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Prejudice In 12 Angry Men

752 Words4 Pages

Maria Thennis
We believe what we want to believe

12 Angry Men, a story written by Reginald Rose, shows us the many prejudices that people hold. Race, culture, age and a person’s past all influence how they are seen by others, right, wrong or indifferent. This movie explores the strong views held by 12 men on a jury who asked to determine the guilt of a poor Puerto Rican boy with a criminal past who is convicted of killing his father.

In 12 Angry Men, 10th juror demonstrates how racism affects one's own beliefs and judgments. In the movie, 10th juror says “You’re not going to tell us we’re supposed to believe him, knowing what he is. I’ve lived among ‘em all my life. You can’t believe a word they say. You know that.” 10th juror believes …show more content…

4th juror has the strong opinion that where a person comes from is directly correlated to their character. He states, “This boy-let’s say he’s a product of a filthy neighborhood and a broken home. We can’t help that. We’re not here to go into reasons why slums are breeding grounds for criminals” Juror 4 believes because the defendant grew up in the slums, he is guilty of the crimes in which he is charged. Just like in our society today, many like Juror 4, believe that people who live in the inner cities are automatically gang members who commit crimes. We see that same judgement in the west of Native Americans that live on reservations. People, like Juror 4, believe that those who grow up in poverty are automatic criminals. They believe that poverty will push them to do anything they can to get what they want and need. In addition, the 8th juror states, “Look, this kid’s been kicked around all his life. You know, born in a slum. Mother dead since he was nine. He lived for a year and a half in an orphanage. That is not a very happy beginning.” This strengthens the jurors’ case that they boy is guilty because of where he grew up.

In 12 Angry Men, jurors believe that a person is incapable of ever doing right after he has done wrong. The 7th juror states, “Look at the kid’s record. He stole a car. He’s been arrested for mugging...He was picked up for knife fighting.” He believes that because of

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Block 4 Prejudice is a big problem in today’s juries, as it can put an innocent person in jail, or worse. Twelve angry men by Reginald Rose is a great example of what can happen if jurors' minds are poisoned by prejudice and bias. The book is centered around Juror 8 who has the big job of showing a prejudiced jury that a kid who was alleged to have committed premeditated homicide was innocent. Reginald Rose uses the 3rd juror to develop the ideas of prejudice on juries by showing how personal experience can help feed into prejudice heavily, and how.

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Juror 10 categorizes those who live in the slum with statements such as “ They don’t need any real big reason to kill someone, either. You know, they get drunk, and bang, someone’s lying in the gutter…most of them, it’s like they have no feelings”. He makes strong generalized statements classifying all kids who are born in an environment where there is violence and poverty as criminals, although they may hold no criminal record. It is this bias that leads him to believe that this kid has definitely murdered his

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Twelve Angry Men play depicts a realistic story of one of the few duties required if you are a U.S. citizen, serving on a jury. What is a completely private affair among strangers, is shown in a realistic case through Reginald Rose’s classic tale. Going in depth into case most would never want to encounter, and shows the true colors of a man. Exploring the themes of prejudice, justice, and father and son relationships. When most people hear the word prejudice they often think to race, ethnicity, or gender, yet it is not always the case.

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Rose uses these examples to illustrate how much of Juror 3’s personal issues can twist his mind into thinking worse of the defendant. Secondly, Rose highlights the notion that you can have different kinds of prejudice in the jury room, and this can change people’s

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In the play Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, we can see that prejudice gets in the way of truth. Many of the jurors that participated have let prejudice get in their way to see the truth and look at the real situation and facts, for example, Juror Three, who “is a very strong, very forceful, extremely opinionated man within whom can be detected a streak of sadism… is intolerant of opinions other than his own, and accustomed to forcing his wishes upon others.” He has a son that he identifies as a “tough guy”, which is one of the descriptions of the 19-year-old accused, Juror Three let the image of his own son be reflected on the boy and made him think unfairly. Getting to the bottom of a complex issue takes time and effort. At the beginning of the play, most jury members wanted to get over the case and go home as early as they could, but one of the jury members, Juror Eight, who was sure the boy was not guilty, took many hours to question the evidence and the case and murder itself, but he was not the only one as other jury members also spoke about what they thought in the past options, fairly quick, it was almost six in the evening and Juror Six wanted to leave to go to his family, it may have been more of an excuse to leave, but the jurors did not let him leave because they had gone far enough to decide where the trial was going

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His thought is that he can get back at his son by sending this boy off to his death. He sticks to his vote of guilty throughout the play and tries to get others on his side, even when it is clear there is reasonable doubt. Towards the end of the play the jurors realize the women that testified must wears glasses, and could not have seen the boy murder his father, which is one of the key testimonies Juror 3 is making his claim out of. After recognising his vote of guilty is wrong, Juror 3 defends himself by saying, “How do you know what she saw?”(lll,62) The rest of the jurors decide there is reasonable doubt, but still Juror 3 blurts out, “I think he is guilty!”

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‘Twelve Angry Men’ written by Reginald Rose, is based on the story of a jury who have to come together to determine the fate of a young boy accused to have murdered his own father. Initially, eleven of the jurors vote not guilty with one of the juror being uncertain of the evidence put before them. As the men argue over the different pieces of evidence, the insanity begins to make sense and the decision becomes clearer as they vote several other times. Rose creates drama and tension in the jury room, clearly exploring through the many issues of prejudice, integrity and compassion, in gaining true justice towards the accused victim. These aspects have been revealed through three character who are Juror 10, Juror 8 and Juror 3.

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In what seemed like solid, compelling evidence at first, turned out to be faulty after deep analysis and logical thought. By exposing the audience to the logical discoveries made by the jury, 12 Angry Men truly displayed a sense of realism throughout the film. Perhaps the most realistic aspect of the film is best described by critic Mark Nunez, where: Many critics advance the rational argument that the power of a juror to decide one way or another for no apparent reason cannot possibly work to achieve justice. However, the film also exposes us to those jurors in the room who openly express their thoughts, ideas, and feelings about the case. This juxtaposition of characters in the jury room is ultimately consistent with the fact that the room should reflect the diverse community in which we live.

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