Flaws Throughout The Judicial System
Although the movie, “12 Angry Men” was made in the 50’s it is still relevant in the real world today. The movie provides an accurate portrayal of what happens in juries even to this day. This is shown through the skewed view of cases by juries. Juries are influenced by persuasion, personal bias, and prejudice.
The movie “Twelve Angry Men” portrayed the theme of prejudice though several of the jurors base their opinions of the case on racist feelings toward the 16 year old boy. This is shown by; “The 4th Juror coldly states that people from slums are more likely to be violent, which offends the 5th Juror, who grew up in a slum. The 10th Juror makes racist statements throughout, and as the deliberation goes on” (Sparknotes) This is relevant to the
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In an article; “The verdict split the country along racial lines with many white
Americans believing OJ got away with murder and many African Americans thinking OJ was innocent.” (Madison) This supports the idea of the juries being prejudiced against Simpson, which was also shown in the movie as well.
“12 Angry Men” conveys the theme of persuasion as well. This is shown through the different
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jurors making their own points and discussing those points with the jury. One example being;
“The 8th Juror says that the boy on trial is not his son. He says that the 3rd Juror’s personal experience is clouding his judgment. The 3rd Juror relents and votes “not guilty.” (Sparknotes) In the Simpson case, the trial went on for 11 months before the jury unanimously voted guilty. This was the longest sequestered case to date. In other words, it took 11 months for the jury to come up with a decision. Meaning that in order to have a unanimous decision, the jury had to convince one another to vote guilty.
Furthermore, in the movie, the jurors are clouded by personal bias. One example of this is shown towards the beginning of the movie. “The 7th Juror is also impatient for the