Term
| Pros of Jury Nullification |
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Definition
1. Jury nullification can be used to safely reduce mass incarceration.
2. It can send a message that the people want change in the criminal justice system.
3. Can help combat overzealous prosecutors by acquitting those who are overcharged or abused
4.Can help reduce the number of Africans in the system |
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Term
| Cons of Jury nullification |
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Definition
1. It allows individuals to ignore established law, rather than go through the proper channels for change
2. A criminal can go free despite being proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Where do we draw the line?
3. Wide use may create fear that criminals will go free regardless of guilt
4. The fear that a trial will become a "personality contest" where the jury acquits because they like the defendant more than the prosecutor. |
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Term
| Pro Jury Nullification view on the "democracy" of Jury nullification? |
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Definition
| Paul Butler argues that its democracy at its finest. The people, rather than the government, make decisions. The right to jury trial exists as a safeguard against the government, and jury nullification is a part of that. |
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Term
| Anti Jury Nullification view on "Is Jury Nullification democratic?" |
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Definition
| People undermine the law and the system when they take the law into their own hands. People who want change should go through the established system, the legislature, to do it. |
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Term
| What are the problems with the potential negative effects of the innocence project? |
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Definition
1. Innocence projects create the idea that clients were victims of bad timing/misfortune, and that only the innocent deserve help
2. Focus on innocence rhetoric excludes the guilty who have been mistreated
3. Innocence projects projects at law schools further teach that representing actually guilty people is beneath them, and fails to teach them how to |
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Term
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Definition
| Tim Durham was convicted of raping an eleven year old girl, his conviction was based upon the eyewitness ID, hair matching, and DNA markers. |
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Term
| Problems with hair evidence in Tim Durham's case |
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Definition
1. The examiner said the hair was a red-yellow hue only one-third of red haired people would have when there was no basis for this statistic
2. Scientist stated that the tips of the hair had been cut and that was very unique in the population, when there was no mention of it in her notes, and she had this revelation after hearing Durham's ex testify that he manscaped. |
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Term
| Problems with Genetic evidence in Tim Durham's case |
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Definition
1. Dr. Giles testified that he did three rounds of testing and found a marker matching Durham on the last test, and that 1 in 10 had that marker.
This was misleading because in an earlier test, he found a marker not belonging to Durham or the victim which would tend to exculpate him |
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Term
| How to fix the problems with Junk Science in Tim Durham's case |
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Definition
1. Regulatory oversight and standards of professionalism
2. Blind proficiency testing
3. Crimelabs should be independent and not funded by the police/prosecution
4. In Court, scientist should provide info about error rates, failed controls, and the legitimacy of the test (peer review/replicability |
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Term
| What are the four ideological camps regarding race and the criminal justice system? |
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Definition
1. Law and Order Camp
2. Limited government power camp
3. Color-blind constitution camp
4. Black interest camp. |
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Term
| What are some reasons people will give false confessions? |
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Definition
1. Mental illness, Mental retardation, and juvenile mentality.
2. Aggressive police tactics. |
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Term
| What are some of the police tactics that result in false confessions? |
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Definition
1. Good cop bad cop
2. Lying to the defendant and telling him they have damning evidence (failed polygraph, witness testimony, etc)
3. Downplaying the consequences of a confession to make it appear beneficial
4. Creating the story and getting the defendant to agree to it, |
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