Online Jury Power Information Kit (JPIK)

 

Thank you for your interest in learning more about your role as a juror in safeguarding justice and FIJA’s educational work to ensure fully informed juries for all. John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and second U.S. President, said of the juror in 1771:

“It is not only his right, but his duty… to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.”

The highest function of the juror is not to dispense punishment to fellow citizens guilty of breaking the law, but rather to protect fellow citizens from abusive prosecutions and bad laws imposed by power-hungry government employees. Jurors help protect society from dangerous individuals, but primarily, jurors protect individuals from dangerous government.

Jurors have a duty to consider the facts, the merits of the law, and the fairness of the application of the law in every case. The authority and right of jurors to consider the merits of the law and render their verdicts based on conscience pre-dates our Constitution, in cases such as that of William Penn in 1670.

The king’s judge demanded jurors proclaim Penn to be guilty for illegally preaching the Quaker religion in Gracechurch street after the government locked him out of the Quaker meetinghouse. Several jurors refused to convict him even though they were jailed for their refusal. Their verdict was finally accepted, but they were punished further for their disobedience.

A higher court overturned their punishment, firmly establishing jurors' authority above the authority of the judge in our legal system. Later, the newly founded American government, created with the intent to defend the rights of the citizens including the benefits of trial by jury, likewise enshrined the authority of the juror above the authority of government judges.

Prosecutors, judges, and other law enforcers receive their paychecks from government. They have a stake in building their careers, social status, and wealth through convictions. As a result, corruption is given incentive. Jurors have no such stake in the outcome. As independent judges of the case, they are the most objective individuals in the courtroom.

In their quest for more power, judges and lawyers generally do not tell (and often purposely misinform) people about their authority as jurors to refuse to collaborate in unjust prosecutions and punishments or enforce bad laws.

By consulting your conscience, you can recognize when a person's action has not harmed anyone, and thus deserves no punishment—regardless of the government's purported law and demand for power. Consulting your conscience allows you, as a juror, to temper justice with mercy when a penalty is unduly harsh, when prosecutors maliciously overcharge defendants, and so on.

Jurors who are fully informed about their right of conscientious acquittal and who are prepared to vote their consciences—even if judges try to mislead them with false jury instructions and other intimidating tactics—are the last peaceful defense of our civil liberties.

Please browse the materials below as well as the rest of our website and share this information with others to ensure fully informed jurors in your community!

If you would like to receive a free Jury Power Information Kit in hard copy by postal mail, please click here.