Jury nullification persists even though voters exceed their legal authority

Evidence

Community sentiment still may play a part in jury verdicts. During the 1920s, juries often refused to convict ordinary citizens who had run afoul of the Prohibition laws. And throughout the first half of the twentieth century, segregated juries in the South frequently acquitted whites accused of violence against blacks. Yet in refusing to convict those guilty of violating criminal law, contemporary jurors exceed their legal authority, and the recognition of their legal obligation to apply the law may lead jurors to do so even when they disagree with the law. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 870

Categorization

• QUESTION: The double-edged nature of nullification (Prohibition acquittals vs. Southern acquittals of anti-black violence) raises whether nullification is democratic or lawless.
• XREF: connects to: Early American juries, not judges, determined the law through jury nullification — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 868; One side’s refusal to follow jury-selection research can shape a trial’s outcome — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 835; Jury nullification persists but jurors now exceed legal authority. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 870