JUSTICE
John Q. Pridger

The justice system, if the name means anything, originally had something to do with justice. Not eye for an eye justice, but the notion that it is better to let a guilty person go free than to wrongfully convict an innocent person. Trial by a jury of one's peers was supposed to be one of the many safeguards against wrongful convictions and the capriciousness of prosecution attorneys and judges. The jury was (and still is), empowered to not only judge the accused but the law or laws under which the accused happens to be charged. The principle of jury nullification is as important to the process of the jury trial as the right to convict. Thus, even if a defendant is guilty of breaking a bad law, or flawed charges under the circumstances of the prosecution's case, the jury has the right to find the defendant innocent. There is never any "duty to convict" even if the jury finds that the defendant is clearly in violation of the law, if they deem the law itself to be wrong, or wrongly applied. Few jurists understand this today, and fewer judges will point these things out. More than likely, the judge will "instruct" (if not actually bully), the jury – telling it that it must convict, regardless of the merits of the law. The principle of jury nullification takes some of the power away from judges, prosecutors, other officers of the court, and police agencies, and that's why they don't like it. And that is also why it is such a valuable and important attribute of the jury system.

Pridger has never been tapped for jury duty in a serious criminal case, but chances are he'd be disqualified if he happened to let it be known that he believes in such a thing as jury nullification – and that he believe "justice" for the accused is the principle duty of the duty, regardless of the law. Modern judges and prosecutors consider fully informed jurors with a jaundiced eye. But the role of the justice system is supposed to be justice. But, unfortunately, justice has a duel meaning. One is akin to vengeance and the other dealing fairly with the accused and determining an appropriate verdict according to both law and the circumstances of the case. Many prosecutors are far more concerned with gaining convictions than with actual justice, thus injustice is all too common in our system. Not only are innocent people often convicted of serious crimes, but many are convicted for breaking laws that shouldn't be prosecutable in the first place, or have potential prison sentences out of all proportion to the crime.

John Q. Pridger