12 Angry Men By Reginald Rose: The Jury System

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In the film 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, it’s based on ordinary citizens that are summoned by a court to determine the verdict of a case in which one of their peers from society is on trial. Before I talk about how the jury system works, I’d want to discuss what happened in the film and how this film relates to the jury system. Then including the difficulty that jurors go through on making a decision.
In the film there was twelve men in the jury box, they had to reach out a ruling either first degree murder or not. This was for an eighteen year-old year old who murdered his dad with a knife. The jury box is an isolated room where 12 jurors decide amongst themselves whether an individual is guilty or not guilty. Usually for those who are on trial for murder and convicted, the individual will most likely be sentenced to death. Once the twelve jurors walked into the jury box, it take less than a couple of seconds to say he was guilty of first degree murder. Juror number eight brings up convinced details about the case and this was enough to change one of the jurors’ minds. It looked like no one is leaving at all until everyone is on the same page. Henry …show more content…
Joy, he proclaims that “the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides the legal basis for grand juries. Grand juries play a major role in the U.S. criminal justice system” (Joy). This means that no individual should not be held responsible for a crime unless being accused by the grand jury. In the film, there was a murder trial because the eighteen year-old boy was accused for stabbing his father. Usually any crime is considered to be a violation of the state, so 12 jurors must agree whether if the individual is guilty or not guilty. In a way, jurors are holding someone else’s life in the palm of their hand. One delicate move and it could send someone to their death
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