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Educational Resources for Legislative and Policy Influencers

 

FIJA exists as an educational organization because legislators and judges have virtually no incentive to tell people that they may set aside the law that those legislators worked so hard to pass and that those judges' livelihoods depend on enforcing to deliver a just verdict. Instead of trying to force our way past belligerent gatekeepers who have strong incentives to hold onto and usurp more power and little incentive to cede it to the governed, we go straight to the people who will one day serve as jurors to make sure they are fully and accurately informed.

As a nonpartisan, strictly educational organization, we endorse no candidates or political parties, nor do we craft or sponsor any legislative proposals or citizens initiatives. However, FIJA fields several questions each year about crafting legislation to require that the government accurately inform jurors about jury nullification. 

This section of the online library is intended to help those who do understand the history of jury nullification legislation and litigation thereof, why it has historically been unsuccessful, the impact of these repeated failures on direct juror rights education, and alternate improvements to the jury system that would support the use of jury nullification to deliver just verdicts.

These alternatives fall into several categories including:

  • improving access to trials by jury
  • measures that increase the odds of fully informed jurors on the jury, and
  • reining in judges' increasing encroachment on the rightful role of juries

Please see the list below for available educational resources, and check back in the coming weeks for additional resources. Whether you are constituent, activist, lawmaker, or policymaker, we hope these resources will help you to better understand the full, traditional role of trial by jury in protecting human rights and aid you in your efforts to help restore it.

Currently Available

 

Coming Soon

  • Meaningful Speedy Trial Guarantees
  • Jury Trials in ALL Criminal Cases
  • Restoring Jury Size to Twelve
  • and more!