Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Ernesto Escobedo

Abstract

Jury nullification (JN) is when a jury knows a defendant is legally guilty, but states they are not guilty, believing that their verdict better serves justice in that case. The problem is the violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause for all citizens, caused by the intentional omission in most judges’ instructions to juries of JN. The purpose of the study was to fill the gap in the literature on jury behavior and address the problem of JN. The study framework is chaos theory as applied by Horowitz to jury behavior. It describes judges and lawmakers mistrust of juries associated to the suppression of JN from jurors’ knowledge. Horowitz Chaos Theory (HCT) suggests juries knowledgeable of JN, will recklessly use it to undermine law and order causing anarchy. A general qualitative survey design was used to answer the research question on the perceptions of jurors about JN. The survey of the influences on jury decision making when considering using JN was administered via email. Participants were qualified to be jurors, provided a JN fact sheet, and asked for demographic information. Interpretation of data was verified through member checking. The results described internal and external influences likely effect on jurors using JN during an actual trial. HCT’s expectation of chaos was compared to the study findings. The conclusions do not support mistrusting juries or suppressing the knowledge of JN and refute the expectation of HCT. The implications for positive social change include lobbying state legislatures to pass laws mandating JN as part of a judge’s instructions to the jury. If successful, the violation of citizens’ rights as described in this study may be remedied.

Download

Share

 
COinS