Jury Nullification In Capital Punishment Cases

The introduction starts off by explaining what juries are and why we need them. Following this is a quick explanation of when juries are used (including the distinction between criminal and civil cases) with the laws and regulations that establish and maintain them. Next, the focus will be on who is eligible to be selected for jury service and the jury selection process that goes along with this; this section concludes with the decisions that a jury must make at the end of a trial. The importance of this paper relies on the differences that come about in the process of death-qualifying a juror. In these terms, “death-qualified” means that a juror has been approved to participate in a trial where if the defendant is convicted it could result in the sentence being capital punishment. The next section of this paper will go into a detailed process of how jurors become “death-qualified” and why this is thought to be necessary in cases that could lead to this punishment. Legal precedent will be discussed along with significant issues raised in this process as well as with the implementation of it during the trial process. Following this, a conclusion will be drawn. If the “death-qualifying” process and implementation do not have negative consequences to the trial (such as skewing the decision-making process, thus making an unfair or biased decision) then it can be concluded that this process is not interfering with the criminal justice system. But, if reliable data can be found that details any injustices that occur through this process then it will be concluded that “death-qualifying” jurors is not a just process. If the latter is concluded, then possible solutions will be discussed and evaluated.