JuryNull is a reference. It reports what the law says, in plain English, and links every statement to the official text behind it so you can read the source yourself. This page explains how that is done.
What the guide covers
Fifty states, the District of Columbia and the federal courts, one chapter each. Every chapter looks at the same thing: what that jurisdiction's law says about the jury's role, from the day a summons arrives to the verdict. It follows the four layers of law that govern it: the constitution, the statutes the legislature passed, the rules the courts wrote for themselves, and the instructions a judge reads to a jury.
Where the information comes from
Official text only. A statute is taken from the jurisdiction's published code. A court rule is taken from the court's own rules. A constitutional provision is taken from the constitution as the state publishes it. Jury instructions are taken from the published pattern instructions, and the chapter names the court or committee that writes them.
Each text is read at the body that issues it, not copied from a summary somewhere else. The chapter cites it the way a court would, and links to it.
How a chapter is written
Each chapter is written from the official texts it cites, and from nothing else. Where the law is quoted, it is quoted exactly as published, and the quotation is never reworded to read more easily. Beside each provision sits a plain-English summary of what it says.
The writing aims at a reader with a high school education, not a lawyer. Legal terms are replaced with plain words where that keeps the meaning, and explained where it does not; the glossary defines the ones that remain.
Every chapter describes what a provision does: who decides, what the judge must say, what the jury needs to agree. It never says whether a state is better or worse for one outcome, and it never tells a reader what to do in a case.
How it is checked
We are not attorneys, and nothing in the guide claims the law is correct. What we check is that every provision a chapter cites matches the official text it came from, and that the link to that text still works.
Each source shows the date it was last confirmed to resolve. The links are rechecked on a monthly cycle. That date is a statement about currency, not a guarantee that the law has not changed since.
How the national figures are counted
The figures on the Foundations pages, such as how many jurisdictions require every juror to agree, are counted from the chapters themselves each time the guide is built.
Updates
When the law changes, or a recheck turns up a change, the chapter is revised and the complete guide with it. Every revision is listed on the Latest updates page with the month and what changed. Updates are free: a buyer downloads the new file from the same place as the first.
Corrections
If you find something that looks wrong, out of date or unclear, tell us through the contact page. Include the state or page and the line, and a link to the official source if you have one. Corrections are checked against the official text and go into the next revision, which is listed on the Latest updates page.