140
Just Stop Oil activists jailed for throwing soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
140 points (98.6% liked)
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Even a single nullification is incredibly rare, but it's happening enough that the government is making efforts to stamp out discussion of jury nullification.
We all know what the Streisand Effect is, so the logical result here is that more and more people will hear about the practice, more people will do it, and the public and those in power will get the message - you can't weaponise the legal system against us anymore.
It might even get to the point that they're afraid to prosecute because they don't want more nullifications to happen.
Then what? What do the people in power do when they discover that they can no do that? They start to be afraid of what else people might nullify. What about actual violent actions, would people get a free pass then? How willing would they be to throw the cops against people when those people are starting to wake up to the fact that we outnumber them, and we don't have to convict people if we don't want to?
When they're afraid of that, you might start to see action. Or you might see more violent repression, at which point who knows what the next step will be, but it's better than sitting around waiting for committees to decide that action must be taken which will then be ignored by those in power.
And we get ignorant people and despots because people in power use propaganda to miseducate the public, not because art galleries close.
I know what it is, but I do not agree that it's the logical result, and we do not know for a fact that it will cause people to become activists as a result. What you're essentially saying is that the governments will clamp down harder and harder, and The Free People will Unionize™! Meanwhile, we have contemporary and historical examples where that didn't happen.
So I reject your following premises as wishful thinking. The people in power aren't scared of nullified juries, because judges can override juries, and the powers that be have the additional capability to use extrajudicial tactics while claiming plausible deniability in the public square.
I understand and appreciate people's desire to revolt—movies and books have made it appear very romantic—but activists are not going to change the world without the power of the governments. They would be better served by running for office rather than running from the State.