How Does The Juror Use Sense Perceptions In 12 Angry Men

The 1957’s movie 12 Angry Men, is about twelve jurors who have to decide whether or not the young boy is guilty for murdering his father. All but one juror said guilty. In the movie the jurors restate arguments made by the witnesses and the evidence found, to help justify their decision on if he is or isn’t guilty for killing his father. During this deliberation emotion, language and sense of perception is used to decide upon their verdict. This allows us to question, do we make decisions based on our emotion? How does the language used in the room influence the jurors’ beliefs? And In what ways are the eyewitness testimonies unreliable?

Firstly, emotion affects the juror’s decisions when deciding upon the verdict. Emotion is used in juror

Only using sense perception gives us a limited perspective and it is not very beneficial when using it to justify your reasons. In the beginning of the movie when they cast the first vote, eleven jurors vote guilty but one, however they base this only from what they have heard. They don’t have any doubts whether there could be a possibility that the witness testimonies could be wrong. For instance juror three states that “[he has] never [seen] a guiltier man in [his] life. You sat right in court and heard the same thing I did. The man’s a dangerous killer. You could see it." He hasn’t proved anything by saying this he just believes the young boy is guilty by thinking that everything that he heard in the courtroom was true. As well as believing that the woman’s eye witness testimony, which was that she saw the boy stab his father across the street. As juror ten states that “she swore she saw him do it” while there was a passing train. This was agreed upon during the trial that it was possible for the woman to see the killing happen when there was train coming by. But later on they look at this eyewitness testimony more critically by stating that “she had marks on the side of her nose and [was] rubbing them in court” and that no one “wears [there] eyeglasses to bed” hear they use reason that her testimony might be uncertain, that she might of seen a blur and that she could of made a mistake. In addition the jurors use their perceptions of the young boy with their personal knowledge and create a stereotype. As juror number ten says that “people form slum backgrounds area menace to society” as well as “the boy looks guilty” and “they’re born liars”. Some jurors assume that due to his background and experiences in life that he is guilty and identify him as a criminal instead of a human being like everyone else. Labeling him as a criminal emphasizes that he