12 angry men book report

The 12 Angry Men are a jury, a body of peers chosen to decide the guilt or innocence of a teenager accused of murdering his father. They have heard the arguments of the district attorney and the defense lawyer. They have received instructions from the presiding judge. Now they are on their own.

Twelve Angry Men: Summary & Synopsis

Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Log in or Sign up. You fell asleep in the middle of your favorite television show.

Your only hope is to ask your best friend what happened in the episode when you see him or her the next day. Your friend begins to tell you all of the important events that happened in the show the night before. Your friend is providing you with a summary. A summary includes the most important events of a piece of writing and is much shorter than the original text. In a summary, certain details are essential, and others are omitted.

For example, a character's life decision explained to his family over breakfast would be included in a summary, but what cereal the character ate would not. Only the most important information is included in a summary. This story is set in New York City in an overheated courthouse where a young man is being tried for killing his father.

When the story opens, the testimony part of the trial is over and the judge is instructing the jury regarding their duties. He tells them that their decision must be unanimous. The jurors move to the jury room, which is also hot and uncomfortable. As the jurors begin to talk casually, it becomes evident that most of the men think the man is guilty and they will be done quickly.

They decide on a foreman and conduct their first vote, which yields eleven guilty votes and one not-guilty vote. Juror 8 has voted not guilty because he feels strongly that a discussion of the facts is necessary before a final decision is made. This infuriates the other jurors and ignites a stream of insults and angry comments. The story continues with each juror explaining the reasons for his guilty vote and Juror 8 countering those reasons.

Testimonies are invalidated and evidence is questioned as the jurors begin to go deeper into the facts of the case. The murder weapon, presented as unique, is proven to be easy for anyone to purchase. The time and noise of the train that passes by during the crime presents an alternative theory to the crime. The amount of time a witness needed to walk to the door to see the boy running away is also proven contrary to the testimony given during the trial.

They also realize that the witness who said she saw the boy would not have been able to see him without her glasses and did not have time to put them on. As the case is discussed, the jurors begin to insult one another based on race, age, and economic status. This discussion produces a concept known as reasonable doubt. Reasonable doubt means that the jurors have questions in their mind regarding the guilt of the accused.

If they have reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused, they must vote not guilty. As these jurors begin to question the evidence, one by one they are faced with this reasonable doubt in their mind and begin to change their vote from guilty to not guilty.

At the end of the story, the only juror left who originally voted guilty is Juror 3 who reveals his own poor relationship with his son. When he realizes he is by himself in his opinion, he decides to change his vote to not guilty, and the jurors are able to file out of the jury room with a unanimous vote. A summary restates the main events in a story. What are the most important events in Twelve Angry Men?

A boy is on trial for murder. Twelve men must determine his guilt or innocence by looking at the facts of the case. One juror's not-guilty vote requires that they discuss the case.

As they argue, they begin to insult each other until they realize that the evidence creates questions and reasonable doubt in their mind, and they are forced to vote not guilty.

Through this story, writer Reginald Rose has given us a brief glimpse into the complex world of serving on a jury. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study. Create your account. Already a member? Log In. Already registered? Log in here for access. Did you know… We have over college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1, colleges and universities.

You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level. To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page. Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Log in. Sign Up. Explore over 4, video courses. Find a degree that fits your goals. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Instructor: Catherine Rose Catherine taught middle and high school English and has a master's degree in Education.

Save Save Save. Want to watch this again later? What if we could secretly watch the discussions and arguments that take place as a jury deliberates? That is exactly what happens in ''Twelve Angry Men''.

In this lesson, we will summarize this story that gives us a front-row seat in a heated jury room. What Is a Summary? Let's look at a summary of Twelve Angry Men. Summary of Twelve Angry Men This story is set in New York City in an overheated courthouse where a young man is being tried for killing his father. Try it risk-free No obligation, cancel anytime. Want to learn more? Lesson Summary A summary restates the main events in a story. Register to view this lesson Are you a student or a teacher?

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Wikipedia Entries for 12 Angry Men. Introduction · Characters and story · Productions. Get all the key plot points of Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men on one page. From the creators of SparkNotes.

The movie Twelve Angry Men begins with an eighteen year old boy from the ghetto who is on trial for the murder of his abusive father. A jury of twelve men is locked in the deliberation room to decide the fate of the young boy. All evidence is against the boy and a guilty verdict would send him to die in the electric chair. The judge informs the jurors that they are faced with a grave decision and that the court would not entertain any acts of mercy for the boy if found guilty. Ace your next assignment with help from a professional writer.

The prejudices and inequalities it uncovers and dissects remain concerns in the 21st century. The production at the John W.

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. We enter a courthouse and see twelve men sitting in a jury box.

12 Angry Men Summary

Written and co-produced by Rose himself and directed by Sidney Lumet, this trial film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing the jurors to question their morals and values. In the United States, a verdict in most criminal trials by jury must be unanimous. The film is notable. Sidney Lumet and Reginald Rose the writers and directors of 12 Angry Men wrote and produced a play about 12 jurors that briefly discuss a trial and come to a verdict , personal issues develop which causes conflict and only makes the process more grueling. The accused boy is being found guilty for murdering his father, 12 jurors are put in a hot room in New York.

12 Angry Men Essay

Twelve Angry Men is a courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose concerning the jury of a homicide trial. It was broadcast initially as a television play in The following year it was adapted for the stage, and in was made into a film. Since then it has been given numerous remakes, adaptations, and tributes. The play concerns the deliberations of the jury of a homicide trial where a dozen "men with ties" decide the fate of a teenager accused of murdering his abusive father. At the beginning, they have a nearly unanimous decision of guilty, with a single dissenter of not guilty, who throughout the play sows a seed of reasonable doubt and eventually wins over the other jurors for a unanimous "not guilty" verdict. This was first made as a teleplay by Reginald Rose for the Studio One anthology television series, and was aired as a live CBS Television production on 20 September The drama was later rewritten for the stage in under the same title. Rose wrote several stage adaptations of the story. In , Leo Genn appeared in the play on the London stage.

In form, "12 Angry Men" is a courtroom drama. In purpose, it's a crash course in those passages of the Constitution that promise defendants a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

We learn that this is a murder case and that, if found guilty, the mandatory sentence for the accused is the death penalty. After these instructions, the jurors enter. The men file in and decide to take a short break before deliberating.

12 Angry Men

Whilst Rose suggests that the judicial system has its imperfections, he also endorses the benefits he claims are invaluable to society. Initially, as the jurors respond to the task of judging the guilt or innocence of the 16 year old boy, charged with first degree murder of his father, shortcomings are flagrantly obvious. However, owing to the integrity and perspicacity of the 8 th juror and his insistence the principles of justice and reasonable doubt, he orchestrates a careful examination of the circumstantial evidence. As Rose clearly shows, honouring these safeguards not only empowers individuals to engage in the judicial process, but acts as the basis for a just verdict which reflects a decent, caring democratic society; diversity may hinder, but in this case it can facilitate also justice. Specifically, and through the use of a real-time deliberation process, the playwright emphasizes how the integrity of the judicial system is undermined when the jurors arrive at the table clothed in their own personal experiences and prejudices. Rose deliberately constructs a parallel story for the 3rd Juror, whose broken relationship with his son, influences his decision. Climate of prejudice; a fault that Rose implies was a pressing issue in trials conducted during the post-war era of McCarthy-style hysteria. Another shortcoming is the legal competence of the jurors, many of whom lack the aptitude to carry out their duties because they have a distorted or deficient understanding of their legal duties. Rose suggests this attitude, which is compounded by the heat, is counterproductive to the notion of active citizenship. In order to overcome these innate limitations, Rose suggests that the emphasis on and adherence to the safeguards are essential assets to the deliberation process.

One More Time, Clawing Their Way to a Verdict

Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Log in or Sign up. You fell asleep in the middle of your favorite television show. Your only hope is to ask your best friend what happened in the episode when you see him or her the next day. Your friend begins to tell you all of the important events that happened in the show the night before. Your friend is providing you with a summary. A summary includes the most important events of a piece of writing and is much shorter than the original text. In a summary, certain details are essential, and others are omitted. For example, a character's life decision explained to his family over breakfast would be included in a summary, but what cereal the character ate would not.