Labeling Theory In 12 Angry Men

The film 12 Angry Men is about a jury who struggles to set aside their individual prejudices to determine the guilt or innocence of a man accused of premeditated murder. The main character is juror #8 who is played by Henry Fonda. The film focuses on labeling theory and how that influences a juror’s opinions and thoughts. It is extremely interesting to watch how most of the jurors had their minds made up about the case even before deliberation; however, as the film progresses the jurors stop labeling the defendant and instead make their verdict decision based on facts. The audience can see from this film that labeling an individual in the 1950’s might have been common, and unfortunately I believe that it still exists in today’s …show more content…
There are several instances in the movie where the jurors would refer to the defendant as they or them referring to their socioeconomic and background status. By labeling the defendant the juror is denying them their constitutional right to a fair trial. Because of labeling, many of the jurors were very quick to condemn the defendant. At certain points in the film some jurors would refuse to accept that there could be a possibility the defendant did not commit the crime. What was more disturbing was the fact that some jurors appeared to accept the labels placed on the defendant and base their vote on what the majority decided. If it had not been for juror #8’s persistence in trying to persuade the other jurors that there was the possibility of doubt that the defendant did commit the murder I believe the defendant would have been found guilty within …show more content…
As the deliberation began to run its course juror #8 begins to slowly show on many occasions that what the prosecution presented could be false. Juror #8 even went to the extent of reenacting some of the witness testimony to demonstrate to his fellow jurors that there is doubt in what was presented. I feel that a jury in today’s society would still have reached a guilty verdict if this case was presented to them because labeling is still exercised in today’s society. However, I think that there would be a few differences such that the jury pool would be more diverse containing men and women of all backgrounds and ethnicities instead of how the film portrayed the jury. As difficult as it might be for many of us to do, it is critical that jury’s base their decisions on facts and not