Stereotypes In 12 Angry Men

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The movie 12 angry men is about twelve jurors who are deliberating a case of a young Puerto Rican male who is accused of murdering his father. The young man has a history of getting into trouble and an alibi that is not completely solid, as well as two eye witnesses who claimed to have seen the crime being committed. With this evidence it is thought to be decided the young man accused of the crime committed it, and would be put to death. The jurors listen to the evidence presented by the prosecutor and the young mans’ attorney. They enter the jury room, all but one is convinced that he is guilty. There are several different personalities on this jury team; the task-oriented jury foreman, a shy business man, a man interested more in baseball, …show more content…

Saying things like they had experienced certain cases with “those people” without completely judging the young man as his own personal accounts. This social categorization (the mental process of classifying people into groups on the basis of common characteristics.) was the basis of many of the votes being in favor of guilty. Out-group homogeneity, or the "perception that individuals in the out-group are more similar to each other than they really are", leads the jurors to believe that "they" are all …show more content…

As the discussion amongst the jury team continues juror number 8 sways several others to his belief of the young man being “not guilty”. After the old man was convinced, who initially agreed with the others in public after looking around at their votes; the man who was also a slum kid when he was a child was convinced as well. Originally he didn’t say much, and was clearly unsure about whether or not the boy was guilty. I believe considering he used to be a slum kid himself he doubted it and only went along with the others originally because of pressure to be like the other

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