I’ve bee watching the Brooks vs state trial, and before he makes his closing argument, the judge tells him NOT to inform the jury of their power to nullify the law.
In: 20
Let’s say someone passed a law that pretty much everyone else thought was stupid. Let’s say it’s a law that days you can’t stay up past Midnight.
Someone was caught, on camera, well after midnight, and arrested. In court, they request a jury trial. During testimony, all of the evidence points to the fact that the defendant broke the stupid law.
The jury delibrates and decides the law really is stupid, but the person was caught and must be guilty. Instead of returning a guilty verdict, they come out and say, “Not guilty,” and the person goes free.
Now, prosecutors are concerned. Their reputations are really important to them and if they lose too many cases they could lose their jobs. They can’t figure out where they went wrong because they had this person dead to rights. So they decide not to prosecute this law anymore and risk further damage to their own reputation and win / loss ratio. They might even ask the police not to arrest people for that law, because they won’t be prosecuted or convicted anyway.
This, my dear 5yo, is called Jury Nullification. It’s how people can just refuse to accept stupid or silly laws like not staying up after Midnight. The law is nullified because anyone can break it without punishment.
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