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82 Va. L. Rev. 253 (1996)
Rethinking Jury Nullification

handle is hein.journals/valr82 and id is 271 raw text is: RETHINKING JURY NULLIFICATION Andrew D. Leipold* INTRODUCTION ................................. 253 I. THE SCOPE AND COSTS OF JURY NULLIFICATION ..... 259 A. The Unavailability of Error-Correcting Devices ... 260 1. Leaving Mistakes in Place ............... 260 2. Placing the Blame ................... 263 a. Judgments of Conviction ............ 264 b. Appeals of Acquittals .............. 267 B. Other Costs ......................... 276 1. No Special Verdicts ................... 276 2. Tolerance of Inconsistent Verdicts ......... 278 3. Discouraging Guilty Pleas ............. 281 4. Skewed Judicial Rulings ................ 282 II. THE NECESSITY AND DESIRABILITY OF NULLIFICATION . 283 A. Is There a Constitutional Right to Nullify? ...... 284 B. The Desirability ....................... 296 III. CAGING THE DOCTRINE .................... 311 A. Nullification as an Affirmative Defense ........ 312 B. Making Error-Correcting Devices Available ...... 317 1. Changes in Trial Practice ............... 317 2. Preventing Illegal Nullification ......... 321 IV. CONCLUSION .......................... 323 INTRODUCTION URY nullification is one of the most potent forces in the criminal law. Nullification occurs when the defendant's guilt is clear beyond a reasonable doubt, but the jury, based on its own sense of justice or fairness, decides to acquit.1 The nullification doctrine * Assistant Professor, University of Illinois College of Law. My thanks to Wayne LaFave, Eric Freyfogle, Donald Dripps, Kit Kinports, Rodger Heaton, and Yale Kamisar for their thoughtful comments on drafts of this Article. My thanks also to Carrie May, M. Daniel Heftier, and Leona Lewis for their invaluable help. See Jack B. Weinstein, Considering Jury Nullification: When May and Should a Jury Reject the Law to Do Justice?, 30 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 239, 239 (1993). The critical feature of nullification is the jurors' decision to acquit even though they believe the defendant com-

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