The Secret Power of Juries

The Secret Power of Juries PDF Author: Gary Bauslaugh
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
ISBN: 1459405056
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Canadians know that the jurors at a trial decide the defendant's guilt or innocence according to the law of the land. What they don't know is how far that right actually goes, and what the real power of juries is. Sometimes people -- even jurors -- wonder if a law or a judgment in a particular case is a just one. When the law seems wrong, we are told there is only one solution: change the law. In fact, though, in our legal system there is another remedy: When jurors decide that to question the fairness of applying the law in the case they are deciding may lead to a manifestly unfair and unjust result, they have the right not to apply that law. However, in Canada it is illegal and completely forbidden for a trial lawyer, or even a judge to tell jurors they have this right to nullify the law. In the Canadian justice system, jurors can hand down a verdict of not guilty even if the facts pointing to guilt are clear, even if the accused doesn't deny the facts, even if the judge tells the jurors to find the accused guilty. This centuries-old safeguard, which goes along with the principle of jury independence, has protected people's rights and freedoms and helped sweep away laws that ordinary citizens think are outdated and unjust. This power of juries is known to the legal community -- but is largely unknown by the general public -- until now. Gary Bauslaugh, author of Robert Latimer, A Story of Justice and Mercy (Lorimer, 2010), learned the specifics of this matter as a result of his research around the Robert Latimer case. In his new book, written for non-expert readers and citizens who have been summoned for jury duty, he tells the story of jury nullification from Quaker leader William Penn to the modern-day acquittal of Henry Morgentaler, who was charged with conducting abortions. Bauslaugh then lays out the arguments that some people make against jury independence and nullification, and makes his own argument in favour of these safeguards. He offers suggestions for jurors who may find themselves in a situation where their consciences are at odds with the law.

The Secret Power of Juries

The Secret Power of Juries PDF Author: Gary Bauslaugh
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
ISBN: 1459405056
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Get Book

Book Description
Canadians know that the jurors at a trial decide the defendant's guilt or innocence according to the law of the land. What they don't know is how far that right actually goes, and what the real power of juries is. Sometimes people -- even jurors -- wonder if a law or a judgment in a particular case is a just one. When the law seems wrong, we are told there is only one solution: change the law. In fact, though, in our legal system there is another remedy: When jurors decide that to question the fairness of applying the law in the case they are deciding may lead to a manifestly unfair and unjust result, they have the right not to apply that law. However, in Canada it is illegal and completely forbidden for a trial lawyer, or even a judge to tell jurors they have this right to nullify the law. In the Canadian justice system, jurors can hand down a verdict of not guilty even if the facts pointing to guilt are clear, even if the accused doesn't deny the facts, even if the judge tells the jurors to find the accused guilty. This centuries-old safeguard, which goes along with the principle of jury independence, has protected people's rights and freedoms and helped sweep away laws that ordinary citizens think are outdated and unjust. This power of juries is known to the legal community -- but is largely unknown by the general public -- until now. Gary Bauslaugh, author of Robert Latimer, A Story of Justice and Mercy (Lorimer, 2010), learned the specifics of this matter as a result of his research around the Robert Latimer case. In his new book, written for non-expert readers and citizens who have been summoned for jury duty, he tells the story of jury nullification from Quaker leader William Penn to the modern-day acquittal of Henry Morgentaler, who was charged with conducting abortions. Bauslaugh then lays out the arguments that some people make against jury independence and nullification, and makes his own argument in favour of these safeguards. He offers suggestions for jurors who may find themselves in a situation where their consciences are at odds with the law.

Jury Nullification

Jury Nullification PDF Author: Clay S. Conrad
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1939709016
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The Founding Fathers guaranteed trial by jury three times in the Constitution—more than any other right—since juries can serve as the final check on government’s power to enforce unjust, immoral, or oppressive laws. But in America today, how independent c

The Secret Power of Juries

The Secret Power of Juries PDF Author: Gary Bauslaugh
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
ISBN: 1459405064
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Get Book

Book Description
Canadians know that the jurors at a trial decide the defendant's guilt or innocence according to the law of the land. What they don't know is how far that right actually goes, and what the real power of juries is. Sometimes people -- even jurors -- wonder if a law or a judgment in a particular case is a just one. When the law seems wrong, we are told there is only one solution: change the law. In fact, though, in our legal system there is another remedy: When jurors decide that to question the fairness of applying the law in the case they are deciding may lead to a manifestly unfair and unjust result, they have the right not to apply that law. However, in Canada it is illegal and completely forbidden for a trial lawyer, or even a judge to tell jurors they have this right to nullify the law. In the Canadian justice system, jurors can hand down a verdict of not guilty even if the facts pointing to guilt are clear, even if the accused doesn't deny the facts, even if the judge tells the jurors to find the accused guilty. This centuries-old safeguard, which goes along with the principle of jury independence, has protected people's rights and freedoms and helped sweep away laws that ordinary citizens think are outdated and unjust. This power of juries is known to the legal community -- but is largely unknown by the general public -- until now. Gary Bauslaugh, author of Robert Latimer, A Story of Justice and Mercy (Lorimer, 2010), learned the specifics of this matter as a result of his research around the Robert Latimer case. In his new book, written for non-expert readers and citizens who have been summoned for jury duty, he tells the story of jury nullification from Quaker leader William Penn to the modern-day acquittal of Henry Morgentaler, who was charged with conducting abortions. Bauslaugh then lays out the arguments that some people make against jury independence and nullification, and makes his own argument in favour of these safeguards. He offers suggestions for jurors who may find themselves in a situation where their consciences are at odds with the law.

Stealth Juror

Stealth Juror PDF Author: Trent Hammerstein
Publisher: Paladin Press
ISBN: 9781581603385
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A stealth juror is an ordinary citizen serving on a jury who understands and is not afraid to exercise his right to judge not only the evidence in a case but the very law upon which the prosecution is based. If the law is bad or unfair, he secretly works to acquit any defendant being persecuted for a nonviolent, victimless crime. He must remain undercover because he represents a direct threat to the power of judges and prosecutors. He is the last champion of justice in the American courtroom. This book will tell you exactly how to become a stealth juror, including how to get yourself seated on a jury where you can do the most good for just causes (from preserving gun rights to opposing the War on Drugs), recognize and avoid the games that lawyers and judges use to manipulate the outcome of a case, secretly win over your fellow jurors in the deliberation room and much more.

Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life

Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life PDF Author: Sonali Chakravarti
Publisher:
ISBN: 022665429X
Category : Jury
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
Juries have been at the center of some of the most emotionally charged moments of political life. At the same time, their capacity for legitimate decision making has been under scrutiny, because of events like the acquittal of George Zimmerman by a Florida jury for the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the decisions of several grand juries not to indict police officers for the killing of unarmed black men. Meanwhile, the overall use of juries has also declined in recent years, with most cases settled or resolved by plea bargain. With Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life, Sonali Chakravarti offers a full-throated defense of juries as a democratic institution. She argues that juries provide an important site for democratic action by citizens and that their use should be revived. The jury, Chakravarti argues, could be a forward-looking institution that nurtures the best democratic instincts of citizens, but this requires a change in civic education regarding the skills that should be cultivated in jurors before and through the process of a trial. Being a juror, perhaps counterintuitively, can guide citizens in how to be thoughtful rule-breakers by changing their relationship to their own perceptions and biases and by making options for collective action salient, but they must be better prepared and instructed along the way.

The Runaway Jury

The Runaway Jury PDF Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 030757606X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Every jury has a leader, and the verdict belongs to them. They are at the center of a multimillion-dollar legal hurricane: twelve men and women who have been investigated, watched, manipulated, and harassed by high-priced lawyers and consultants who will stop at nothing to secure a verdict. Now the jury must make a decision in the most explosive civil trial of the century, a precedent-setting lawsuit against a giant tobacco company. But only a handful of people know the truth: that this jury has a leader, and the verdict belongs to him. He is known only as Juror #2. But he has a name, a past, and he has planned his every move with the help of a beautiful woman on the outside. Now, while a corporate empire hangs in the balance, while a grieving family waits, and while lawyers are plunged into a battle for their careers, the truth about Juror #2 is about to explode in a cross fire of greed and corruption—and with justice fighting for its life. Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

Handbook for federal grand jurors

Handbook for federal grand jurors PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Secrecy in the Bush Administration

Secrecy in the Bush Administration PDF Author: Siegfried D. Barone
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781600211607
Category : Freedom of information
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy. Yet, virtually since inauguration day, questions have been raised about the Bush Administration's commitment to this principle. News articles and reports by independent groups over the last four years have identified a growing series of instances where the Administration has sought to operate without public or congressional scrutiny. At the request of Rep. Henry A Waxman, this report is a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. It analyses how the Administration has implemented each of our nation's major open government laws. The report finds that there has been a consistent pattern in the Administration's actions: laws that are designed to promote public access to information have been undermined, while laws that authorise the government to withhold information or to operate in secret have repeatedly been expanded. The cumulative result is an unprecedented assault on the principle of open government.

Secrecy in the Bush administration

Secrecy in the Bush administration PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Special Investigations Division
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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The power and privilege of juries asserted

The power and privilege of juries asserted PDF Author: Power
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 8

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Book Description