Jury Nullification

It should be noted that this essay in no way condones the use of Jury Nullification, and should you ever be on a Jury I do not suggest using Jury Nullification as, under certain circumstances, it can result in your arrest.

So what is Jury Nullification? Well, put simply, Jury Nullification is a loophole in American law that allows a Jury to declare a defendant guilty, but nullify the law so that the prosecuted person is not convicted for their crime.
The loophole comes as the logical consequence of two other laws. First one law states that Juries cannot be punished for a wrong decision, even if everyone else believes the opposite of the Juries verdict. Second, a defendant who is declared 'not-guilty' can't be tried again for the same crime. The result of these two laws is that a Jury's verdict legally doesn't need to match what they believe. e.g. the Jury may believe that the defendant is guilty, but not convict them because they don't want to. Similarly a Jury may prosecute a defendant even if they think he/she is innocent, but to do this as much harder do to an overrule ability of the Judge (The Judge may negate the Jury's prosecution if he believes they are incorrect in declaring the defendant guilty, but not in the case of declaring the defendant innocent).
This loophole in essence allows Jury's to ignore the law as it is written, and naturally Lawyers, Judges, and most people into Law try to to prevent it.

So how is Jury Nullification combated? Why don't we see it more? Well, all potential Jurors are asked the following Question. "Do you have any beliefs that might prevent you from making a decision based strictly on the law?" If you know of Jury Nullification and believe it is a good idea, you would be expected to answer yes, which would then result in you being rejected from jury duty. If you answer no and then go on to suggest Jury Nullification in a court of law you have technically just committed perjury, which is a federal crime. This causes Jury Nullification to be mostly prevented. If you know, about and are called onto a Jury, you are most likely not going to bring up the idea, as you can be convicted.

So is Jury Nullification a bad thing? Well, in the past it has been used to prevent run away slaves from being convicted, but on the other hand it has been used prevent the conviction of lynch mobs. So in theory Jury Nullification is a good thing (in my opinion). It allows us to negate unjust and out dated laws that do not match our current day beliefs. The only problem is the potential abuse associated with the loophole.
Either way, Jury Nullification is an interesting topic and point for debate.