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12 Angry Men
By Reginald Rose
Reginald Rose
•
Inspired by Rose's own experience of jury
duty on a manslaughter case in New York City.
• At first, he had been reluctant to serve on a
jury, but he wrote, “The moment I walked into
the courtroom … and found myself facing a
strange man whose fate was suddenly more or
less in my hands, my entire attitude changed.”
Summary
Eleven jurors believe the defendant in a capital
murder trial is guilty, while one juror stands up
courageously for what he believes is justice
and tries to persuade the others to his way of
thinking.
Jury Deliberation
• Jury selection are held in open court
• Deliberations are absolutely secret
• Juries are left to themselves, after trial, in a
locked room, guarded by the court, to reach a
verdict based only on their judgment of the
evidence presented
• Jury never required nor allowed to offer their
reasoning in court
• Asked only for their verdict
Amendments V,VI, XIV
• Conveys the importance of the right to a jury trial
afforded by Article III of the constitution
• Afforded a trial by “an impartial jury of the state
and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed”
• Presumed innocent until proven guilty
• Right to counsel
• Educates citizens and in the best case, improves
their deliberations as citizens
Background
• The English were among the first to adopt the
institution of trial by an impartial jury of one’s
peers
• English colonists and America
recognized the right
Plot
• The jury of twelve “angry men,” were entrusted with the
power to send an uneducated teenaged Puerto Rican,
tenement-dwelling boy to the electric chair for killing his
father with a switchblade knife
• Jurors are locked into a small, claustrophobic rectangular
room on a stifling hot summer day until they come up with
a unanimous decision – either guilty or not guilty.
• Examines the twelve men’s deep-seated personal
prejudices, perceptual biases and weaknesses, indifference,
anger, personalities, unreliable judgments, cultural
differences, ignorance and fears, that threaten to taint their
decision-making abilities, cause them to ignore the real
issues in the case, and potentially lead them to a
miscarriage of justice.
References within script
• Clarence Darrow: American lawyer and leading
member of the American Civil Liberties Union
• El Train: a rapid transit, subway, underground,
elevated railway/urban area/high capacity and
frequency
• Krushchev: Russian/served as General Secretary
of the Communist Party from 1953-1964
following the death of Joseph Stalin.
Roles in a trial explained
• Bailiff: usually a deputy sheriff or some other law enforcement
officer keeps:
-Order, protects the jury from the outside influence and assists the court clerk
• The court clerk is the main administrative assistant to the judge.
The clerk:
-keeps track of the courtroom of
exihibits and other items of evidence
-catalogs and takes custody of
exihibits and other items of evidence
-prepares all written orders of the court
(summons and warrants, for ex) as
directed by
the judge
-administers oath to witnesses
- calls the jurors for selection
Roles in a trial explained…
Prosecution lawyers: members of the district
attorneys office, city’s attorneys office, or state
and federal attorney general’s office
Defense lawyers: private attorneys or members of
publicly supported organizations (i.e. public
defenders office) they must defend the accused by
showing that the government does not have
enough evidence to convict the defendant
Defendant: the person accused of the crime
Criminal Codes
• Degrees of Murder – any killing committed with malice
aforethought
a. Murder in the first degree: all killings that are premeditated
b. Murder in the second degree: all other killing with malice
aforethought
• Manslaughter
a. Voluntary manslaughter: all intentional killings committed as a
result of serious provocation or extreme danger
b. Involuntary Manslaughter: all unintentional killings that are the
direct result of committing:
1. any dangerous and unlawful act or
2. any lawful act in an extremely careless or negligent manner
Background of Thomas Carter
• Prior arrests/convictions: one arrest for disturbing the peace. The charges
were subsequently dropped. At the age of 17, Carter was cited for reckless
driving, and his driver’s license was suspended for six months.
• Employment: employed full time as an assistant manager of a parts
department of a local auto dealership. Held his currant position for nearly
6 months after having worked there part time during high school. Currant
income is $26,000 a year
• School record: Carter was an average student throughout high school.
Because of poor attendance he completed some credits for grad. At a
continuation H.S. He was suspended twice, once for fighting, once for
truancy. Recently he completed a special three wk course offered by Ford
motor company in parts management before qualifying for his present job
• Residence: Carter’s dad died when he was 5. he lives at home with his
mother, sister, and younger cousin. He makes a monthly contributions for
rent, utilities, food, and maintenance.
General Trial Proceedings
Most trials have five stages:
Stage 1
Jury Selection
The judge and attorneys question the jurors sent to the courtroom until a panel of
twelve is agreed upon by all sides. The questioning is designed to excuse jurors
who might have difficulty in rendering a fair and impartial verdict in that particular
case.
Stage 2
Opening Statements
These are brief statements made by the attorneys to the jury in which the
attorneys outline the facts as they see them and what they hope to prove. The
attorneys are not considered witnesses and their statements are not evidence. The
plaintiff's attorney in a civil case or the prosecutor in a criminal case gives the first
statement and the defense attorney follows.
•
Stage 3
Presentation of Evidence
Witnesses for the plaintiff in a civil case or for the prosecution in a criminal case testify first,
witnesses for the defense testify next and any rebuttal witnesses testify last. Each witness is
sworn to tell the truth. The attorney who calls the witness asks questions in direct
examination. The attorney for the opposing side then questions the witness in crossexamination. The purpose of this questioning is to elicit evidence. Exhibits and physical
objects such as photographs and x-rays are also presented at this time as evidence.
Stage 4
Closing Arguments
This is the final opportunity for the attorneys to address the jury. The plaintiff's attorney in a
civil case or the prosecutor in a criminal case proceeds first. The attorney analyzes the
evidence and attempts to convince the jury to decide in favor of his or her side of the case.
The defense attorney follows with his or her argument, attempting to do the same. Finally,
the plaintiff's attorney or prosecutor has the opportunity to present a rebuttal to the defense
attorney's argument.
Stage 5
Jury Deliberations
The judge instructs the jury on the law they must apply in the particular case. Jurors then
retire from the courtroom to deliberate in secret. When the jurors reach a verdict, the jury
foreman who is elected by fellow jurors informs the deputy sheriff that a decision has been
reached. The jury returns to the courtroom and the verdict is read aloud to the parties.
•
Stage 3
Presentation of Evidence
Witnesses for the plaintiff in a civil case or for the prosecution in a criminal case testify first,
witnesses for the defense testify next and any rebuttal witnesses testify last. Each witness is
sworn to tell the truth. The attorney who calls the witness asks questions in direct
examination. The attorney for the opposing side then questions the witness in crossexamination. The purpose of this questioning is to elicit evidence. Exhibits and physical
objects such as photographs and x-rays are also presented at this time as evidence.
Stage 4
Closing Arguments
This is the final opportunity for the attorneys to address the jury. The plaintiff's attorney in a
civil case or the prosecutor in a criminal case proceeds first. The attorney analyzes the
evidence and attempts to convince the jury to decide in favor of his or her side of the case.
The defense attorney follows with his or her argument, attempting to do the same. Finally,
the plaintiff's attorney or prosecutor has the opportunity to present a rebuttal to the defense
attorney's argument.
Stage 5
Jury Deliberations
The judge instructs the jury on the law they must apply in the particular case. Jurors then
retire from the courtroom to deliberate in secret. When the jurors reach a verdict, the jury
foreman who is elected by fellow jurors informs the deputy sheriff that a decision has been
reached. The jury returns to the courtroom and the verdict is read aloud to the parties.
For a Defendant
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Crime is committed
Police begin investigation
Suspect identified
Suspect arrested
County attorney charges suspect with a crime
Suspect appears in court for arraignment
Public defender appointed
Challenges to violation of the Constitution
Probable cause hearing
Trial
Sentencing
Why so many steps in legal process?
Death Penalty
• States w/o :
Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New Jersey
New York
North Dakota
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
District of Columbia
Timeline of Death Penalty
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18th century BC – established death penalty
1608 – First recorded execution in colonies
1632 - First woman executed in new colonies
Early 1800s – states reduce # of capital crimes
and build more penitentiaries
• 1846 – Michigan becomes the 1st state to
abolish the death penalty for all crimes except
treason
• 1930s – Executions reach the highest levels in
American history – avg. 167 per year
• 1972 – Furman v. Georgia – Supreme Crt voids
40 death penalty statutes and suspends death
penalty.
• 2005 – Roper v. Simmons: U.S. Supreme Crt
rules that death penalty for those under 18
years of age (at time of crime) is cruel and
unusual punishment.
DNA
• DNA can lock someone in jail or set him free.
• The first criminal justice application proved a confessed
murderer innocent.
• 1996 - a suspect in the 1986 rape-murder of two girls in
Leicester, England, confessed to only one murder.
• In an attempt to prove the suspect killed both girls, police
contacted Sir Alex Jeffreys, asking him to match the
suspect's DNA to genetic material from the crime scene.
• They did not match, and police later arrested another man.
• The first conviction based on DNA evidence came in the
1987 rape trial of Tommy Lee Andrews in Orange County,
Florida.
The 1950s
Men’s hair was short and slicked back. They wore conservative dark-toned suits.
Following WW2, there was a shortage of fabric, so men’s vests were not in style.
• Age of Consensus – emphasis on being
uniform as a culture/shared experiences
• American society was experiencing
unprecedented wealth
• Becoming a materialistic society – post WWII
era
• Home ownership
• Consumerism
• Strong association between wealth and
success
• Emphasis on marriage and family – 92% of
adult Americans were married or had been
• Lowest average age of marriage since Civil
War
Children in the 50s
• Spock’s book on creating the perfect child was
published
• Emergence of youth market – The Rise of the
Teenager/before 1950s, teenagers had no
identity
America in Transition
• Exclusive definition of normal– heterosexual,
Caucasian, Christian, Middle Class
• Americans were very conservative and
distrusted anything that was
different/pressure to conform was strong
• Emergence of counterculture – Feminist
Movement, Political radicals, Civil Rights
Crime
• Demise of horseback patrols – late 1940s
• Emergence of automobile/Era of Commuter
Traffic
– “Traffic congestion on summer weekends has reached
the saturation point . . .”
– Driving while Intoxicated
• 1963 – law was passed allowing securing of blood, breath or
urine for blood content level analysis.
• Concealed identity cars and radar for traffic enforcement
• Helicopters to observed heavy traffic conditions
• Patrol cars became black and white with flashing lights and
sirens
Organized Crime
• First Criminal Intelligence Unit created – 26
members
• Illegal drug trafficking – State Police created a
separate section on narcotics
– 17 “pushers” and 4 distributors arrested in New
York City
• Major concern: heroin