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12 Angry Men: A Revisionist View, Michael Astimow
12 Angry Men: A Revisionist View, Michael Astimow
Chicago-Kent Law Review
12 Angry Men is the definitive film about the jury and has influenced generations of viewers to regard the jury system as fundamental to American justice. This article suggests a revisionist view of the film. It argues that the film should instead generate reservations about whether the jury system is likely to produce just results. Empirical studies indicate that it is quite unlikely that one holdout juror can persuade the other eleven to switch positions, so that the racist and classist views of the majority of the jurors would normally prevail. More important, the jury in 12 Angry Men got …
Introduction To The 50th Anniversary Of 12 Angry Men, Nancy S. Marder
Introduction To The 50th Anniversary Of 12 Angry Men, Nancy S. Marder
Chicago-Kent Law Review
The year 2007 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the movie 12 Angry Men. This movie offers a portrayal of jury deliberations that is rare in the history of American filmmaking. One interpretation of the movie is that it portrays the jury as a group of twelve ordinary men who learn in the course of their deliberations what it means to be a jury. The jurors, led by the persevering Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda, eventually learn to put aside indifference, prejudice, and personal enmity to piece together the evidence with a critical eye, and to deliver a verdict …
The Myth Of Factual Innocence, Morris B. Hoffman
The Myth Of Factual Innocence, Morris B. Hoffman
Chicago-Kent Law Review
The movie 12 Angry Men is part of a larger American myth about the frequency of wrongful criminal convictions. This essay examines the broader contours of that myth, including its most recent incarnation in the form of innocence projects, suggests more realistic upper and lower bounds for the real wrongful conviction rate, and argues that exaggerations about the frequency of wrongful convictions threaten to become self-fulfilling.
Good Film, Bad Jury, Charles D. Weisselberg
Good Film, Bad Jury, Charles D. Weisselberg
Chicago-Kent Law Review
12 Angry Men is a wonderful movie. Acting in one of the most acclaimed film roles of all time, Henry Fonda, as Juror #8, turns around a jury bent on conviction. Fonda begins as the lone holdout and one by one the other jurors change their views. Over the last half century, the jury in 12 Angry Men has come to symbolize an independent and vital American institution, the petit jury. But, as the Article explains, Fonda and his fellow jurors commit clear misconduct, eventually deciding to acquit the accused using evidence that was not introduced at trial. We cannot …
A Different Story Line For 12 Angry Men: Verdicts Reached By Majority Rule—The Spanish Perspective, Mar Jimeno-Bulnes
A Different Story Line For 12 Angry Men: Verdicts Reached By Majority Rule—The Spanish Perspective, Mar Jimeno-Bulnes
Chicago-Kent Law Review
The film 12 Angry Men is well known in Spain, not only to picture-goers but also to researchers examining the pros and cons of trial by jury. Had its plot faithfully reflected Spanish legislation on jury proceedings, the film would undoubtedly have ended very differently. Under the Spanish Jury Law of 1995, a verdict may be reached by a simple majority of the jurors, rather than by the unanimous decision that is depicted in the film. However, it is not the need for a unanimous verdict or otherwise, but for a "reasoned" verdict that has caused considerable controversy in Spain. …
The German Response To 12 Angry Men, Stefan Machura
The German Response To 12 Angry Men, Stefan Machura
Chicago-Kent Law Review
12 Angry Men was well received by the German audience. It would be hard to find a German equivalent, since Germany is not a jury country. However, writer Bodo Kirchhoff and director Niki Stein created a film along the lines of 12 Angry Men. The TV film Die Konferenz (2004) depicts the deliberation of a teachers' conference on the fate of a young man accused of raping a fellow student. Like 12 Angry Men, Die Konferenz addresses key social problems of its time. The main topic is gender relations. Tellingly, Die Konferenz has no dominant hero like Henry …
The Good, The Bad, Or The Indifferent: 12 Angry Men In Russia, Stephen C. Thaman
The Good, The Bad, Or The Indifferent: 12 Angry Men In Russia, Stephen C. Thaman
Chicago-Kent Law Review
12 Angry Men made a great impact in Russia when first screened in 1961. Jury trials were featured in classic novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in the nineteenth century and, after having been reintroduced in Russia in the 1990s are again becoming part of its culture. The article will explore this history and discuss the continued importance of 12 Angry Men today on Russia's stages and in the new remake by filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.
Anger At Angry Jurors, Jeffrey Abramson
Anger At Angry Jurors, Jeffrey Abramson
Chicago-Kent Law Review
12 Angry Men portrayed the lone holdout juror as essential to the jury's protection of the individual against injustice. But recently a number of empirical and normative questions have been raised about the holdout juror. Some studies go so far as to suggest that most holdout jurors are motivated by unreasonable doubts or are engaged in unlawful acts of jury nullification. The result, according to such studies, is that hung juries are on the rise. After reviewing these studies, this article concludes that there is no reliable evidence establishing a national trend toward a rise in hung juries, although some …