The Impact of Heuristic Thinking on Jury Nullification - With a Focus on the Discussions in the U.S. -

Jury nullification occurs when jurors deliberately rejects the evidence or refuses to apply the law. Jury nullification can be facilitated primarily because of jurors’ discretionary power along with the double jeopardy clause and the general verdict.When a juror faces a difficult question to solve, he tends to rely on heuristic thinking mode in which he substitutes an easy question for the difficult question. They would prefer having confidence in their verdicts as they decide such an important matter as the fate of another individual. However, the problem of such heuristic thinking lies in that it can lead to errors and mistakes because jurors are not dealing with and solving the same question that they were given at the first place. In exercising jury nullification, jurors tend to rely on heuristic thinking mode consciously or unconsciously and end up reaching a heuristic judgment. Problems with heuristic thinking in jury nullification are as follows. In heuristic thinking, jurors may put too much weight and reliance on a piece of evidence than what it is deserved. Since jury nullification is made in reliance of intuitive judgments, the jury is prone to make predictions that can be rather extreme. To minimize the ramifications from such heuristic thinking, the judges and lawyers must use jury instructions effectively. Through the jury instructions, jurors must be reminded not to rely on heuristic thinking method. The jury instruction should be given especially after the selection of the jury and before the beginning of the actual trial so that the jury can guard against the tendency for heuristic thinking. The deliberation and verdict with consensus free from heuristic thinking would become more probable with the effective use of jury instructions throughout the trial.