"After reading Twelve Angry Men we feel confident in the American legal system.
In your response discuss HOW the play position us to think about the jury system.
" It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer." .
- Sir William Blackstone (Commentaries on the laws of England).
Can anyone on the face of this planet admit with pride that humans are capable of being completely and utterly just? Can we openly announce that our legal system has sentenced the right people? Or has it resulted in executing innocent people who have been falsely accused?.
Reginald Rose questions her confidence in the American legal system in her play Twelve Angry Men, who have the task of determining a sixteen-year-old boy's fate as an innocent or a murderer. .
It can be clearly illustrated how a variety of factors, such as one's personal prejudices, assumptions and desire to cut off a criminal from accessing society can obscure the truth.
"8th Juror: [To 3rd Juror] You want to see this boy die because you personally want it, not because of the facts." (Page 37).
The site http://archive.aclu.org/library/va-dp-sum.html show some statistics of those executed in Virginia, illustrate how prejudice can affect the judgment of a person's guilt.
"In rape-murder incidents involving whites or blacks, the probability that the offender will be sentenced to death in Virginia is about 19 percent if the victim is black. If the victim is white, the probability is 39 percent--over two times greater. Black offenders who rape and murder white victims in Virginia are over four times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who rape and murder black victims--70 percent versus 15 percent.".
Developed countries such as Australia and America are known for being "a free country". Equalisation among people regardless of race, gender, and class is something such countries boast. But no matter how much we try to avoid prejudices, our human natures somehow implement our need for superiority into our daily judgments.
