Jury Nullification and Its Effects on Black America Essay -- Criminal

Jury Nullification and Its Effects on Black AmericaIt is pellucid that significant improvements have been made in the waythat the criminal justice system deals with Blacks during the history of theUnited States. Blacks have not always been afforded a chasten to trial, not tomention a fair one. Additionally, for years, Blacks were unable to serve onjuries, clearly affecting the way both Blacks and whites were tried. Much ofthis improvement has been achieved through mixed court decisions, and otherimprovements have been made through federal and state legislatures. Despitethese facts, the development of the legal system with regard to race seems tohave break stagnant.Few in this country would argue with the fact that the United Statescriminal justice system possesses discrepancies which adversely affect Blacks inthis country. Numerous studies and articles have been collected on the manyfacets in which discrimination, or at least disparity, is obvious. Even whitesare forced to admit that statistics indicate that the Black community isdisproportionately moved(p) by the American legal system. Controversy ariseswhen the issue of possible causes of, and also solutions to, these variationsare discussed.Although numerous articles and books have been published devising meansby which to restrict variance within the system, the some recent, and probablymost contentious, is that of Paul Butler, Associate Professor of Law, GeorgeWashington University Law School, and former Special Assistant United States attorney in the District of Columbia. Butlers thesis, published in an articlein the Yale Law Journal, is that for pragmatic and political reasons, the blackcommunity is better off when some peaceful lawbreakers remain in the communityrather than go to prison. The decision as to what kind of conduct by African-Americans ought to be punished is better made by African-Americans themselves.1The means by which Butler proposes for Blacks to implement these decisions isterm ed jury nullification. By placing the race of the defendant above the factsof the case, and thus producing either an acquittal or a hung jury, Butler hopesthat Blacks will be able to keep a large portion of Black males out of prison.Although several commentators have voiced criticisms with the ideas ofProfessor Butler, most ... ...11 See Coramae Richey Mann, Unequal Justice (1993) at 202-3.12 Morris, supra note 3.13 Morris, supra note 3.14 Butler, supra note 1.15 Michael R. Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime (1990),at 152.16 Butler, supra note 1.17 See William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged the inner city, theunderclass, and public policy (1990), at 91.18 See Kate Stith, The Government Interest in Criminal Law Whose Interest IsIt, Anyway?, Public Values in Constitutional Law (Stephen E. Gottlieb ed., 1993),at 137, 15819 Randall Kennedy, The State, Criminal Law, and Racial Discrimination AComment, 107 Harvard Law Review (1994), at 1262.20 Morris, supra note 3.21 Morris, supra note 3.22 See Douglas S. Massey, Americas Apartheid and the Urban Underclass, SocialService Review (December 1994), at 480.23 Butler, supra note 1.24 Michael Vitiello, Reconsidering Rehabilitation, 65 Tulane Law Review (1991).25 gum benjamin A. Holden, Laurie P. Cohen, and Eleena De Lisser, Does Race AffectJuries? Injustice with Verdicts, Chicago Sun-Times (October 8, 1995) at 28.26 Butler, supra note 1.27 Butler, supra note 1.