Power to the jury

Jury nullification is one of those practices that drives judges and prosecutors into hysterical fits, which implicitly suggests that it's a good idea. Nullification has a long an honorable history; jurors have used their power to disregard the law to free abolitionists, moonshiners and draft resisters, among other victims of unjust and oppressive legislation. So it's encouraging that the New Hampshire Legislature is considering House Bill 906, a measure that would require judges in criminal cases to:

instruct the jury of its inherent right to disregard the law and the facts in controversy and to nullify any and all actions they find to be unjust. The court shall also allow the defendant or counsel for the defendant to explain this right of jury nullification to the jury.

A similar bill was rejected by the New Hampshire House in 2001, so the prospects for HB 906 are a bit dim.

I've personally been called for jury duty three times but -- oddly, considering the vast amount of control-freakery on the books these days -- I've never been in a situation where nullification was appropriate. That's unfortunate, because I keep a mental laundry of laws I'd love to nullify. I think I'd make my year if I helped turn loose a defendant who otherwise faced a long stretch in prison for doing nothing more than living his or her life in ways of which a ruling cabal of politicians disapproved.

It's worth remembering that you don't need instruction from the judge, like those proposed in New Hampshire, to exercise your power to nullify laws. It's something we all can, and should, do with or without official sanction.