http://grasshopperpoliticalblog.weebly.com/blog/jury-nullification
I wrote this last year after taking a "Law of Criminal Procedure" course for school. Jury Nullification is not in the Constitution but it is referenced in Federalist Paper No. 51, as you will read about in the article. References at the end along with in text citations.
As a European and a future lawyer I always viewed Jury in the USA as a strange creature which is against principles of law e.g. you broke the law, there are proofs about that and you still got away with that, because Jury found you not guilty. In Europe we also have juries, but they don't have so much authority as in the USA. In Europe they are simply a symbol of society participation in trial and the final decision about somebody's guilt is up to the judge. I think European solution is way better than the American one e.g. Giacomo "Jackie Dee" DiNorscio - mafia member - got away with his crimes only because he was able to persuade the jury that he is not a member of Lucchese crime family. They even made a movie about that - "Find Me Guilty" starring Vin Diesel. On the other hand American culture is way different than European one(even if both of them have common roots) so maybe I just get the wrong impression of this institution - Jury.
PS. I know that you speak about "jury nullification" in this article, but I wanted to show you how many Europeans view Jury institution in general.
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Jury Nullification exists as a component of checks and balances. Judicial tyranny or overreaach is just as dangerous as Executive Branch overreach or Legislative overreach, if not more so. It is a safeguard against an overzealous court or judge that has an itchy trigger finger when it comes to flexing its legal muscle. The courts are out of control right now, as we have judges exercising extra constitutional authority that is not given to them under Article III. Hope this helps, thanks for the response and your input and opinion.
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