Did you know, in some places the jury is not allowed to ask what the verdict they reach means in terms of sentencing?

In other words, the jury is not allowed to know what the defendant's punishment may be. XD

A few centuries ago the colonies had a problem because of this. The death penalty was being imposed for so many crimes in some jurisdictions that juries just stopped convicting people, even if they believed the defendant was guilty, because they didn't want the death sentence being given for things like petty theft.

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bijouxbroussard · F

I’m surprised by that. My father’s been a jury foreman so many times it’s almost been a running joke and they always ask the jury pool with potentially capital cases, “Do you think knowing the death penalty is on the table would stop you from being able to decide this case ?” And they’ve excused jurors on that basis.

LyricalOne · F

@bijouxbroussard Exactly my experience.

bijouxbroussard · F

@LyricalOne Yes. I hope where he’s referring to isn’t in the U.S. Jury service is compulsory here. So I figure since I don’t want to be responsible for someone’s [b]death[/b], even down the line, I’d want to have an informed [b]choice[/b] about participating.