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Essay / Analysis 12 Angry Men - 2109
Extend Analysis 12 Angry MenJustice is a crucial concept for a fair and just society. For hundreds of years, countries have developed constitutions and other documents to establish justice for the country's citizens. In Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, the idea of justice is reflected by twelve men who are members of a jury. These men face unthinkable decisions: whether a suspected murderer will be sentenced to death or whether he can be released. Justice is something that has been the subject of much debate throughout the existence of human life. Everyone thinks it's important in some way, but many people have different views on what's right and what's not. The Twelve Angry Men jury made the fairest decision possible. To understandIn modern times as in ancient times, legal cases do not always support the idea of reasonable doubt. The Twelve Angry Men case was almost a case in which reasonable doubt had not been fully explored. The jury nearly found the man guilty before reviewing the evidence and making a real decision. The exploitation of reasonable doubt goes beyond crime drama. It is frightening to think that one of the major ideas of the justice system is not always respected. A study by several people from the psychology department at the University of Oslo reports several studies on mock trials. The article explains how reasonable doubt works and how it is used in a courtroom. The certainty of a legal case is ranked from 0.1 to 0.10 (Magnussen, Elertson, Teigen, and Wessel 196). The article states that 0.9 is sufficient to assert beyond a reasonable doubt in a court case. This threshold must be met in order to convict anyone of a major crime. However, this article specifies that in several cases, this threshold is not reached. In several of the mock trials they studied, the threshold reached in most cases was only 0.6 (Magnussen, Elertson, Teigen, and Wessell 200). The authors of the article avoid the somewhat worrying nature of this situation. Many court cases do not receive the real treatment they deserve. A decision with a certainty level of 0.6 should not be judged guilty under the definition of reasonable doubt. Some may say that it protects the rights of defendants and grants several rights specifically to those people. One of the rights is an impartial jury. In almost all cases, the jury is the most important part of the trial. They are the ones who truly decide whether an accused is innocent or guilty. Twelve Angry Men focuses on a jury's decision. This jury must decide whether a young man deserves the death penalty or whether he is capable of walking free. The right of the jury can be guaranteed, but it is difficult to confirm that it is completely impartial and focused on the case at hand. Many jurors have other things on their minds or assumptions about the defendant that are not based on the case. Juror seven is one of the jurors who has other goals than a fair legal case. “It better be quick.” I have tickets to a football game tonight. Yankees --- Cleveland…” (Rose 9) He is extremely impatient and only focuses on the baseball game he has tickets to. He is an example of a juror who is not focused on the case at hand. Other jurors had already put forward hypotheses demonstrating prejudice and hatred towards the accused. Juror ten was a very bigoted and racist man who showed clear hatred towards the accused. “Now you damn geniuses better listen to me. They are violent, they are