...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...
Words: 1118 - Pages: 5
...BRIEFING THE CASE WRITING ASSIGNMENT CHAPTER 25 BY District of Columbia v. Howell 607 A.2d 501 (D.C. App. 1992) District of Columbia Court of Appeals Strayer University Online Campus Memphis, TN December 3, 2009 1. Case Name, Citation, and Court District of Columbia v. Howell 607 A.2d 501 (D.C. App. 1992) District of Columbia Court of Appeals 2. Key Facts A. The Murch School Summer Discovery Program was designed to provide hands-on education for gifted and talented eight and nine year old children. (Cheeseman, 2009). B. The program was started in 1985 when the Murch school principal, Ms. Gill, attended a reception at Mt. Vernon College given by Greg Butta, a Ph.D. candidate at the American University, to publicize the success of a summer program he conducted at Mount Vernon (Cheeseman, 2009). C. After expressing interest in the program and several discussions, Mr. Butta submitted a formal proposal to Ms. Gill to conduct a similar program at the Murch School (Cheeseman, 2009). D. Gill made changes to the proposal, then solicited and received approval for the program from the Assistant Superintendent for the District of Columbia Public Schools (Cheeseman, 2009). E. Brochures for the program drawn up by Butta were sent home with the Murch School pupils and mailed out, under school letterhead...
Words: 1275 - Pages: 6
...Case 1: Contingencies 1. For the year-end December 31, 2007, financial statements, what amount should M record as a liability? ASC 450-20-25-2 states that: An estimated loss from a loss contingency shall be accrued by a charge to income if both of the following conditions are met: a. Information available before the financial statements are issued or are available to be issued indicates that it is probable that an asset had been impaired or a liability had been incurred at the date of the financial statements. Date of the financial statements means the end of the most recent accounting period for which financial statements are being presented. It is implicit in this condition that it must be probable that one or more future events will occur confirming the fact of the loss. b. The amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. According to ASC 450-20-25-2, M International should accrue the liability for the loss contingency and disclose the liability within their year-end December 31, 2007 financial statements. ASC 450-20-30-1 determines what amount should be accrued and disclosed if both conditions are met in ASC 450-20-25-2. ASC 450-20-30-1 specifies that: If some amount within a range of loss appears at the time to be a better estimate than any other amount within the range, that amount shall be accrued. Therefore, M International should record the $17 million as the liability for the contingency because it is the most likely amount within the range of $15 million to...
Words: 749 - Pages: 3
...Sexual Harassment by His Female Employer Karl L. Wuensch and Charles H. Moore East Carolina University Abstract College students (N = 324) served as mock jurors in a simulated civil case in which a male plaintiff accused a female defendant of sexual harassment. The physical attractiveness of the litigants was experimentally manipulated. Mock jurors were asked to decide whether the defendant was guilty or not and to rate their certainty of belief in the defendant's guilt. Jurors were more certain of the guilt of the defendant when the plaintiff was attractive than when he was unattractive. Plaintiff attractiveness significantly affected female jurors’ verdicts when the defendant was unattractive, but not when she was attractive. With male jurors, plaintiff attractiveness significantly affected their verdicts when the defendant was attractive, but not when she was unattractive. Female jurors were more likely than male jurors to conclude that sexual harassment did take place, but only when the litigants were different in attractiveness. Effects of Physical Attractiveness When Evaluating a Male Employee’s Allegation of Sexual Harassment by his Female Employer Physically attractive people are perceived in a more positive fashion than are the physically unattractive (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972). This stereotype has been shown to lead to more lenient sentencing of attractive defendants than of unattractive defendants, in both simulated and actual trials (Mazella...
Words: 4736 - Pages: 19
...the scene. This essay will apply concepts of organizational behaviour to events of the movie. Particular attention will be paid to the concepts of perception, attribution biases, decision making, leadership and group dynamics. In order to do so, the essay will move along the plot of the movie and apply concepts where there are fit. None the less for the purpose of referencing a brief introduction to the movie and its characters is given here: The plot of 12 Angry Men describes the events that take place as a jury has come to a unanimous decision. The defendant is accused of homicide. If the jury decides upon a verdict of ‘guilty’ the judge will inevitably sentence the accused to death penalty. In the beginning all jurors but juror no. 8 are willing to verdict ‘guilty’ without debating. However juror no. 8 states he will verdict ‘not guilty’. The group is then forced to discuss and reconsider. In the end of the movie juror no. 8 is able to get all other jurors to verdict ‘not guilty’. His main antagonist is juror no. 3. Analysis Group Structure and Development At the beginning of the movie the group of jurors is homogenous in every aspect. It consists of mostly mid age...
Words: 2175 - Pages: 9
...The Art of Persuasion By Eric Pratt English 1010 Eric Pratt English 1010 Tues, Thurs 09/28/2010 The Art of Persuasion The film “Twelve Angry Men” is a good resource when analyzing methods of persuasion. In this film a jury meets together to give the verdict of a murder trial. With the evidence presented in court there was no reasonable doubt among the jurors, except one, that the young man on trial killed his father. It was juror number 8, also known as Davis, who was hesitant at putting someone to death without talking about it. In a room where everyone is on the defense of proving the other wrong Davis was able to gather his own army out of those that were not even on his side in defense of the boy whose life was on the line. This film displays perfect examples of persuasion like admitting that one can be wrong and displaying information in a timely and organized manner. On the other hand it also displays bad examples of persuasion like losing one’s temper and not listening to everything one has to say. Despite the good and bad methods of persuasion used by Davis and his fellow jurors, it still turned out to be the best strategy of convincing everyone on the jury in this film to his way of thinking. Throughout the movie Davis demonstrated that he wasn’t sure if he was guilty or not. He had a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, but was still unsure of his innocence. In the beginning of the movie he was asked, “So you think he’s innocent?” He responded, “I...
Words: 1226 - Pages: 5
...achieving a goal of determining someone’s guilt or innocence, the men face many of the challenges that come with having to deal with group communication, such as working with strangers, successfully interacting with them, and having uncooperative members, among other challenges involving the elements of group communication. First of all, the 12 individual members of the group of jurors had to move past the awkwardness that comes with primary tension. In accordance to Tuckman’s Group Development Stages, during the jurors forming stage many of the jurors seemed to feel uncomfortable working with the other members of the jury. Some of the members were evidently uninterested in even working with the group to achieve the group’s goal. For example, Juror 7 and Juror 12 were the most expressive of their lack of interest as Juror 7 just wanted to get a verdict in so that he would be able to go to his much anticipated baseball game, while Juror 12 would started with talking about topics that were off task, clearly showing that he was not taking the case very seriously. Furthermore, it didn’t help that the men had to deal with some external noise caused by the really hot weather. The context of the group’s communication could have also been a factor in their primary tension, as they couldn’t get the only fan in the room they were in to work and even the...
Words: 1487 - Pages: 6
...Juror 3- angry, loud opinionatedJuror 4- opinionated, nervous motion (he tends to pace the room), serious, logicalJuror 5- reasonable, uses his own experiences to make his arguments.Juror 9- would be seen as the mediator, the man who brings harmony to the process. He is older, retired, and he stands up for what he believes in without flinching.Jurors 12 and 7 are the followers of the group. They simply go along with whoever is talking at the moment.Juror 2- calm, shy, quietJuror 10- angry, loud, prejudicedBackgroundThe movie 12 Angry Men begins with a boy who is on trial for murder of his father. The jury, comprising of 12 men is locked in a room to decide the verdict of the case. 11 out of the 12 jurors are convinced that the boy is guilty, however one juror believesthat there is reasonable doubt for the boy to not be guilty. In the rest of the movie, the jury discusses the case and slowly the juror who believes the boy is not guilty, convinces the rest that there is reasonable doubt in the case.Communication barriersJuror 1 – This juror takes the lead and tries to keep the discussion in order. He tries to be fair to all jurors despite thinking the boy to be guilty.Juror 3 – This juror’s argument lies on his own prejudices and life experiences. He comes across as very angry, loud, opinionated and aggressive. He uses definite words like “I know”, “You can’t” etc. He fails to listen to the other jurors and stubbornly stick to his stand.Juror 4 – This juror tries to bring logic...
Words: 440 - Pages: 2
...provide information on the court process of criminal and civil cases and the possibility of many different verdicts including one from a criminal court stand point. In July 1997, Geneva Hager, an Allstate policyholder was involved in a rear end auto accident resulting in neck and back injuries. The claimant’s auto insurance paid out to Allstate and Ms Hager, his policy limit of 25,000 for body injury. Therefore in December 1999, her claim was closed with Allstate and her injuries had been compensated as from Allstate’s point of view. However, Ms Hager disagreed, she retain an attorney and filed a lawsuit against Allstate stating that they did not handle her claim in bad faith per the insurance contract. She proclaimed the claim process was prolonged in order to make her accept a low settlement for her body injuries. Ms Hager and her attorney demanded 475 million dollars for mental anguish and 950 million in punitive damages to be paid out (Orbitz, 2007). Ms Hager’s attorney gathered information about Allstate policy contract also with some replicas of their claims handling manuals to build their case. Allstate did the same by reviewing Ms Hager‘s claim and several similar ones to ensure the claim handling process was followed, along with a copy of Ms Hager current policy with them. The case was taken to civil court based on the nature of the dispute to be heard by a jury of Ms. Hager’s Peers. Each party present their cases with supporting documents included. Ms. Hager medical...
Words: 654 - Pages: 3
...that he did not commit. He stands before a jury of 12 women and men, complete strangers to him and his case. These jurors have the man’s life in their hands, and none of them have any experience with the law. The man is charged guilty without any discourse. He will spend the rest of his life in an overcrowded, poorly funded prison with no chance of rehabilitation or parole. This man is just one of thousands that are wrongfully convicted during jury trials every year. Would his fate have differed if the judge, who had been through law school and had plentiful knowledge about how the laws work, had made the decision instead of the strangers? The jury system in America is outdated, causes...
Words: 697 - Pages: 3
...Rose’s remarkable 1954 play, portrays the trial of the accused, a 16 year old boy from the slums of New York, who will face death as a result of a guilty verdict. Consequently, twelve jurors attempt coming to a unanimous decision. Although justice is ultimately secured, prejudice is an evident theme in the play. Twelve Angry Men explores personal prejudice in the justice system by revealing how preconception overwhelms the juror’s ability to see reason, by the jurors presenting opinions rather than evidence and by demonstrating stereotypical qualities which threatens to derail the process. PARA 1: Preconception overwhelms the juror’s ability to see reason. The defendant was at a serious disadvantage and was a victim of prejudice even before the court case. The majority of the jurors were ready to convict the accused, not purely due to the arguments presented by the prosecution but due to the 16 year old being a member of a low societal ranking. Many of the men enter the jury room with preconceived opinions and irrational ideas. For example, the 3rd Juror is against the accused due to an unhealthy relationship with his own son. This is demonstrated when he exclaims ‘I know him. What they’re like. What they do to you. How they kill you every day.’ Therefore the 3rd juror fails provide his arguments to the rest of the jury because his decision is based on emotions. Rose demonstrated the importance of keeping an open-mind rather than of holding pre-formed and generalized opinions...
Words: 595 - Pages: 3
...found in her burning home. Medical examiner determined that the victim was stabbed a minimum of 211 times before being decapitated and set on fire. Issues Defense for McLaughlin is arguing that the defendant is not guilty because of serious mental disease or defect. Defendant was found competent to stand trial, despite defense attorney’s stating she was not competent. “Under Alabama law the defendant's attorneys have to prove to a judge or a jury that she is not able to assist in her own defense and does not have a "reasonable degree of rational understanding" of the facts and the court proceeding” (Lawson, 2012, para. three). Decision The decision from the jury was the Kimberly McLaughlin was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her mother in 2009 and found not guilty of arson charges that were filed along with the murder charges by Madison County. Reasoning The jury stated that the defense could not prove that the defendant was mentally ill or had mental defect. Opinion I have to disagree with the jury’s verdict on one side on the other the defense attorney should have worked harder to prove that the defendant suffered from mental illness. US v. Blagojevich Facts Rod Blagojevich was being charged on criminal charges. Rod Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President Obama’s Senate seat one day after it opened. Phone taps and email records revealed that Blagojevich was heard attempting to sell above said seat. Found guilty on 10 charges of...
Words: 771 - Pages: 4
...Twelve Angry Men This play is about twelve jurors who are to decide the verdict of a 19 year old boy who is accused of killing his father. The jurors go into a room with the foreman to talk about the case and decide on a verdict. The vote has to be unanimous either guilty or not guilty for the case to end. To start the deciding, the jurors decide to take a preliminary vote to see where they stand. After counting the ballots the vote is 11 to 1, guilty. Juror number eight is the one who votes not guilty. The reason that juror eight voted not guilty was because he was not sure that the boy was guilty and he wanted to talk about it. One of the jurors decided to take a minute for each juror to tell their side of the story and what they personally think about the case. After a lot of main points were made such as there being two of the identical knives, the woman in her apartment saying she saw the murder take place through the window of the El train, and how the old man said that he heard the boy say that he was going to kill his father and then went to his door to see the boy run down the stairs. After all of this has taken place they decide to take another vote. The verdict is still 11 to 1 in the favor of guilty. Juror eight is now going over the time periods of when the woman said she saw the murder. Juror eight is also trying to explain how the man could not have seen the boy run down the stairs because the old man would not have had enough time to get out of bed. After juror...
Words: 2037 - Pages: 9
...group beforetheir first vote. 12 Angry Men tells the story of a jury made up of twelve men as they discussthe guilt or innocence of a defendant, referred to as the boy, on the basis of reasonabledoubt. The film explores many negotiation techniques, and the difficulties encountered in amulti-party negotiation process where the common goal is to try to reach a unanimousconclusion. The paper will cover the range of bargaining and negotiation styles used among thegroup of men whose personalities add to the intensity of the conflict. This paper will skillfullyfollow the influence weapons and negotiation fouls of each Juror one by one as the negotiationflows from nearly a unanimous guilty verdict to an absolutely unanimous non-guilty verdict. Juror #1Either through volunteering or chronological delegation, juror #1 was the foreman of the groupand tasked with leading the discussion, which quickly turns into a quite interesting negotiation.He was not very assertive, especially when it came to his role of authority, offering to give it upto anyone that would want it. He was however, highly cooperative, making sure the trial wasfair and all the other jurors were heard. Overall he was non-resistant and had anaccommodating negotiation style. His target point was running the trial based on how everyoneelse wanted to run it, which included an initial vote of guilty, and his reservation point wasreaching a verdict through a fair negotiation.When he firsts begins the negotiation he...
Words: 6837 - Pages: 28
...of the ‘truth’ by contrasting each conflicting perspective of the jurors with each other on whether the 16 year old boy murdered his father. Extreme prejudices are stated ironically - Juror 10 is prejudiced against anyone coming from a slum ‘the kids who crawl outa those places are real trash…these people are born to lie.’ This is juxtaposed with Juror 8’s comment near the end of the film with “no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth.’ The film plays off the two-sided nature of justice by each character wanting justice, but ‘justice’ becomes unclear and fluid throughout the course of the drama. Juror 8 dismisses the guilty verdict with the exclamation ‘it’s possible’ demonstrating the need for objectification in finding the ‘truth’. The film does not reveal names of the jurors that serve to distance us from each jury member thus inviting us to objectively scrutinise their individual prejudices and character traits. The camera angles explicitly represent and emphasise the evolving change in perspective of each juror as the ‘truth’ unfolds with low and wide-angle shots eventually replaced by close-ups all serving to emphasise the difficulty in obtaining ‘truth’. This is highlighted in the knife scene, where for Juror 3 the knife is ironclad evidence functioning as proof of the boy’s guilt, reinforced by the exclamatory statement “You all know he is guilty! together with the dramatic effect of stabbing the knife on the table to pinpoint his perspective. This...
Words: 284 - Pages: 2
