12 Angry Men Review

Juror 3: “Everybody gets a fair trial. That’s the system. Well I suppose you can’t say anything against it.”

What makes the above lines from the play ironic?

• Juror 3 truly has reasonable doubt to believe that the boy is innocent.

• Juror 3 reveals the underlying beliefs of the other jurors.

• Juror 3 demonstrates a bias throughout the entire deliberation.

• Juror 3 finds the trial interesting.

If a jury has reasonable doubt, which of the following is the result of the trial?

• retrial

• hung jury

• not guilty verdict

• guilty verdict

All of the following is evidence the prosecution presents against the defendant EXCEPT...

• the woman across the street claims to have seen the boy do it.

• the old man from downstairs claims he heard the boy threaten his father and witnessed the boy running away.

• the boy's finger prints were found on the murder weapon.

• the murder weapon looks like a knife that the boy had but claims to have lost.

What initially motivates Juror 8 to vote “not guilty”?

• He wants to start an argument because he can’t stand several of the other jurors.

• He thinks he knows who really committed the murder.

• He knows the boy from a shelter where he serves meals on the weekends.

• He believes they should talk before condemning someone to die.

What motivates Juror 3 to blame the problems of the world on “rotten kids”?

• His own son, whom he hasn’t spoken to in years after a fight and whom he feels is ungrateful.

• His own son, whom he disowned after he got in a knife fight and whom he considers a criminal.

• He has seen kids in his neighborhood playing in garbage and destroying property.

• He has seen kids in his neighborhood getting in knife fights and being sent to reform school.

Juror 8 refutes the claim about how the murder weapon and the knife seen with the boy are the same by producing...

• the knife the boy lost; Juror 8 found the knife at the movie theater where the boy claimed to be that night.

• an exact replica of the murder weapon which he found in a pawn shop a couple blocks from the boy’s home.

• several replicas of the murder weapon which he purchased from the same store the boy purchased his.

• the pants the boy wore on the night of the murder showing the huge hole from which the knife fell.

Why is Juror 9 the first to change his vote from guilty to not guilty?

• He respects Juror 8’s courage to stand alone against a group and wants to support him in his quest for fairness.

• He is tired of being bullied by the other jurors and feels Juror 8 will protect him if he supports the not guilty vote.

• He is an old man and becomes easily confused. He thought he was voting with the majority.

• He wants the trial to last as long as possible because he doesn’t want to go home and face his marital problems.

Juror 8 shows that the old man could not have heard the boy shout because

• he is slightly deaf and his window was closed that night.

• the sound could not travel through the brick layered walls.

• the man would not be able to hear the shout over the noise from the el train.

• his wife testified that they were both asleep at the time of the murder.

Juror 9 claims that the old man lied about his testimony against the boy because...

• he hated the boy's popularity in the neighborhood.

• the old man was lonely and wanted to be in the spotlight for a brief moment.

• he and the boy had fought many times and the boy had frequently told the old man he was nothing and no one.

• the old man was rejected by his own son who moved away and never calls his father anymore.

Juror 5 reveals that he grew up in a neighborhood where knife fighting and switchblades were common in order to...

• intimidate and threaten the other members of the jury into believing him.

• create an emotional appeal to touch their hearts with his personal experience.

• establish himself as a credible source in regards to how the knife would be used.

• confuse the other members of the jury by including irrelevant information.