Cja/354 Jury Nullification Paper

The United States Declaration of Independence has been viewed over the lst two centuries as one of the definitive government documents that spell out both racial and ethnic equality for all Americans. Its wording indicates that, “All men are created equal”, and, as such, all of the many agencies of the government, both federal and state, would attempt in all ways to adhere to this principle; specifically as it pertains to races other than Caucasian, and ethnicities other than ‘American’.

However, there is another section of this worthy document that refers to one of the foundational reasons for seceding from Great Britain:

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” (U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776).

There are several subsets of American citizens that feel that the powers that be that govern this country have caused harm and destruction against their persons. Nowhere is this more prevelant than in the South in the first half of the 20th century. It was predominately African-Americans whol felt the retribution of those in government who classified them as ‘less than human’, and treated them as such. Indeed, the Civil War was fought over the main issue that men, because of their race and ethnicity, were subhuman and put on this earth to serve their White owners. Although a large part of this country fought for those so disparaged, after the smoke had cleared it became clear that the tenets so dramatically voiced in the Declaration did not survive into the 20th and 21st centuries.

This paper will address a part of state and federal agencies that have been set...