12 Angry Men Justice Analysis

Was Justice served in 12 Angry Men or did the jury set a guilty man free?

The perception an individual has on justice, and the truth that they personally seek, are the deciding factors in determining what the true meaning of righteousness is for an individual. The perspective of justice a person has however is not the only factor that comes into play, when establishing whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. The play, ‘12 angry men’, written by Reginald Rose, is a drama involved around a jury and a homicide case. In comparison, the movie, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, directed by Robert Mulligan, follows the tale of Atticus Finch, a lawyer, who defends a black man against fabricated rape charges, and the evils of racism and stereotyping. Both texts have strongly opposing beliefs on the meaning of the justice;

Recently in my AP English class, we watched The film “Twelve Angry Men”. The film was unique in the fact that it only had one setting, the Jury Room. The film showed no one else but the jurors and the warden, who all remained completely nameless throughout the entire movie and we're only identified by their juror numbers. The jurors were drastically different which I believe added more diversity and made the plot more complex and intriguing to the audience. I don't believe the film had a specific intended audience, I believe that this show can be appreciated by all audiences because it shows that reasonable doubt is a much easier state of mind then certainty.

Twelve Angry Men takes you into a day in the lives of twelve jurors in a New York City courthouse. In the hands of the jurors lies the fate of a young man accused of stabbing his father.

Twelve Angry Men, a play by Reginald Rose, was written in 1955 at a time when America was involved in a cold war with communist countries. It shows the strength of a deliberative process that enables individuals, who have “nothing to gain or lose,” to reach a verdict. In the American jury system “everybody deserves a fair trial” and in Twelve Angry Men the defendant gets a very fair trial. All the jurors have their own opinions on the case but in the end a decision is made. The jury, and the audience, never discovers if in fact the defendant did murder his father. His guilt or innocence seems to be almost

After watching the movie , “Twelve angry men” you realize something important. Economic, social and cultural factors actually have a significant impact on the process of justice. Life situations , religion & culture , In many ways in fact. Some examples from the movie include , when juror #8, acted out a scene , when they used an actual train as an example and lastly when the last juror finally gave up and agreed not guilty , but this whole time used his life as a reason why he shouldn't be.

The complexity of justice is evident in Reginald Rose’s ‘Twelve Angry Men’, through the employment of Truth throughout the American 1950’s judicial system. Throughout the text, the concept of justice is forged by the racal prejudices, personal bias, emotion, logistics, and reasoning of the Jurors, thus allowing truth to hinder or prevail. Justice is shaped by truth in ‘Twelve Angry Men’, as the Jurors begin to understand the reasonable doubt in the evidence against the defendant, as the truth becomes prevalent through the Juror’s deductive capabilities, thus allowing for injustice to be hindered by the truth, which ultimately leads justice to prevail in the judicial system.

Justice is doing for others, what we would want done for ourselves. Both the play ‘Twelve Angry Men’ by playwright Reginald Rose and the film ‘On the Waterfront’ by director Elia Kazan explore justice. Rose and Kazan use a variety of characters and their challenges, as well as a range of different literary features to build their knowledge of justice shown throughout both texts. Firstly, both authors Rose and Kazan explore the use of their protagonists using justice to overcome the fears to stand up for themselves. Secondly we are shown justice from both antagonists in each text as neither of them are set up to not accept the truth to try and achieve justice. Lastly, Rose and Kazan show through the use of the setting how justice is used in more depth. Each text ultimately explores a variety of different ways of showing justice

Reginald Rose’s text, Twelve Angry Men, follows the jury deliberation of a small murder case, with a cast of twelve jury men discussing the evidence presented in court to decide whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. Over the course of the play, led primarily by moral compass jury number 8, the verdict is changed from eleven to one to acquittal, as the men are persuaded and subject to constant distractions, prejudice, bullying, and discussions of unreliable witness testimonies and lawyers, thus exploring issues about the validity of the justice system in magnitude.

In the drama Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, juror 8 does a good job in persuading the other jurors to listen and reconsider the evidence. He uses his rhetorical appeals to captivate the other jurors attention. He gains an authority towards the other jurors which makes them trust him more. Juror 8 deconstructs the testimony and evidence with his rhetorical appeal to make the other jurors consider the innocence of the defendant.

In the courtroom, justice and mercy tend to cause a conflict regarding the defendant’s sentencing. On one side, pity tends to fall as the motive for one’s argument. In the other hand, many seek fairness to play the decision of the defendant’s future. With the conclusion of the play 12 Angry Men, justice takes a great importance in deciding the fate of the defendant.

Many important topics and integral information that is an essential part in the criminal justice system have been introduced in the play “12 Angry Men”. Some examples of this would be crime and justice including the laws, criminal behavior, victimization, and the criminal justice system in itself. These issues are everyday situations but many people have been oblivious to the problem. The twelve jurors have an assignment where they will have to decide whether or not the young man on trial is guilty of murdering his father or is innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. All twelve men are frustrated and lack patience which lead them to be contumacious and unfocused. Their distraction led to many key facts getting misemployed and emotions start to cross making it hard for the jurors to construct a resolution. They have been oblivious to the effect that it would have on the community itself. On the information given up to this point this process essay will articulate the unenlightenment and egomaniacal principles of the twelve men in the short story and movie "Twelve Angry Men" written by Reginald Rose and directed by Sidney Lumet. Both Lumet and Rose showed their point of views of the criminal justice system in the play and the movie. Although the director's view on the justice system demonstrated the rights that everyone had, it also revealed his thoughts on how the justice system is corrupt, ineffective and unjust because all these aspects have shown the major differences in the morality of the twelve individuals and the problem at hand in the movie and play “12 Angry Men”.

Second choice: compare and contrast juror #8 sense of justice with that of any other juror.

The jury that is chosen for the case all come from very different pasts, and most of them have completely different morals and values. The clash of these different views and discussing the case reveal past experiences and prejudices that some of the men have. The dynamic between past experience and prejudices fuels their arguments, but they are challenged throughout the play. Some of them had prejudices against people who live in the slums and prejudices against teenagers.

The movie Twelve Angry Men is about the twelve jurors that could adjust their influence in a decision-making process for conviction an eighteen years-old boy, whether the boy guilty or not guilty in murdering of his father. It represents a perfect example for applicable of a work group development framework. It also has examples of influence techniques among a group’s members. This paper is looking at those specific examples in the movie and focusing in analysis the reasons why Juror 8 is so much more effective than others in the meeting.