Prejudices And Perceptions In 12 Angry Men

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The film, “12 Angry Men” tells the riveting court room tale of a jury’s deliberation process in a major death penalty case in which the jury must vote unanimously for guilty or acquittal. There are a total of twelve jurors on the case and each juror has his own background and story. The film was originally a teleplay produced and co-written by Reginald Rose. The director of the film released in 1957 was Sidney Lumet. Howard Good and Michael Dillion say that, “the film reveals the difficulty citizens face in trying to separate prejudices and perceptions from physical facts” (92). The film 12 Angry Men tells the tale of a young boy who was wrongly accused of murder and sheds light on the prejudices and perceptions of the 1950’s to anything different or not normal.…show more content…
The boy on trial is an 18 year old Hispanic boy from a slum who allegedly stabbed his father, resulting in his father’s untimely death. The judge then informs all 12 jurors of their duties and the sentencing on the defendant. The defendant is facing the death penalty if found guilty. It is the responsibility of the jury to decide unanimously the fate of this young boy. Since the jury must find the defendant either not guilty or guilty unanimously, the jury must prove there is no reasonable doubt in this case. Reasonable doubt is the instructions given to the jury before deliberation from the defense and it is the only way to validate a defendant’s innocence. This is significant because if one of the jurors decides there is reasonable doubt in the case, it is an automatic a not guilty
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