Jackson, Daizia
Professor Runkle
English 1C
15 October 2015
Proper Jury Duty A normal jury room consists of twelve jurors discussing, and colliding opinions about a particular case. In the play; Twelve Angry Men twelve jurors were placed in a room doing just that to determine exactly how innocent a 16 year old boy is after being the blame for his father’s death. However, to begin with eleven of the twelve jurors felt as if the young man was guilty supporting the disciplinary sentence of a 1st degree murder charge that results in an automatic death penalty. Surprisingly, the 8th juror did whatever it took to discuss the evidence and determine if reasonable doubt was a possibility, while the others locked in their vote without analyzing and
…show more content…
In comparison to this fallacy, there is an old saying, don’t judge a book by its cover, meaning one can not necessarily base an opinion on a person nor state facts without knowing the individual and their capabilities. For example, the 3rd juror insists on using personal attack toward the 16 year old boy, focusing more so on his appearance and upbringing while, disregarding all other possibilities or factors to the murder situation. The 3rd juror began to share his encounters with dishonesty, then further stating “you come in here with your sanctimonious talk about some slum kid... Every one of you knows this kid is guilty” (Rose 47; Act I). Juror three believes that the kid is guilty and allowed experiences to influence and shape his perception of the situation. Although juror three was stuck on the wrong things and blinded to factors of the kid’s life that can be useful for the case, juror eight took his life into consideration.
With all the kid faced in life, there are many possible fallacies the jurors utilized in the play, however another fallacy often used was the appeal to pity. The appeal to pity is when an individual attempts to win sympathy for someone or something. It was obvious, that the 8th juror used this particular fallacy to gain a change in votes and possibly be able to influence his colleagues to establish an open mind. However jurors should not base their votes
Due to the amount of arguing and irritation there was in act three juror seven let it all reflect onto his decision. (Conversation between NO.7 & NO.11) “ Is it guilty or not guilty? I told you. Not guilty. Why? I don’t have to… I… don’t think… he’s guilty.” Juror seven had no valid reasoning other than because “I don't think he's guilty”, this shows that he let other people's opinion as is to if the 19 year old is guilty or not impact his judgement.
12 Angry Men is about 12 men who are the jury for an 18 year old accused of murder. The judge states in the opening scene that it is a premeditated murder in the 1st degree, if found guilty will automatically receive the death penalty. The 18 year old male is accused of killing his father with a “one of a kind” switch blade, in their home. The prosecutors have several eye witness testimonies, and all of the evidence that they could need to convict the 18 year old male. In the movie it takes place on the hottest day of the year in New York City. There are 12 jurors whom are to decide if the evidence is enough to convict the teen of murder in the first degree. In the first initial vote it is 11-1. The only way that the jurors could turn in
A 1950’s play, ‘Twelve Angry Men’ written by Reginald Rose is set on a very hot afternoon, entirely in one room and is based on a story of a jury who have to come together to determine the fate of a 16-year-old boy, accused to have murdered his own father. As the men argue endlessly over the evidence, the fundamental ideas of achieving a just verdict becomes clear. Rose creates drama and tension in the jury room, clearly discovering the quality in which integrity is essential to be a member of a jury. This aspect of integrity has been shown through the three characters of Juror 8, Juror 9 and Juror 3. From the very start, Juror 8 announced his perspective of the case and continued to pursue with the same ‘not guilty’ thought throughout the
Juror 10 highlights the challenges of deciding the verdict, particularly through his prejudiced views. He exhibits confirmation bias, as described by Shahram Heshmat in "What is Confirmation Bias? ", “Confirmation bias occurs from the direct influence of the desire for beliefs.” (Heshmat 2) When Juror 10 relies on his beliefs about the kid and does not look at the evidence, it shows that he’s biased toward the kid.
Juror #8 is a calm and reasonable man which makes it easier for him to judge the case fairly and justly without any prejudice. Juror #8 never said he believed the defendant to be innocent he only wanted to take the role of being a juror seriously and talk about the case before a young boy is sent off to die. “I’m not trying to change your mind it’s just that we’re talking about somebody’s life here… we can’t decide in five minutes.” Because he brings no prejudice in the jury room he is able to look at the facts and carefully decide on his judgement. Juror #8 recognizes other peoples prejudice and tries not to convince them that the boy is innocent but to have them let go of that prejudice and decide based on the facts whether they truly believe the defendant is guilty or not. Rose uses both juror
“The Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose is an examination of the American judicial system. Through depicting what happens inside the jury room in New York City, the author manages to illustrate the unique characteristics of each juror and presents the idea that facts can be different depending on the individual presenting it. The murder of an African-American male by his son sets the background of the story and leads to the discussions between the 12 jurors on whether the son is guilty or not. The play centers its stage on juror 8, the only juror and refuses to let the case end without a fair discussion on the case, and talks about his actions to persuade other juror into eventually changing their votes. Strongly influenced by its time period,
Similarly ,In Twelve Angry Men Juror 8 is a smart and moral juror who is willing to stand against all the other jurors for what he thinks is right. He is the main protagonist who believes a boy accused with murdering his father deserves a discussion prior to a guilty verdict. Although all the other jurors initially voted guilty, juror 8 believed that the jurors should not “send a boy off to die without talking about it first”(Juror 8, 12). Throughout the play Juror 8 combats the pressure from the other Jurors to just vote guilty and manages to convince his fellow Jurors one by one that there in fact is “reasonable doubt”(Judge, 6) and convinces them to arrive at a “not guilty”(Juror 3, 72) verdict. Reginald Rose extols Juror 8’s pursuit of justice through his success. Not only did Juror 8 stand by his principles and have the courage to stand against all the other Jurors, he also had the wits to convince his fellow jurors to change their verdict. Through these actions Juror 8 brings justice to the courts of New York city saving the life of a young boy.
The jurors are transformed by the process of deliberating. Eleven men voted guilty because of their prejudices, fears, laziness and insecurities, but they are eventually persuaded by reason to give up these limiting beliefs, to see the potential in the facts, and to find justice. The critical turning points in the jury votes occur, not when there is passion and anger, but when there is reasoned discussion, as the rational Juror 8 triumphs over the prejudices of his fellow jurors. The facts of the case do not change, but the jurors come to see the facts differently, and change by the process they go through. Despite the hostility and tension created in this process, the twelve men end up reconciled, and justice is done.
However, it isn't just the jurors' own personal prejudice that affects the way they vote. The prosecution of the boy led the jurors to believe that he was a guilty beyond all doubt. Also, the boy's representation was uninterested and uncaring. I kept putting myself in the boy's place. I would have asked for another lawyer, I think. I mean, if I was on trial for my life I'd want my lawyer to tear the prosecution witnesses to shreds, or at least to try.' [Juror 8, page 14]
Juror 4 is able to remain calm and composed throughout the most stressful of situations. While Juror 10 exhibits racial outbursts; “They get drunk”, “That's the way they are!”, “VIOLENT!”, “These people are dangerous. They're wild. Listen to me. Listen.” Juror 4 sat through this entire scene without saying a word. It is only until Juror 10’s monologue is finished that Juror 4 speaks, calmly asking Juror 10 to “Shut [his] filthy mouth.” Juror 4 never discredits or implies anything towards the defendant and is always careful of what he says. After Juror 10’s tirade, Juror 4 tries to soften the impact created by 10; “Slums are potential breeding grounds for criminals.” He never attacks or hypes the situation at hand. He draws around ‘potential’ possibilities. Juror 4 initially had his doubts at the start of the case but was the only character that overcame his predisposition based on the analysis of facts and evidence. Rose’s character and only this character had the intelligence, confidence and persistence to keep his head in the tense moment Juror 10 created.
Although a lot of evidence was really convincing, he tried to prove it unconvincing and use sarcasm to convince other jurors otherwise. One example of #7 using sarcasm would be this quote: "Why don't we have them run the trial over..." I think this quote clearly shows that juror #7 is trying to convince other jurors, that court's evidence proves the young man is guilty without reasonable doubt. Also to break #8's spirit he used name calling, another kind of peer pressure. I believe this is a very good example: "The boy is guilty pal, like the nose on your face." The third and last juror I picked was #8, he was not using sarcasm, nor was he muscle flexing, he was using reasonable argument, which helped him convince all the jurors that the young man was innocent. He did not try to convince anybody by screaming at him, on the contrary he tried to go over all the evidence, and he was using intelligent thinking, like trying to calculate exact times, and figure out the correct position of the switch-blade in the chest of the father. He was also trying to recreate a situation to see if indeed one of the witnesses on the stand was lying.
A boy may die,” and changes his vote to “not guilty” which is another instance where the boy gets a fair trial. The 12th and 7th juror find it difficult to decide on which way to vote and therefore vote “not guilty” so that the boy is not “sent off to die.” The 12th juror’s lack of a defined and consistent point of view reflects America’s post war materialism. The 4th juror believed that the defendant was guilty for most of the play but then was the 2nd last juror to change his vote and admitted that he had a “reasonable doubt.” Although the audience never finds out whether the defendant was “guilty” or “not guilty” the jurors give the “kid from the slums” an honest trial.
Juror 3 was basing his failed relationship with his son on the accused boy. The reason that he had such a bad relationship with his son is because when the boy was young, he ran away from a fight and Juror 3 said: “I’m going to make a man out of you or I’m going to bust you up into little pieces trying”. Later on, when his son was older, they got into a fight and Juror 3 hasn’t seen him since. This experience probably left him the impression that all kids take their loved ones for granted, and that they deserve severe punishments. Juror 3 is not the type to provide the sharpest evidence or information, but he is very determined to prove that the accused really did murder the victim. Juror 8 practically gives nothing away about his real life, probably because he did not want to add his own prejudices to the case. Juror 3 gave both his ill-mannered personality and bigotry away in the play.
Reginald Rose’s ‘Twelve Angry Men’ is a play which displays the twelve individual jurors’ characteristics through the deliberation of a first degree murder case. Out of the twelve jurors, the 8th Juror shows an outstanding heroism exists in his individual bravery and truthfulness. At the start, the 8th Juror stands alone with his opposing view of the case to the other eleven jurors. Furthermore, he is depicted as a juror who definitely understands the jury system and defends it from the jurors who do not know it fully. At the end, he eventually successes to persuade the eleven other jurors and achieves a unanimous verdict, showing his
Everyone wants to live in a fair world, nut sadly it does not exist. Juror NO. 10 is a great example because he did not care about the kid so he voted without proof just to get everything done. Later on, act 3, juror NO. 10 was asked to state why the kid was guilty and he went for the looks and what people like the kid usually do instead of going