Twelve Angry Men Essay

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Twelve Angry Men Essay When your accused of a crime, your first thought regardless of if you did it or not is this: Will the jury find me guilty or not guilty? So many variables come into play when it comes to a jury. Are the juror’s bias and will they listen to reason? Will the jurors have enough time to consider the evidence and not be rushed? Will the jury be composed of my peers? All you can do is have faith in the current jury system, which can at times be seem to be against you. In Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men, all of these issues come up and influence the end verdict. Biases come from many places. Newspapers, television, personal beliefs, internet, almost anywhere you can think of. It’s impossible to get a bias-less jury. Everyone has their own biases. Some are more prevalent than others such as this statement from Juror #10, “I don’t understand you people...you know how these people lie...they don’t care......most of them, it’s like they have no feelings.” He let racism interfere with a fair trial. Is this the kind juror you’d like having judge your case? Sure, biases can work to benefit just as much as they can harm, but in a perfect jury system, there wouldn’t be any bias. Jurors get paid a flat rate of $50 a day. It’s hot. They have lives. What reason would they have to waste time discussing a court case when they could be doing so many other things? Wouldn’t it be easier to say “Guilty” or “Not Guilty” and get on with their lives? Juror #7 clearly states at the beginning of the play that, “I’ve got tickets to - [insert name of any current Broadway hit.] - for tonight.” Illustrating that his mind really isn’t focused on the case. Though some may argue that with unlimited time to deliberate, this is a very seldom occurrence. At the same time, it does happen and it has caused innocent people to die. There’s a 1/3 chance that you won’t get a
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