12 Angry Men Jury Analysis

1. INTRODUCTION

“It is not only ... (The juror 's right. but his duty, in that case. to find the verdict according to his own best understanding. judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the coon.” John Adams,1771

Historically, a jury is a group of persons selected from the community that is charged with hearing a legal case and deliver a fair verdict based on testimonies and other evidences preset in the trial. The concept can be traced back to as late as 400 B.C. The right to a trial of jury is deeply embedded in the American Constitution and it is estimated that the world’s 80% of all jury trials worldwide

It showcases how the jury commences deliberating the case and are to pronounce a verdict of not guilty is any reasonable doubt exists and where the jurors already believe that the boy is anything but innocent. The main protagonist rises to the occasion and believes otherwise and then through a series of arguments and circumstantial evidence, in consensus with the rest proclaims a judgement of “not guilty”. It depicts the intensity and complexity that exists while delivering a verdict in a criminal case by the jury behind closed doors, even though many others sitting in the room may think contrary to the judgment upheld by

Simpsons, who was an ex-footballer and high on the media and socialising circuit in USA, for the murders of Nicole B Simpsons and Ronald Goldman. Media had given this case wide coverage for the convoluted circumstances which came forth. It was a Sunday night after ten on 12 June, 1994 that a man suspiciously had brutally slashed the neck of Nicole and then stabbed Ronald around thirty times. Eventually the police accumulated enough evidence to claim the O.J. Simpsons was guilty. The case was one of the longest in the history of California where after nearly seventeen hours of deliberation the jury found him not guilty on the account of murder. This trial undoubtedly demonstrated the polarisation of racial attitudes on issues such as polarisation of law enforcement in the country, lessons on how not to run a trial and set forth the ball rolling for in camera proceedings thereby establishing a new form of journalism which is prevails even today. The research article aims at addressing a number of ground breaking decisions that took place while understanding the jury system and also in assimilating the secrecy that is maintained in jury rooms amidst all obstacles faced and pressure of the judiciary to decipher a verdict in the fairest manner while bring in nexus with the law and enthral consistent