Twelve Angry Men

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Twelve Angry Men
The movie “Twelve Angry Men” is about a murder case that happened in America in the 1900s at a time where their legal system had entirely different rules from what it is presently. A 16-year-old boy is convicted of killing his father, and 12 jurors are picked to decide his fate. The start of the movie makes it very clear to the audience that eleven of the twelve jurors already agreed on their verdict and just one juror, juror number 8, who believed that the boy was innocent. I enjoyed watching this movie and how the action revolved around the logic, opinions, reason, and perceptions of 12 unique characters that were tasked with examining the innocence or guilt of the boy accused of killing his father. Additionally, the movie sheds light on how different the legal system was decades ago.
The movie “Twelve Angry Men” demonstrates very crucial elements of the legal system in the US and observes them in practice. The “12 juror members” is a legal practice that can be traced back to the pre-12th century. And while in those times these men were picked by the defendant to vouch for his character, the modern illustration of a jury is steeped in the notion that an individual has the right to be judged by his peers. Another legal facet illustrated in the film is the principle of “beyond a Reasonable Doubt.” This principle depicts that the juror can only find the defendant guilty if they are entirely sure of his or her guilt (Jost et al. 41).

In the film that seemed to be the case as all of them were convinced based on the circumstantial evidence and eyewitness testimonies. However, juror number 8 was not entirely convinced that the boy was guilty and the movie revolves around the juror’s arguments and discussions on the innocence and guilt of the defendant. In my opinion, the film is a great learning lesson of the American legal system since it illustrates some of the transformations that have occurred since then.

Work CitedJost, John T., et al. “The existence of implicit bias is beyond reasonable doubt: A refutation of ideological and methodological objections and executive summary of ten studies that no manager should ignore.” Research in organizational behavior 29 (2009): 39-69.