A Modified Allen Charge is an instruction given by a judge to a jury during a criminal trial. It is used when the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict after a long period of deliberation and is intended to encourage the jurors to work towards a decision. The modified version of the Allen Charge is intended to be less coercive and reduce the chance of jury intimidation. The instruction typically includes a reminder that the jurors are not to surrender their individual convictions or opinions in order to reach a verdict, but should instead strive to reach a unanimous decision. There are several versions of the Modified Allen Charge, including the Witherspoon-Allen Charge, the United States v. Hawkins Charge, and the United States v. Madrid Charge.
Modified Allen Charge
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Allen Charge refers to a set of instructions given to a jury when, after deliberation, it is unable to decide on a verdict. The purpose of the instruction is to encourage jurors to re-examine their opinions and attempt to reach a unanimous verdict if possible. Allen Charge is named after the case, Allen v.
When jurors cannot agree on a verdict and report this to a judge, the judge may issue further instruction to them to encourage those in the minority to reconsider their position. These instructions are known as an Allen charge or, more casually, as a dynamite charge.
Allen charges (also referred to as dynamite, nitroglycerin, shotgun, or third-degree charges) refer to jury instructions given to a hung jury urging them to agree on a verdict.
?a-l?n- : a charge to a deadlocked jury to make a further effort to reach a verdict especially by each juror considering the others' opinions with deference.
Named after the case Allen vs. United States, 164 U.S. 492 (1896), an Allen charge is a supplemental jury instruction given by the court to encourage a dead-locked jury to try harder to reach a verdict.
If there is a hung jury, the judge may order the jurors to deliberate further. This is known as an Allen charge and is generally only given once or twice. Often, juries will report that they are deadlocked after only deliberating for a short period of time.