- Harrisburg Seven
The Harrisburg Seven were a group of religious anti-war activists led by
Philip Berrigan . The group became famous when they were unsuccessfully prosecuted for alleged criminal plots during theVietnam War era. Six of the seven wereIrish Catholic nuns or priests. The seventh was Eqbal Ahmad, a Pakistani journalist, American-trained political scientist, and self-described "odd man out" of the group. [Jay Schulman, et al. (May 1973) "Recipe for a Jury" "Psychology Today ", pg. 42.] In 1970, the group attracted government attention when Berrigan, then imprisoned, and Sister Elizabeth McAlister were caught trading letters that alluded to kidnapping National Security AdvisorHenry Kissinger and blowing up steam tunnels. [" [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944463-1,00.html No Again on the Conspiracy Law] ". "Time". (17 April, 1972) Retrieved on 8 September 2007.]The trial
U.S. Attorneys charged the Harrisburg Seven with conspiracy to kidnap Kissinger and bomb heating tunnels. They filed the case in the politically conservative town of
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . Activist attorney and former Attorney GeneralRamsey Clark led the defense team for their trial during the spring months of 1972. Unconventionally, he didn't call any witnesses in his clients' defense, including the defendants themselves. He reasoned that the jury was sympathetic to his Catholic clients and that that sympathy would be ruined by their testimony that they'd burned their draft cards. [Josh Saunders (November/December 2003). " [http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/November-December-2003/feature_saunders_novdec03.msp Ramsey Clark's Prosecution Complex] ". "Legal Affairs". Retrieved on 8 September 2007.] After an extraordinarily long deliberation, the jury remained hung and the defendants were freed.The trial gained some notoriety for the use of
scientific jury selection - use of demographic factors to identify unfavorable jurors - to keep the defendants from being convicted. [ Huss, Matthew T. " [http://teachpsych.org/resources/e-books/faces/text/Ch11.htm Psychology and Law, Now and in the Next Century: The Promise of an Emerging Area of Psychology] " In J. S. Halonen & S. F. Davis (Eds.). The many faces of psychological research in the 21st century (chap. 11). Retrieved 8 September 2007. Citing Schulman, J., Shaver, P., Colman, R., Emrich, B., & Christie, R. (1973, May). "Recipe for a jury." "Psychology Today", 37-44, 77-84.]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
