A general answer about whether or not there are jury nullification instructions in certain criminal trials.
What is getting better in the American jury system? What is getting worse? How do intersecting topics such as plea bargaining, asset forfeiture, acquitted conduct sentencing, etc. affect our jury rights? For the third year in a row, a panel of experts will update you on the state of the American jury system today. We'll pay special attention to how things as they are now compare to the state of things in the last two years and pre-pandemic.
Join us on Thursday, 23 February at noon Eastern/11 am Central/10 am Mountain/9 am Pacific on Zoom or the official FIJA Facebook page.
To celebrate the anniversary of Lysander Spooner's birth on 19 January, the Fully Informed Jury Association invites you to listen in on a free-wheeling discussion of his writings on jury issues including An Essay on the Trial by Jury, Illegality of the Trial of John W. Webster, and Vices Are Not Crimes. Click the title for all the details.
Over the coming weeks, we will be presenting the quintessential work on jury nullification on the FIJA website for the first time—Lysander Spooner's An Essay on the Trial by Jury. Here we debut Chapter 1, Section 1.
We're experimenting with birthday fundraisers on the FIJA website, and I'm the test subject! If this goes well, you may be able to host your own birthday fundraiser on the site in 2023.
In the meantime, will you help me celebrate my 50th birthday this week by helping me raise approximately 1/50th—roughly $1000—of the FIJA's annual budget? THANK YOU! —Kirsten
On this Bill of Rights Day, learn how and why jury rights are the most protected rights codified in the Bill of Rights.
We'll discuss with Professor Michael Huemer his forthcoming book entitled "Justice before the Law". . In this book, Professor Huemer explores the largest injustices in the legal system and what can be done about them. Besides proposing institutional reforms, he argues that prosecutors, judges, lawyers, and jury members ought to place justice before the law—for example, by refusing to enforce unjust laws or impose unjust sentences.
Coming up on June 4! Join us for a screening of the short film "Tank Man" on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and a discussion with its creator, actor/director and FIJA Vice Chairman Robert Anthony Peters, about what jurors can learn from the heroic example of Tank Man.
Video and reference links for our 9 November 2020 Zoom session of 15 Minutes with FIJA. We cover jury issues in two capital cases, jury trial delays due to reluctance of people to serve, and an update on the status of trials by jury around the country.
Video and reference links for our first November 2020 Zoom session of 15 Minutes with FIJA. We talk Breonna Taylor grand jury updates, status of a past non-unanimous jury conviction, virtual trials by jury in the news, and more.
