Can anyone explain the concept of racial nullification and its impact on the criminal justice system?

Question

Explain in detail the motivations behind racial nullification and at least one example.

Racial nullification means refusal to convict a defendant because of person's skin color, even if it is proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime.

Answer 1

If racial nullification is what you describe it to be, then it does not exist in any permissible form within the United States legal system. It is in direct violation of the 14th Amendment's assurance of equal protection for every person within America, which basically means similar situations must yield similar legal results. If two people commit the same crime and the only difference between them is race/gender/etc, that is a direct violation of our constitution. Any judge or jury that does it is liable to be disbarred.

Edit: Yes, the jury could still convict them, but the conviction would then fail in appeals court because of the violation of equal protection.

Answer 2

It's not racial nullification it is jury nullification and it is not used very often, but when it is it is usually twelve people making a statement. Like if there was a woman on trial for killing a pedophile that had victimized hundreds of children, and even though they know she did it they vote to acquit. They are trying to say that is acceptable to them because of how horrible this man's crimes are and maybe they would do the same. It is a refusal to ask for justice for something they do not believe is a crime . Now it may be called racial nullification because say a white man kills a black man (say this is in the 30's and not today) the jury is all white and vote to acquit. That will have a negative impact on the community, because they are saying they are above the law.

Answer 3

Juries have a right to ignore the law if they choose. However it seldom happens because of race. For juries to reach a verdict it takes unanimity, and these days few juries are composed of only one race. The only examples I can recall are from the 60's, when all white southern juries acquitted Klan members accused of murdering civil rights workers in the South. Much more prevalent is middle class juries convicting Blacks, Hispanics and poor people in general with inadequate evidence because of preconceived notions that "these people" are criminals.

Answer 4

Interesting Question.

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Answer 5

this happens in UK all the time , I once saw a Home office and Judicial circular that said...

That blacks are just like big Lenny Henrys and should be treated like kids, they shoul not be convicted because thay are guilty...


JOKE NO THIS IS FACTUAL

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