Jurors 'Beliefs In The Book Twelve Angry Men' By Reginald Rose

Everyone that is in jail is guilty, right? Wrong. Approximately 8-12% of all prisoners on the state level are innocent. Wrongful convictions are made all the time, in fact, 72% of that time is due to eye witnesses with false statements. That is what the book Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose is all about, 11 men arguing that a young boy is guilty of murder, and 1 man defying the crowd by stating that he is not guilty. This man is Juror 8. Because of Juror 8’s understanding, gallant, and wise character trait’s, there are many reasons behind this character and why people like him?????
First of all, the Juror has extremely different beliefs than the other Juror’s. Juror 8 beliefs that everyone should be innocent until proven guilty. “You know--living

in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery. That’s not a very good head start. He’s had a pretty terrible sixteen years. I think maybe we owe him a few words. That’s all” (Rose 13). Based on what can be inferred from this quote, Juror 8 is a very sympathetic man who just wants to make sure that the boy has a fair trial before this ruins his life. Because of that belief that Juror 8 has, it causes him to use his intelligence and savviness to stay grounded and convince the other Juror’s.
Secondly, Juror 8 is determined to do this because he is a very kindhearted, considerate and compassionate man. “He was a tough, cruel, primitive kind of man who never held a job for more than six months in his life. So here are a few possibilities. He could have been murdered by one of many men he served time with in prison. By a bookmaker. By a man he’d beaten up. By a woman he’d picked up. By any one of the people he was known to hang out with” (Rose 31). As this quote shows and supports, Juror 8 is a very kind and considerate man who was simply looking out for the young boy.
Lastly, Juror 8 is seen as the “hero” in this story. No, he is not saving the world or defeating villains, but he is saving lives. He saved the young boy from many years and jail and ruined reputation. This is shown throughout the entire book because Juror 8 is try very hard to pull out all of his evidence and reasoning to why the boy is not guilty. For example, when Juror 8 had pulled out the knife, that could have possibly ruined his reputation or people’s trust for him but he had done it anyway because he wanted to prove that the boy was not guilty. Not only that, but this story would have no plot if it was not for Juror 8. Because all of the other Juror’s had agreed that he was guilty, if Juror 8 had not been there to fight for the fact that he was not, then there would be no point or plot in this suspenseful book.
In conclusion, Juror 8 from Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose is a very important character who develops the plot and is cordial and kind at the same time.