The instruction tells the jury to judge the law as well as the evidence, and to render a verdict dictated by conscientious consideration. The Iowa State Bar Association strongly opposes this legislation, which allows a jury to make its own laws. A jury nullification instruction allows jurors to disregard, nullify, or overrule laws enacted by the General Assembly.
Jury nullification is a direct attack on the legislature.
Nullification instructions place citizens at the mercy of a small group of people who may grant or withhold justice at their whim, in complete disregard of the law . In reality, a nullification instruction invites and authorizes juries to acquit defendants who have clearly committed atrocious crimes. For example, in the 1960s, state juries frequently acquitted members of the Klu Klux Klan for some of the most heinous acts against other human beings that have ever been committed in the United States. These instances of jury nullification were so wide spread that Congress enacted separate federal laws to address the issue. A nullification instruction also allows a jury to convict innocent persons even when the evidence does not show guilt.