...Jury Nullification In the American criminal justice system, the jury plays a significant role in the fate of a defendant who is on trial. The jury’s role is to evaluate the facts presented by both the prosecution and the defense, and decide whether those facts are substantial enough to convict, or not to convict, a person of the crime for which they are accused. This has been a cornerstone of American justice since before the country’s birth. The right of a trial by a jury of peers is an inalienable right guaranteed to everyone, and is protected by the Constitution. The rights of a jury are also inherent. A jury has a right to nullify, or disregard, the instructions of a court and the facts of a case in coming to a decision. Oftentimes, however, juries are intentionally not informed of this right. Many critics of jury nullification claim that its excercise and application leads to a lawless society (Scheflin, Van Dyke, 1991: 424). California’s jury instructions state that the jury must perform their duty uninfluenced by pity or sentiment for a defendant or passion or prejudice against them, while Maryland’s jury instructions state that while the facts about what the law says are meant to be helpful they may disregard them as they see fit (Bonsignore, et al:428). The practice of jury nullification in the United States dates back to the colonial period of our nation. In 1735, John Peter Zenger was arrested by the British government and charged...
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...Courtroom: Ethnicity Based Jury Nullification Josi Barth CJA/344 November 18, 2014 Bernice Baver Unfair Practices in the Courtroom: Ethnicity Based Jury Nullification On the television today, many of the most dramatic parts of the programming revolve around courtroom proceedings. An overzealous prosecutor asking tough and often damning questions to a pitiful guilty looking defendant is the main focus for the audience. The part that is often unseen and overlooked is ethnicity and the role it plays in the criminal justice system when it comes to courtroom proceedings and judicial practices. When it comes to these situations, there appears to be a certain amount of bias or indifference to minority citizens (The Criminology and Criminal Justice Collective of Northern Arizona University, 2009). Because of these biases, many minorities have little to no confidence in the court systems and subsequently are less likely to bring his or her case to court. For a further look into how ethnicity influences courtroom proceedings and judicial practices, one can analyze arguments for and against ethnicity based jury nullification and contemporary examples of jury nullification. Jury nullification is defined as the process that allows juries to acquit when the facts of the case suggest a conviction. This allows citizens to play a larger role in deciding guilt and who is punished (Mcnamara & Burns, 2009, Chapter 11). Ethnicity based jury nullification occurs when a defendant...
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...Jury Nullification Amanda Hughes, Casey Fazendin, Lorie Dixon, Marquita Gist, Vaishnovi Rajagopal CJA/344 Cultural Diversity Issues in Criminal Justice April 9, 2012 Major Williams Crime is an "action" or a behavior of an individual that violates the laws and faces consequences such as punishment. The relationship of crime and the laws are that society is governed by the government and created a set of laws which must be respected and by violating these set of laws would be considered as a "crime". Obviously, in these situations our criminal justice system plays an important role. "Criminal Justice refers to the aspects of social justice that concern violations of the criminal law". However, there are many people that still believe the criminal justice system is racially biased. Racial disparity and discrimination is one the most contentious concerns in our society since several decades. Jury Nullification is an act that “permits juries to acquit even when the facts of the case suggest they convict, and enables citizens to play more active role in determining justice and what/ whom should be punished” (Robert McNamara, 2009). In other words, Jury nullification consents the jury to return a non-guilty verdict when the defendant is certainly guilty. This paper scrutinizes on the pros and cons of race based jury nullification. Additionally, it describes against the race based jury nullification with proper evidences...
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...Jury Nullification Jury selection plays a significant role in the criminal justice system. Their primary role of the jury lies within the courtroom setting during criminal proceedings. These individuals are charged with the responsibility of hearing testimony from the prosecution and defense and also evaluating any evidence brought before the court. Their understanding and interpretation of all testimony and evidence greatly determine the final result of the trial, the verdict. In many circumstances a jury may dismiss the testimony and evidence and inject their own personal opinions regarding the law. This is known as jury nullification. Jury nullification permits juries to acquit even when the facts of the case suggest they convict, and thus enables citizens to play a more active role in determining justice and what or whom should be punished (McNamara & Burns, 2009, p. 265). Influence of Ethnicity within the Courtroom An individual’s race or ethnicity can have a substantial influence on courtroom proceedings and judicial practices. Many people, regardless of their own race, have preconceived notions of individuals that are charged with a criminal offense. Much of these preconceptions are fueled by the media, especially when these cases involve a white victim and minority perpetrator or vice versa. The media tends to glamorize and indulge these types of crimes because they equate to good ratings. Often times this media coverage finds its way into the courtroom and can...
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...Ethnicity and the Courts Tina Martin-Fleming CJA/344 August 28, 2014 Thomas Bullock Jury Nullification is the process that allows members of the juror to acquit a defendant for crimes they do not feel is grounds for punishment. Although, many jurors may not know this is an option to many cases, it is still an option. If citizens use this option in many of the courtroom proceedings, there will be fewer people who are serving time in prison. On the other hand, this does interfere with the decision- making process. This paper will explain whether ethnicity influences courtroom proceedings and judicial practices. It will summarize the arguments for and against ethnicity-based jury nullification. Including contemporary examples of ethnicity-based jury nullification and my position for or against ethnicity based jury nullification and the defense of that decision. Explain whether Ethnicity Influences Courtroom proceedings and Judicial Practices In today’s society ethnicity does have an effect on courtroom proceedings and judicial practices. Crime has increased significantly over the years particularly in poverty stricken areas that are more likely to have a higher rate of crime than those other areas. This issue has raised many concerns of this criminal behavior. Racial issue still and will always be an issue with the court system as long as we as a people keep it in existence. To eliminate these barriers would be to educate the police and all persons who are seeking Criminal...
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...their ethnicity due to their family member’s or particular followers. If the jury is particularly White/ Caucasian, and the defendant is African- American, there is generally a bias that people are racially condoning that individual to prison or jail time, but if the whole jury is African- American, the jury might have some leniency towards that particular individual to the point of reaching jury nullification (Kennedy, 1997). • Include contemporary examples of ethnicity-based jury nullification. One example of a contemporary jury nullification is a case that happened in Pennsylvania in 2009. The event happened in rural Pennsylvania. The case was about two teenage boys at the time, Derrick Donchak, 19, and Brandon Piekarsky, 17. They brutally killed a Mexican immigrant by kicking him while convulsing on the ground (Neiwert, 2009). The man they killed was named Luis Ramirez. The jury panel were all White and had strong roots against Mexican immigrants (Neiwert, 2009). The article mentions that even the judge and the community itself, showed signs of being racially biased towards Mexican immigrants. After deliberation the jury basically found the teens not guilty of any charges. Luis Ramirez died at the hospital two days after the incident and the teens walked free from any kind of prosecution (Neiwert, 2009). •Summarize the arguments for and against ethnicity-based jury nullification. Some of...
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...Jury nullification has become controversial as several prominent African American scholars encouraged Blacks to acquit other Blacks because of perceived mistreatment of African Americans by the courts and, more generally, by the criminal justice system (MacNamara & Burns, 2009). An example of a situation involving race-based jury nullification is the case against Lemrick Nelson Jr. Nelson, a black teenager, stabbed and killed a Jewish scholar, named Yankel Rosenbaum, in 1991. During his trial, he was acquitted of all charges. After the trial concluded, Nelson’s attorney invited the jury to dinner to celebrate the verdict. This case is a clear example of race-based jury nullification because the jury was composed mostly of Blacks. Throughout history, there have been many studies that concentrate on how Blacks view the criminal justice system, and most of them agree that they mistrust it. Furthermore, there is also the phenomenon of “in-group bias”, which explains how jurors are more inclined into favoring individuals of their own race. Racial sympathy plays some role in the deliberations of some jurors, but a recent survey of the empirical literature in the Nebraska Law Review also points to a more nuanced conclusion: in many cases, minority jurors tend to favor defendants, regardless of race because they are suspicious of policemen of all races (Rosen, 1992). Even if the jury thought they had saved Nelson from unjust punishment, their thoughtless celebration shows callousness...
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...Ethnicity-Based Jury Nullification Examples In California a jury convicted Ed Rosenthal in two-thousand three of growing marijuana which was a violation of federal law. During the case the jury did not know and was never allowed to hear that not only was Ed Rosenthal growing medical marijuana for medical patients, but he was growing and harvesting the marijuana for the city of Oakland, California. When the trial ended and the jury found out the true facts of the case they were outraged and the foreman of the jury was quoted in the New York Times as saying “it is the most horrible mistake I have ever made in my entire life.” Should Ed Rosenthal been convicted of growing marijuana? I feel that he should not have been convicted and the jury had a right to know the truth about which Ed Rosenthal was growing the marijuana for and for who it was being provided to. Another case would be that of Richard Paey of Florida, who is serving a twenty-five year prison sentence in Florida for distribution of a controlled substance. Richard Paey was a forty-six year old paraplegic man who became a paraplegic after being involved in a very serious car accident that badly damaged his back, and after having back surgery that did not go as planned, Richard Paey was left in indescribable amounts of pain. Richard Paey realized that He could relieve his pain by taking large amounts of opiate painkillers, but the amount of medication his doctor had prescribed him was not enough, and they could not...
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...|Week Three Paper |Max Pts |Your Pts | |Word Count |1 |1 | |APA |2 |2 | |Gram. Sp. Punct. |1 |1 | | | | | |Defining Terms |1 |1 | |Examples used |2 |2 | |Content |3 |3 | |TOTAL |10 |10 | Jury Nullification Paper Therese Carlon June 3, 2012 Joseph Mariconda The United States Declaration of Independence has been viewed over the first two centuries as one of the definitive government documents that spell out both racial and ethnic equality for all Americans. However, there is a section of this worthy document that refers to one of the foundational premises for our founding freedoms: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to...
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...Jury Nullification Paper April 25, 2011 Jury Nullification defined when juries believe a case is unjust or wrong and may acquit a defendant who violated the law. Jury nullification has been an option of a jury in the United States. The jury play a fundamental role in upholding and interpreting the laws the founders of American government outlined in that most sacred of documents. Today society find it imperative to question to what extent a jury may take these laws and make them their own. That a jury may so easily subject laws created through intense discussion and hindsight to so capricious a dismissal leads to question whether jury nullification, in fact undermines the rule of law imbedded in the American Constitution. Seen in this light it is not strange that the courts in the past and the present have discouraged it. At no time juries conferred with lawmaking authority, yet the repeated use of jury nullification results in the altercation of laws made by the proper government bodies. The over-use of jury nullification would result in the weakening of the American democratic system. Racial-based jury nullification has been an ongoing debate for quite some time. Though jury nullification involves members of the jury interpreting the law and coming up with an agreement of what they believe is the best solution...
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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...
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...Betty Waltermire Critical Issues in Criminal Justice JUS-250 April 19, 2014 Jury Nullification the Alternative Verdict In 1771, John Adams wrote, “It is not only the juror’s right, but his duty to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment and conscience, though in direct opposition to the instructions of the court” (Craig, 2010). No matter the way in which it is written the issue of jury nullification will never disappear. It seems that morality and law are in conflict. This is the beginning for jurors to feel the duty to prevent unfair or unjust criminal law on a person, the people are not willing to punish (Sheflin, 2001). Although the meaning of jury nullification has been written by numerous people and numerous courts have made rulings on jury nullification it still reads the same. Jury nullification occurs when a jury returns a verdict of “Not Guilty” despite its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation charged. The jury in effect nullifies a law that it believes is either immoral or wrongly applied to the defendant whose fate they are deciding (Linder, 2001). The Grand Jury in states has the job of determining probable cause existed and believes that the defendant actually committed the crime. This group of people holds an enormous amount of power; they can change an offense to a lesser offense, numerous counts to only one, and change a capital offense to...
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...week 3 Assignment Jury Nullification Paper-1 Get Tutorial by Clicking on the link below or Copy Paste Link in Your Browser https://hwguiders.com/downloads/cja-423-week-3-assignment-jury-nullification-paper-1/ For More Courses and Exams use this form ( http://hwguiders.com/contact-us/ ) Feel Free to Search your Class through Our Product Categories or From Our Search Bar (http://hwguiders.com/ ) In an online article Brandi Rivera said, “Jury nullification can simply be defined as a jury who believes the defendant is guilty of the charges but for their own reasons have decided to hand out a non-guilty verdict,” (Rivera, 2006, para. 1). This was a perfect definition of what jury nullification is. The question to now ask is do we agree with jury nullification or not and why? In order to answer that we would need to see what the pros and cons of jury nullification are and give some examples of jury nullification first. TO Download Complete Tutorial Hit Purchase Button CJA 423 week 3 Assignment Jury Nullification Paper-1 Get Tutorial by Clicking on the link below or Copy Paste Link in Your Browser https://hwguiders.com/downloads/cja-423-week-3-assignment-jury-nullification-paper-1/ For More Courses and Exams use this form ( http://hwguiders.com/contact-us/ ) Feel Free to Search your Class through Our Product Categories or From Our Search Bar (http://hwguiders.com/ ) In an online article Brandi Rivera said, “Jury nullification can simply be defined...
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...Urinalysis Introduction Homeostasis is the maintenance of constant conditions within the internal environment of the body in order to sustain health and functioning, despite changes in the external environment. The kidney, a principal regulator of the internal environment of the body, establishes homeostasis by regulating the concentration of ions, water and blood volume, pH balance of plasma, and through the elimination of the waste products of metabolism (Tilley, 2003). The functional unit of the kidney, the nephron, is composed of two key structures: the glomerulus and the renal tubule. The afferent and efferent arterioles supply blood to the glomerulus. As a network of capillaries, the glomerulus acts as a filtering unit by keeping normal proteins and cells in the blood while allowing the filtrate, which contains particles such as ions, sugars, and ammonia, to pass through to the glomerular capsule and exits into the renal tubule (Tilley, 2003). Glomerular filtration is regulated by blood pressure and osmosis. A decrease in blood pressure results in the release of renin by renal juxtaglomerular cells, which is transformed into angiotensin, ultimately causing vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction results in the increase of blood pressure, thus powering filtration (Ira, 2009). There are four distinct regions of the renal tubule through which the filtrate is modified prior to becoming urine: the proximal convoluted tubule, the loop of Henle, the distal convoluted...
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...Policing in United States Benjamin Quek CJA 344 University of Phoenix Community policing is essential if law enforcement is to face the challenge of promoting greater racial harmony as the future grows nearer. Community policing also prevents the police from being misused and taken advantage of as they have been in the past (Trojanowicz, 1991). Community policing contributes to the developing and improving the racial development in obvious and subtle ways (Trojanowicz, 1991). Community policing changes the possible relationship between police and residents. Community policing can provide and develop a relationship of one with respect and truth (Trojanowicz, 1991). Community Policing takes a different role to crime, drugs, and disorder, one that can augment and enhance traditional tactics, such as rapid response and undercover operations (Trojanowicz, 1991). Community policing allows direct contact with the people to the community. It gives the average citizen by allowing him or her to join as partners with the police in efforts to make his or her communities better and safer places in which to live and work. This builds a more trustworthy partnership between the citizens, community police, and police. Community officers have a stronger relationship with the citizens of their area since they have that face to face factor every day. Community police are also there to listen to the needs of people within their communities. Communities police can give the police...
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