.
As The Wire series wound down, writers for the series called for the American people to engage in jury nullification to fight the war on the war on drugs.
...Yet this war grinds on, flooding our prisons, devouring resources, turning city neighborhoods into free-fire zones. To what end? State and federal prisons are packed with victims of the drug conflict. A new report by the Pew Center shows that 1 of every 100 adults in the U.S. and 1 in 15 black men over 18 is currently incarcerated. That's the world's highest rate of imprisonment.
Our leaders? There aren't any politicians Democrat or Republican willing to speak truth on this. Instead, politicians compete to prove themselves more draconian than thou, to embrace America's most profound and enduring policy failure.
"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right," wrote Thomas Paine when he called for civil disobedience against monarchy the flawed national policy of his day. In a similar spirit, we offer a small idea that is, perhaps, no small idea. It will not solve the drug problem, nor will it heal all civic wounds. It does not yet address questions of how the resources spent warring with our poor over drug use might be better spent on treatment or education or job training, or anything else that might begin to restore those places in America where the only economic engine remaining is the illegal drug economy. It doesn't resolve the myriad complexities that a retreat from war to sanity will require. All it does is open a range of intricate, paradoxical issues. But this is what we can do and what we will do.
If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.
Our leaders? There aren't any politicians Democrat or Republican willing to speak truth on this. Instead, politicians compete to prove themselves more draconian than thou, to embrace America's most profound and enduring policy failure.
"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right," wrote Thomas Paine when he called for civil disobedience against monarchy the flawed national policy of his day. In a similar spirit, we offer a small idea that is, perhaps, no small idea. It will not solve the drug problem, nor will it heal all civic wounds. It does not yet address questions of how the resources spent warring with our poor over drug use might be better spent on treatment or education or job training, or anything else that might begin to restore those places in America where the only economic engine remaining is the illegal drug economy. It doesn't resolve the myriad complexities that a retreat from war to sanity will require. All it does is open a range of intricate, paradoxical issues. But this is what we can do and what we will do.
If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.
Jury nullification is American dissent.
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And thats why the Fully Informed Jury Association exists! www.fija.org
TampaAnimusVortex
May 2013
#44
If you believe that the law is unjust, you wouldnt get on the jury. The prosecutor will ask you
rhett o rick
May 2013
#7
He doesnt have to make a big issue out of it, just tell Holder to back off. I doubt it would be
rhett o rick
May 2013
#32
Sorry my point wasnt better presented. If Pres Obama was in favor of letting the states
rhett o rick
May 2013
#43
I guarantee that will happen in this case. But it's not necessary. The prosecutor will always
rhett o rick
May 2013
#13
I agree but the discussion was about "jury nullification". I dont think that's an option. Sure you
rhett o rick
May 2013
#33
If you believe the law is unjust, then you would be lying if you said you could convict.
rhett o rick
May 2013
#37
What the judge will say is that if the prosecutor proved that the defendant was
rhett o rick
May 2013
#40
So, in your opinion, the crime has one and only one element? That's not how it works.
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#41
"So, in your opinion..." What? Are you telling me what my opinion is? We are way off the original
rhett o rick
May 2013
#42
Jury nullification has a long history in this country, including helping to defeat the Fugitive
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#52
There is a question mark after the sentence because a question is being asked. I'm asking for your
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#49
That sounds wonderful, however, explain how jurors with that in mind get past
rhett o rick
May 2013
#59
Explain how someone gets seated on a jury if they believe the law is unjust. The prosecutor will ask
rhett o rick
May 2013
#61
Again, what would a prospective juror (that thinks the law is unjust) say when asked
rhett o rick
May 2013
#79
At the federal level, the judges commonly ask the questions of prospective jurors, not prosecutors.
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#77
Because I'm a fair and open minded person, I would like to volunteer for jury duty.
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#18
Southerners have engaged in jury nullification on and off for years. Failing to convict a white
byeya
May 2013
#23
Jury nullification began much earlier in the North when juries refused to convict under the Fugitive
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#53
Ed Burns, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon and William F. Zorzi Jr
RainDog
May 2013
#24
So smoking a little weed warrants trashing the first amendment. I wonder what Geo.Washington
byeya
May 2013
#38
The DOJ guidelines for the discretionary enforcement of the law can be found here:
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2013
#54
Adhering to current law also lets criminals walk free and sends innocent people to jail
RainDog
May 2013
#75
What, that juries should uphold the law? I'm sorry you think that's "strident".
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#71