Twelve Angry MenBy Reginald Rose

Essential Question: Is our justice system just?

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About the author Reginald Rose was born in New York in 1920, and served in the US Army during the early 1940s. He was married twice, and had six children. He began writing for television in the early 1950s, and later worked for all three of America’s major television networks. He also wrote for screen and stage, and continued to write, particularly for television, until the late 1990s. Rose died in 2002.

Awards Among the many recognitions of Rose’s contribution to television and screen writing were Academy Award nominations for the film version of Twelve Angry Men – which he wrote and co-produced. He also won several Emmy Awards and, for Twelve Angry Men, an Edgar Allen Poe Award (Best Motion Picture), and a Writers Guild of America award (screen; Best Written American Drama).

WorkRose wrote mostly for television, but he also penned several screenplays, including Crime in the Streets (1956), The Wild Geese (1978) and The Sea Wolves (1980). His stage plays include Black Monday (1962), Dear Friends (1968) and This Agony, This Triumph (1972). He had a deep interest in narratives of social justice, and he wrote about social issues he saw around him at the time. He made some controversial choices in his television writing, but at times bowed to pressure from studios to alter scripts so as not to offend or alienate certain audience sectors.

Twelve Angry Men Although Rose wrote for numerous award-winning television series, and won several Emmy awards for his television writing, he is probably still best known for Twelve Angry Men, in all its various forms. He wrote the original teleplay version for the CBS network in 1954, expanded it into the film screenplay three years later, and eventually wrote several stage versions. The revised stage version from the 1970s is the stage script with which we are familiar today. Rose’s inspiration for the play Twelve Angry Men came from his own experience as a juror in a manslaughter trial. He was overwhelmed by the process and by the protracted deliberations of the jury, and decided the experience would make a good television drama.

Social and historical context Twelve Angry Men paints a portrait of a small portion of American society in the

mid-1950s. Worldwide, economies had recovered from the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s, and America had emerged victorious and strong from the second World War. The challenges facing American society were no longer to do with basic survival, but instead about negotiating America’s place in a global political environment. America was engaged in an ongoing conflict with the Soviet Union (the Cold War) which continued for many decades. This was a struggle for political and economic dominance between two very powerful nations, and was not always military, but often social, political and economic. At the same time, the nation was entering into an internal struggle, the Civil Rights Movement, which was concerned with ending racial discrimination and promoting freedom, respect and equality.

Rose’s play presents a situation of domestic conflict which echoes this backdrop of social and political conflict in 1950s America. In Twelve Angry Men, not only are there clashes of individual personality and belief, but there are glimpses of the class conflicts

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and philosophical challenges facing working-class Americans. An exploration of the legal system, Rose’s play does not so much critique as attempt to humanise the American constitutional judicial process for audiences.

The right to trial by jury is specifically mentioned in the Constitution of the United States in Article III and Amendments V and VI. Relying on Amendment XIV, the

Supreme Court has determined that the provisions in the Constitution apply in state criminal courts. In practical terms, this also means that Supreme Court decisions

relating to the right to trial by jury also apply in state courts.

Article III, Section 2, Paragraph 3 - Trial by jury The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Amendment V - Provisions concerning prosecutionNo person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

Amendment VI - Right to a speedy trial, witnesses, etc.In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment XIV, Section 1 - Citizen rights not to be abridged All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.(http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/twelve-angry-men-trial-jury-right-and-political-institution#sect-activities)

Read the brief overview of the Constitutional Amendments outlined above. Do these Amendments make our Justice system just/fair? Why/Why not?

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Your Tasks:1. As we watch the movie and read the text, complete the Writer’s Notebook tasks

below. Be prepared to discuss your ideas, and try to make each response at least a full page of writing.

2. Complete the “Analysis Chart” for your assigned character.3. Prepare for “Poem in Your Pocket Day” (April 21st) by completing the assignment

outlined below.

Writer’s Notebook Entries: Is it possible for a juror to be completely unbiased? How do the individual jurors

bring their own personal biases and/or opinions into the discussion and deliberations? Is this fair/just? Why/why not? Be sure to make specific references to examples of jurors’ personal biases and/or opinions.

During the first vote, Juror #8 stands alone against the other 12 jurors. Why does he stand alone? What reason does he give for voting “Not Guilty”? Would you have the strength to stand alone? Why/why not? Compare Juror #8 to other characters we have read about.

Choose one piece of evidence that is discussed by the jurors that might have led you to have “reasonable doubt.” Why would this particular piece of evidence have made you doubt the guilt of the accused?

Juror #11 claims: “We have a responsibility. This is a remarkable thing about democracy… That we are notified by mail to come down to this place – and decide on guilt or innocence of a man; of a man we have not known before. We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. This is one of the reasons why we are strong. We should not make it a personal thing…” Do you agree with the Juror’s reasoning? Why/Why not?

What verdict does the jury come to? Was justice served? Why/Why not? Use the evidence on your “Analysis Chart” to support your claim.

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Read all of the three attached poems. Choose one of the poems to have in your pocket on April 21st. Be prepared to discuss the following:

o Why did you choose the poem?o What is the poem about?o How does the content of the poem relate to Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men?o Highlight you favorite part of the poem. Be prepared to discuss the line/lines

and why you choose it/them.

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English 10 Name: Twelve Angry Men Analysis Chart

Your Task: Each student will be assigned a juror to track. As we watch the movie, Twelve Angry Men, use the chart below to keep track of things your assigned character says and does; then, use the information on the chart to generate an answer to the Essential Question.

Juror #

Juror’s Words/Actions Do these words or actions show how the use of a jury is just or unjust? Explain.

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Essential Question: Is our Justice system just?

Poem #1: “The Road Not Taken” BY ROBERT FROST         Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

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Poem #2: “Courage” by Anne Sexton

It is in the small things we see it.The child's first step,as awesome as an earthquake.The first time you rode a bike,wallowing up the sidewalk.The first spanking when your heartwent on a journey all alone.When they called you crybabyor poor or fatty or crazyand made you into an alien,you drank their acidand concealed it.

Later,if you faced the death of bombs and bulletsyou did not do it with a banner,you did it with only a hat tocomver your heart.You did not fondle the weakness inside youthough it was there.Your courage was a small coalthat you kept swallowing.If your buddy saved youand died himself in so doing,then his courage was not courage,it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.

Later,if you have endured a great despair,then you did it alone,getting a transfusion from the fire,picking the scabs off your heart,then wringing it out like a sock.Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,you gave it a back ruband then you covered it with a blanketand after it had slept a whileit woke to the wings of the rosesand was transformed.

Later,when you face old age and its natural conclusionyour courage will still be shown in the little ways,each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,those you love will live in a fever of love,and you'll bargain with the calendarand at the last momentwhen death opens the back dooryou'll put on your carpet slippersand stride out.Poem #3 “If—“ BY RUDYARD KIPLING                

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If you can keep your head when all about you       Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,    But make allowance for their doubting too;   If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;       If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster    And treat those two impostors just the same;   If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginnings    And never breathe a word about your loss;If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   And so hold on when there is nothing in you    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,       Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,    If all men count with you, but none too much;If you can fill the unforgiving minute    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,       And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

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