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Jury Nullification Paper

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Race-based jury nullification is a practice that has been around for many years and occurs when jurors oppose to the law and refuse to convict a defendant despite significant proof that the individual is guilty. The 14th amendment guarantees all persons no matter race or sex are allowed due process and equal protection from the law. This paper will provide detailed information about whether ethnicity influences courtroom proceedings and judicial practices, there will be arguments for and against ethnicity-based jury nullification, contemporary examples of ethnicity-based jury nullification and it will conclude by choosing a position for or against ethnicity-based jury nullification. We have seen many examples of suspected jury nullification through the “Bronx Juries”. “This term originally described a jury consisting mostly of minorities in the Bronx, New York that refuses to convict minority defendants. Today, “Bronx juries” are not limited to the Bronx but extend to other cities with large minority populations, such as Baltimore, Maryland” (Keneally, 2010, pg. 946). Race should never be a deciding factor during jury deliberation. Jurors should follow the full extent of the law, and should not put their personal beliefs before there civic duty as a juror.
When trying to decide whether or not ethnicity influences court room proceedings and judicial practices, the information was unable to provide definitive proof one way or the other. Some of the research that was found was still very interesting. “In a study of more than 5,000 male defendants across ten federal court districts, Albonetti et al. report that defendants with lower levels of education and income receive significantly more serious pretrial release decisions, controlling for community ties and dangerousness. Moreover, they report that white defendants benefited more from the (non-legal) effects of

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