12 Angry Men Essay

In the movie, 12 Angry Men, an 18 year old boy from a slum is charged with murder. He is put on trial for being accused of stabbing his father in the chest with a knife. Some of the first ten amendments of the Bill of Rights are shown in this movie such as the fifth and sixth amendments. According to the Fifth Amendment when there is a jury trial all 12 jurors must make a unanimous vote on whether or not the defendant is innocent or guilty. 12 Angry men shows how one man votes the 18 year old boy is innocent while all the others are hung up on believing he is guilty. The one innocent voting man then does his best and gradually over a few hours begins convincing more and more of the 12 men that he is innocent. Also in the Fifth Amendment it states that people have the right to be a witness or to not be a witness against themselves. In the movie a lady and an old man are on stand as witnesses to try and prove the defendant is guilty. The lady who lives across the street claims to have seen through the window and a passing train in the middle of the night that the boy stabbed his father. The old man claims to have heard the boy yell “I’m going to kill you”. Both witnesses’ stories have some faults to them. For instance, the lady wears glasses and in order for her to see the whole incident she would have had to wear her glasses to bed the night it happened. The old man lives by the lady and it would be hard to hear the boy shout “I’m going to kill you” over the roar of a passing train. The Sixth amendment allows a speedy and public trial to take place. A speedy trial doesn’t mean that it the trial only takes an hour until it’s solved. Time depends on how long due process takes or how many people are ahead waiting for trial. Also a speedy trial says the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. The 18 year old boy is said to be innocent for the accusations of murdering his father. Impartial jury plays an important role while on trial. The term impartial jury means that the people that make up the jury have no prior knowledge of the defendant’s guilt or innocence. This allows the defendant to get a fair trial. The men on the jury do not know the boy personally. In the movie one man claims that he was also from a slum so he can understand a little more about the boy’s life. This could help the juror to think more about the guilt or innocence. Also a juror has seen a knife fight before and knows that most people do not stab downwards into the chest area if they are shorter than the person being stabbed. This also breaks down the facts to help determine if the defendant in the movie is innocent or guilty. Without the first ten amendments of the Bill Of Rights there would be chaos. 12 Angry men demonstrate how the Fifth and Sixth Amendments help a lot when it comes to trial. If there were none of these important Amendments people would get accused and have an unfair trial leaving a bad result for the person and others around them.