The Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) was formed in 1989 by Larry Dodge and Don Doig with the declared mission to educate juries on their constitutional right to judge the law. FIJA declares that the most critical function of a jury is not to hand out punishment to fellow citizens, but instead to protect them from bad laws. In this way juries can defend citizens from harmful government, as well as the potentially harmful individuals being tried. The effect is most often termed jury nullification, when a jury votes not to convict even if the facts in a case are clear.
The collection contains materials ranging from 1989 to 1996, with a few outliers. The first series contains items published by FIJA, ranging from newsletters to pamphlets. The first box contains FIJA’s national newsletter, the FIJActivist. These date from 1990 to 1996 and are nearly complete. The second box contains a wide variety of published items from FIJA, state-specific FIJA organizations, and related organizations.
The second series is primarily newspaper clippings which have been organized by subject. The Activism folder contains clippings on FIJA and other jury nullification activists from around the United States, most notably Californian Jim Hansberger and Montana local Dixianne Hawks. The Jury Rights Day folder contains clippings about September 5th, the day state FIJA organizations attempted to have each of their states proclaim a Jury Rights Day. The folder also contains copies of several states’ gubernatorial proclamations concerning the day. The Legislation folder contains clippings about various states legislation concerning the Fully Informed Jury Amendment (FIJA), an amendment that each state’s FIJA sought to pass that would require judges to inform juries of their right to judge the law. The Trial Coverage folder consists of clippings pertaining to cases where jury nullification or jury-tampering was an issue. Lastly, the Miscellaneous folder contains clippings pertaining more generally to FIJA.
This collection was processed, and its finding aid created, by Matthew Shannon in Summer and Fall of 2008.
