Prejudice and Stereotypes in 12 Angry Men Essay

Stereotypes use generalisations to characterise people, and 10th juryman is particularly prone to stereotyping the suspect based on socio-economic background. He regularly makes generalised statements about those people (p. 6), without ever justifying his opinions with concrete expound. Examples include .Im tellin you they let the kids run wild up there (p. 6). . Youre not going to tell us that were supposed to believe that kid, agniseing what he is. Listen, Ive lived among em all my life. You screwingt believe a word they say.I mean, theyre born liars. (P. 8) .The kids who crawl outa those places are real trash. I dont indirect request whatever part of them, Im telling you (p. 12) . Lets talk facts. These people are born to lie Ive known some who were OK, except thats the exception (pp. 51-52) . Theyre violent, theyre vicious, theyre ignorant, and they will cut us up (p. 53) The one instance where 10th juror uses details is when he argues his type, theyre multiplying five times as fast as we are. Thats the statistic. (P. 53).Yet he only uses this statistic to ground his own fears Theyre against us, they hate us, they want to destroy us If we dont smack them down whenever we can, then they are gonna own us. Theyre gonna breed us out of existence. (P. 53). 10th juror is not the only one guilty of such generalisation and stereotyping. For example, 4th states The boy Hes a product of a filthy locality and a broken home Slums are breeding grounds for criminals. I know it. So do you. Its no secret. Children from slum backgrounds are likely menaces to society. (P. 12).Similarly, 3rd juror muses .. sometimes I think wed be better off if we took these tough kids and slapped em down before they make trouble, you know? Save us a lot of time and money. (P. 3) Neither 4th nor 3rd jurors make reference to specific details of the suspects situation, only if rather rely on generalised stereotypes which support their own prejudices against those people. In fa ct, 8th is the only juror to carefully review specific details from the case rather than resorting to general class stereotypes. He notes This boys been kicked around all his life.You know living in a slum, his mother perfectly since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for counterfeit (p. 8). This lists specific facts and variables about the boys upbringing, rather than distilling him into a non-specific member of a socio-economic group. Similarly, in 8th jurors speech on pageboy 23,he lists specific details of the victims rough existence his gambling, his convictions, his employment history. This can be contrasted with 10th jurors simplistic and prejudiced location listen, we know the father was a bum (p.24).This contrast between these two attitudes is that 8th juror is attempting to form his opinions based on the specific factors affecting the defendant and the victim, and trying to focus on the human beings in the cas e at hand. 10th juror is content to convict the defendant based on stereotypes and generalised tendencies of others in similar situations. Once again, by aligning the less simplistic attitude with 8th juror, Twelve Angry Men endorses compassion and condemns prejudice and stereotyping.