abstract: |

Skip Navigation

by Charles P. Huckaby

Do we really want "fully informed" juries? Surely we do, with one important caveat.

It has been the work of the FULLY INFORMED JURY ASSOCIATION (www.fija.org) to educate potential jurors about our grand Common Law legal tradition wherein juries have the right of "Jury Nullification." Nullification refers to the ability of jurors to declare innocent anyone facing the wrath of the court no matter what "the law" says and regardless of the facts of the case if, in the jurors' opinion, a miscarriage of justice is taking place. To the degree that the FIJA can help people secure genuine justice, more power to them. But that raises the question: "What is genuine justice?"

The question Christians should be asking in this decadent age isn't simply, "What is the jury's power?" but more importantly, "What is the jury's biblical responsibility?"

Deuteronomy 17 outlines basic procedures for biblical jurisprudence to protect the innocent, namely: A thorough third party investigation was required. No punishment was undertaken unless there were multiple witnesses. Likewise, the law protected the right of appeal to higher courts, though "endless appeals" were not protected. A further degree of protection for the accused resulted from the requirement that the witnesses and the community take part in the administration of justice. History shows us that false witnesses and even "lynching" mobs relent when forced to own their accusations in this fashion (John 8:1-11). If the community under biblical law won't take part in what they consider a maladministration of justice, the charges are effectively nullified.

Biblically speaking, the jury serves to represent the community. They hear the witnesses and "own" the necessary judgment to be meted out to the offender. Minimum qualifications for the biblical jury would be their own independent knowledge of God's law and the ability to discern right from wrong. Biblically speaking, they also should help administer the penalty to test their integrity, but, as they say, that's another story.

In the history of the English Common Law, juries as representatives of the community functioned in a generally biblical fashion. They heard charges and responded by declaring the party in question innocent or guilty. The awesome power of the jury developed from the fact that English monarchs, much to their chagrin, came to be considered subject to the law of the land like everyone else. And from the earliest law codes of England, that law was explicitly Christian, based on the Bible. The jury took their responsibility to hold the monarch within the boundaries of this law quite seriously and did at crucial moments pronounce offenders "not guilty" if the crown was overstepping God's justice. Hence the grand tradition of Jury Nullification began.

Today's would-be monarchs hate the doctrine of Jury Nullification as much as ever. Therefore, juries are never told "by the way if you think this whole proceeding is a farce, you can always nullify it by acquitting the person being tried." Worse, juries are too often told to ignore the Constitution, the Bible or even their consciences when arriving at a decision. This only serves to "stack the deck" against the rights of the accused. Naturally, any prospective juror demonstrating the least commitment to God's Law will be "purged" in favor of the spiritually illiterate and easily manipulated. For these reasons, any one seeking to inform prospective jurors of their full rights ought to be commended.

Sadly there is a "rub." The doctrine of Jury Nullification assumes that the people nullifying a trial through means of acquittal have some familiarity with biblical justice, or at least common decency. In our society that is a dangerous and naive assumption. When the people of a community or nation call evil good and good evil, their juries nullify trials to be sure '85 but they end up letting the wicked go free because such people hate righteousness and love perversity. In those instances, Jury Nullification only discredits the justice system further. People will then seek justice by other--usually unlawful--means available to them, promoting anarchy and lawlessness.

God, give us juries who know their "rights" to be sure. But free us from juries who exercise their "rights" in the process of embracing evil.

How will God give us such juries? Only when the social clubs we call "churches" return to God's Word as authoritative for all of life. Only when the people of this land cry out to God, not Caesar, for relief and justice. Not till then.

Chuck Huckaby holds the M.Div. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

back to top