blog




  • Essay / How the jury system works in the film "Twelve Angry Men"

    A jury system corresponds to a panel of twelve people, selected at random, who sit in the courtroom, in civil or criminal cases , to make decisions based on a set of facts presented to them. The twelve jurors know nothing about the case and are in no way connected to it. As presented in the United States District Court, jurors are asked to follow certain conduct during the trial. Jurors in the courtroom must pay close attention to the testimony, be open-minded, not let their biases dictate their verdict, and must render a verdict based on their best judgment to conduct a fair trial. In 12 Angry Men, before the jurors retire to deliberate, the judge reminds the jurors of their duty to deliberate carefully and sincerely. However, several actions and reflections demonstrate that the deliberations are not proceeding as they should, the jurors are neglecting their responsibilities. First, before the jurors are seated, some of them discuss the trial when this is not allowed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayIn fact, Juror 3 and Juror 7 share with Juror 2 and Juror 10, respectively, their opinions about the trial. While juror 3 complains that the trial lasted 6 days for nothing (which may suggest that juror 3 did not listen attentively to the trial) juror 7 calls the suspect's statement false and juror 10 agrees with him, implying that they are dealing with a liar. The U.S. District Court clarifies that jurors should not debate the case among themselves before deliberation. Jurors can influence each other, which could cause one of them not to reach a verdict based on his or her best judgment, as required by the Court. Next, the United States District Court clearly says that individual jurors are prohibited from going to "the scene of an accident or any event in the case." But juror 8, the day before the deliberations, bought a knife, similar to the one used to kill the victim, in a store near the crime scene. Juror 8 may not have visited the crime scene, but he may have purchased the knife at the same store where the suspect purchased his; which could have influenced his opinion. Juror 8 does not use the facts presented to him but conducts his own research. Jurors are not allowed to draw conclusions from “private sources of information.” Third, throughout the trial, jurors will show how their judgments are based solely on bias, because the suspect comes from a poor neighborhood and is not American. In 12 Angry Men, we can conclude that the functioning of the jury system is not always respected and that jurors do not always obey the law and the instructions given to them. 12 Angry Men may have revealed a failure in the jury system. Charles A. Thatcher, in his article published in The North American Review, exposed this possible failure of the jury system. As Mr Thatcher explains, twelve men are selected at random and all come from different backgrounds with different stories, which influence their opinions. Mr Thatcher also explains that jurors may not pay attention while sitting in the courtroom because they are only thinking about their own cases outside of court, time may be running out for some of them. between them. This can be seen in the movie 12 Angry Men when Juror 7 claims he wants to leave the jury room early because he has a comedy to watch, he doesn't act.