NCJ Number
178435
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 331-351
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Four studies were conducted to test whether explicitly informing jurors of their power to nullify the law invites chaos in the form of undisciplined and biased jury decision-making.
Abstract
The studies examined juror biases predicated on defendant status, remorse, gender, national origin, penalty severity, and extenuating circumstances. The first study examined the effects of nullification instructions, mandatory penalty, extenuating circumstances, and the defendant's nationality on jurors' verdicts. The second study investigated the biasing effects of defendant status and its possible interaction with nullification instructions. The third experiment focused on the effect of the defendant's gender. The fourth experiment investigated the possible effect of nullification instructions on a well-established bias without overarching fairness issues. Results provided little evidence that nullification instructions invite chaos with respect to the biases examined in these studies. In contrast, several results suggested that nullification instructions simply encourage jurors to nullify when the strict application of the law would result in an unjust verdict. Tables and 40 references (Author abstract modified)