New JerseyJury Nullification
New Jersey's constitution says that in libel prosecutions the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. The Judiciary's model final charge says deciding all questions of law is the judge's job, and that the jury must accept that law and apply it to the facts it finds. State law sets a criminal jury of twelve. The model charge says each of the twelve must agree to the verdict.
Overview
Juries in New Jersey
The New Jersey Judiciary's model final charge has a part called Function of the Court. It says deciding all questions of law is the judge's responsibility, and that the jury must accept that law and apply it to the facts as the jury finds them. State law sets a criminal jury of twelve.
The New Jersey constitution speaks to the jury and the law in one place, its paragraph on speech and libel. In prosecutions for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. What that paragraph covers, and what the chapter does and does not say about it, is in the New Jersey chapter of the guide.
The model charge says each of the twelve jurors must agree to the verdict. It also says something to a juror who finds the other eleven on the other side. What it says is in the chapter.
The New Jersey chapter
What's in the Guide for New Jersey?
Jury selection
When in a New Jersey trial the jury hears how the judge's job differs from its own, and what the final charge says about the judge's role across the whole trial.
What the judge tells you
What the New Jersey model final charge says about accepting the law from the judge, and what it means when it calls jurors judges of the facts.
How the verdict works
What it means that each of the twelve New Jersey jurors must agree, how the charge says jurors should deliberate, and what it says about giving up an honest conviction.
Protections and risks
The two pressures the New Jersey charge names for a juror in the jury room, and what it tells that juror to do about each of them.
The law in plain English
The New Jersey laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the paragraph of the constitution on trial by jury, the paragraph on speech and libel with its words on the jury, and the statute on the number of jurors.
Official state resources
Links to New Jersey's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution from the Legislature, the Judiciary's court rules and model criminal jury charges, and the NJ Courts page for jurors.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in New Jersey?
A New Jersey jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide the facts of a case as one of twelve jurors. The law comes from the judge.
The NJ Courts have a page for jurors. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the final charge says about the judge and the jury, what the constitution says about the jury in libel cases, and what the charge tells a juror who disagrees with the rest are covered in the New Jersey chapter of the guide.
Your New Jersey summons
- Sent byThe county jury management office
- Names come fromRegistered voters, licensed drivers and state income tax filers
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide the facts of a case as one of twelve jurors
- Jury size12