Should juries vote “not guilty” on low-level marijuana charges to send a message about our country’s insane marijuana arrest policy?

Jury nullification is a constitutional doctrine that allows juries to acquit defendants who are technically guilty but who don’t deserve punishment. As Paul Butler wrote recently in The New York Times, juries have the right and power to use jury nullification to protest unjust laws.

Mr. Butler points out that nullification was credited with ending our country’s disastrous alcohol Prohibition as more and more jurors refused to send their neighbors to jail for a law they didn’t believe in. He says we need to do the same with today’s marijuana arrests. …………………

Liberty Pulse Archive