The Enfranchised Jury

Abstract

This is a Book Review of Sonali Chakravarti, Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and in Public Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019). The author is a political theorist whose understanding of the American jury depends on a critical reception of Jurgen Habermas's discourse ethics and Tocqueville's traditionalist (and in her view, flawed) appreciation of the jury. She articulates a vision which places the jury outside of our usual understanding of the rule of law "as a law of rules." She ends with a number of specific suggested reforms, including the end of the Allen charge, an explicit instruction on nullification, and informing the jury of the sentencing consequences of a guilty verdict.

Keywords: K10, K30

JEL Classification: Jury, Nullification, Tocqueville, Habermas