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Full-Text Articles in Law
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 …
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 …
A Jury Between Fact And Norm, Robert P. Burns
A Jury Between Fact And Norm, Robert P. Burns
Chicago-Kent Law Review
With a great cast, 12 Angry Men remains perhaps the most compelling portrayal of an American jury in action. I begin by noting eight details in the film which are so obvious that their significance may be difficult to discern. I then discuss the significance of the film being a drama, indeed, a drama about a drama. I discuss the kind of truth that a dramatic portrayal of the jury can aspire to and what it can add to social scientific accounts. Finally, I identify the six dramatic tensions that define the film's meaning.
Foreword, D. Graham Burnett
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 …
Deliberation In 12 Angry Men, Barbara Allen Babcock, Ticien Marie Sassoubre
Deliberation In 12 Angry Men, Barbara Allen Babcock, Ticien Marie Sassoubre
Chicago-Kent Law Review
The authors explore the ways 12 Angry Men remains a relevant and teachable portrayal of the mysterious process of jury deliberation. Even though few juries today would look like the jury in the film, its performance reveals the continuing value of the institution.
Mad About 12 Angry Men, Stephan Landsman
Mad About 12 Angry Men, Stephan Landsman
Chicago-Kent Law Review
12 Angry Men is the product of a world that has vanished. This article presents twelve reasons why we might consider placing 12 Angry Men on the refuse heap of history along with the Ford Edsel, hula hoop, and Soviet Union—things that a changing world rendered outmoded. Despite all this, the article concludes that 12 Angry Men should not be discarded but cherished because it makes dramatically real the invaluable service to society performed by jury deliberations in validating the workings of our justice system and spreading the rule of law.
Deliberation And Dissent: 12 Angry Men Versus The Empirical Reality Of Juries, Valerie P. Hans
Deliberation And Dissent: 12 Angry Men Versus The Empirical Reality Of Juries, Valerie P. Hans
Chicago-Kent Law Review
This article contrasts the cinematic portrayal of jury deliberation in 12 Angry Men with an empirical portrait of real world juries derived from fifty years of jury research. The messages of this iconic movie converge with the findings of research studies in some surprising ways. During the course of the movie's deliberation, the different perspectives of the movie's jurors emerge as important contributors to the jury's fact finding, reinforcing the empirical finding that diversity among jurors produces robust deliberation and superior decision making. 12 Angry Men also illustrates both the importance of majority opinions and the power of dissenters under …
12 Angry Men (And Women) In Federal Court, Nancy Gertner
12 Angry Men (And Women) In Federal Court, Nancy Gertner
Chicago-Kent Law Review
The movie 12 Angry Men reflected everything that is extraordinary and troubling about the American jury system. It portrayed twelve lay people, struggling with questions of guilt or innocence, bias and fairness, or racism and rationality. But the movie was troubling in equal measure. These important struggles about guilt or innocence were played out in an all-white, all-male jury, while the defendant was a minority. Jury trials in federal court reflect the same extraordinary and troubling pattern, particularly as street crime is "federalized." Constitutional remedies—as they are currently construed—are inadequate to the task. The Jury Selection and Service Act has …
Why Every Chief Judge Should See 12 Angry Men, Judith S. Kaye
Why Every Chief Judge Should See 12 Angry Men, Judith S. Kaye
Chicago-Kent Law Review
In this article, the Chief Judge of the State of New York, Judith S. Kaye, writes about several aspects of 12 Angry Men that raise concerns for all of today's chief judges. She connects scenes in the film to the modern challenges of maintaining adequate jury facilities, assuring juror diversity, providing effective legal representation to those who cannot afford counsel, and incorporating twenty-first-century technology. Although much has changed in jury service since 1957, Judge Kaye concludes that the essence of the film has not: the quest for justice is timeless.
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.
Was He Guilty As Charged? An Alternative Narrative Based On The Circumstantial Evidence From 12 Angry Men, Neil Vidmar, Sara Sun Beale, Erwin Chemerinsky, James E. Coleman Jr.
Was He Guilty As Charged? An Alternative Narrative Based On The Circumstantial Evidence From 12 Angry Men, Neil Vidmar, Sara Sun Beale, Erwin Chemerinsky, James E. Coleman Jr.
Chicago-Kent Law Review
This essay argues that while 12 Angry Men is typically viewed as a vindication of innocence, careful consideration of the evidence suggests that the jury probably reached the wrong verdict: the circumstantial evidence pointed to guilt! The authors use this insight to discuss the potential impact of circumstantial versus direct evidence on real juries and perhaps the ways that cases are litigated. The essay suggests a number of questions requiring empirical research.
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 …
12 Angry Men Is Not An Archetype: Reflections On The Jury In Contemporary Popular Culture, David Ray Papke
12 Angry Men Is Not An Archetype: Reflections On The Jury In Contemporary Popular Culture, David Ray Papke
Chicago-Kent Law Review
While 12 Angry Men remains an important cinematic and political work, the film provides an atypical pop cultural portrayal of the jury. Most portrayals are limited and even degrading, a pattern suggesting both a failure to appreciate the jury as an embodiment of popular sovereignty and our society's apolitical self-disenfranchisement.
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.
Fathers In Law: Violence And Reason In 12 Angry Men, Austin Sarat
Fathers In Law: Violence And Reason In 12 Angry Men, Austin Sarat
Chicago-Kent Law Review
In this article I argue that 12 Angry Men is as much a film about fatherhood and law as about juries and civic virtue. It is a powerful presentation of sons subject to paternal brutality, of fathers tormented by their sons, and of the very real possibility of sons murdering their brutal fathers. This film thus deploys complex images of fatherhood as a site and source of violence and anger. By presenting those images it reminds us of law's own complex relationship to reason and violence.
Charades: Religious Allegory In 12 Angry Men, Bruce L. Hay
Charades: Religious Allegory In 12 Angry Men, Bruce L. Hay
Chicago-Kent Law Review
This article argues that 12 Angry Men is a complex, elaborate biblical allegory. The first half of the article is devoted to showing that the film quietly reenacts a series of stories from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: primarily the story of Christ, but also (among others) the stories of the great flood, the sacrifice of Isaac, the exile in the desert, and the lamentations of Jeremiah. The second half of the article investigates the relation between the film's biblical subtext and its attack on McCarthyism and other pathologies of 1950s American political culture. The article suggests that …
The Banality Of Evil: A Portrayal In 12 Angry Men, Nancy S. Marder
The Banality Of Evil: A Portrayal In 12 Angry Men, Nancy S. Marder
Chicago-Kent Law Review
Popular culture thrives on a portrayal of evil as murder, mayhem, and violence, rather than as a result of small actions taken by ordinary citizens. The movie 12 Angry Men explores the evil of indifference that is far more pervasive and powerful than the evil of monsters common in film, but rare in life. With the exception of Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda, the jurors summoned to decide a boy's fate are willing to sentence him to death in their indifference to their role as jurors and in their haste to complete their jury service. Fonda, through his lone …