Media Source:

Los Angeles Times

Media URL:

https://www.latimes.com/shortdocs/split-jury-123

Date:

2023/08/09

Summary:

“The non-unanimous jury rule in Oregon, which is the subject of our film, is a good example of how decisions made nearly a century ago affect the lives of people right now…Our vision for the film was to explain the roots of this law and to bring forward the human emotions and costs that often get lost in debates about criminal justice systems. Aliza Kaplan, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, has been a leading advocate to end the non-unanimous jury verdict system. It was through Aliza that we met Tacuma Jackson and learned about how his life was derailed by this unconstitutional law. Both Aliza and Tacuma placed their full trust in the project, and we were able to follow them for the five months leading up to the Oregon Supreme Court’s ruling in late December 2022.”