Liberty and Justice in Twelve Angry Men Essay

Liberty and Justice for all. These are the words Americans live by. America is dependent on a court system, which just so happens to have a jury. A jury is a group of people that decide whether someone is innocent or guilty. The play Twelve Angry Men was about a jury system trying to debate about a tough topic, that couldve affected a boys life forever. Some of the jurors were very fair, and others just wanted to get out of the court room fast. Juror four represented the best of our American justice system because he was intelligent, fair, and concerned with facts.

To be intelligent, you must be able to balance logic and intuition. It is the ability to apply knowledge, have creativity, and to able to comprehend general ideas. Intelligence is relative to one person; what you and I, for instance, perceive as smart may contradict everyone, or vary to a certain degree. I personally believed Juror four was a very intelligent man, I worked my way through college (Rose 556). This quote was important because it showed that he was well education, and he had a college degree. Juror four wanted to know the truth, while Juror three and Juror ten fought about all the little things, Juror four questioned the others, I would like to know why you changed your mind (Rose 577). Juror four wanted logical explanations, and wanted to know how the other Jurors were thinking. Though Juror four did think he was better than everyone, he had a large vocabulary, bigger than anyones that was in the court room. He called the men in the court room gentlemen, and always used proper english grammar.

Juror four is fair. For the first vote, he voted guilty. After this, he was unsure about what to think. Did Juror eight have a point? Or was Juror three right all along? He listened to everyone talk around the table, and made sure everyones opinions were shared If were going to discuss this case, why, lets discuss the facts (Rose 557). The facts were everything, the case couldve been completely different without the facts the juror had. After the second vote, which was anonymous, he stuck up for who disagreed with the others, because the agreed not to tell anyone who voted for what. He watched all the presentations, Some of us are interested, go ahead. (Rose 577). He was wanted Juror three to continue with his theory, because Juror four believed he had a point. Juror three believed in a fair trial because he knew there was a life on the line.

Throughout the whole case, Juror four was concerned with the facts. He listened to everyone, and made observations about everything that was said and done. Juror four looked at the alibi of the boy He claimed he was at the movies...he couldnt even remember what picture he saw (Rose 558). No one really knew the truth, because there were so many possibilities of what couldve really happened that night Now lets get the sequence of events right as they relate to the switch knife (Rose 560). The jury needed to evaluate every little detail, and try to figure out what really happened the night the boys father was killed. Juror four was one of the many jurors to watch the presentation Juror eight made about the old man and how long it would take him to get from his bedroom to the hallway. He was convinced the boy wasnt guilty.

Juror four represented the best of our American justice system because he was intelligent, fair, and concerned with facts. Juror four sided with Juror eight, and tried to convince everyone else that the boy was not guilty. In the end, the whole jury decided the boy wasnt guilty, there wasnt enough evidence to prove other wise. The whole jury must decide whether a person is guilty or not guilty, there cant be an odd man out.