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

Jury Nullification and Its Effects on Black AmericaIt is obvious that significant improvements have been do in the waythat the criminal justice system deals with Blacks during the history of theUnited States. Blacks have not always been afforded a right to trial, not tomention a sane one. Additionally, for years, Blacks were un able to serve onjuries, clearly affecting the way both Blacks and whites were tried. Much ofthis improvement has been achieved through various 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 become stagnant.Few in this country would plead with the fact that the United Statescriminal justice system possesses discrepancies which adversely affect Blacks inthis country. Numerous studies and articles have been composed on the manyfacets in which discrimination, or at least disparity, is obvious. Even whitesare forced to admit th at statistics indicate that the Black community isdisproportionately affected by the American legal system. dissension 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 reduce variance within the system, the most recent, and plausiblymost contentious, is that of Paul pantryman, Associate Professor of Law, GeorgeWashington University Law School, and former Special Assistant United StatesAttorney 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 nonviolent lawbreakers remain in the community preferably 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 ist ermed 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 chase 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 secretion AComment, 107 Harvard Law Review (1994), at 1262.20 Morris, supra no te 3.21 Morris, supra note 3.22 See Douglas S. Massey, Americas Apartheid and the Urban Underclass, Social serving Review (December 1994), at 480.23 Butler, supra note 1.24 Michael Vitiello, Reconsidering Rehabilitation, 65 Tulane Law Review (1991).25 Benjamin A. Holden, Laurie P. Cohen, and Eleena De Lisser, Does Race AffectJuries? Injustice with Verdicts, bread Sun-Times (October 8, 1995) at 28.26 Butler, supra note 1.27 Butler, supra note 1.