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In the play Twelve Angry Men, a boy is on trial for supposedly murdering his father after a night of arguing. Rodney King, twenty-five, was beaten by four caucasian Los Angeles Police Department officers on March 3, 1991 (CNN Wire 1). On this day, King was pulled over for exceeding the speed limit while intoxicated (Kaplan 1). The jury of both of these cases played a major role in the verdict of each case. In the play Twelve Angry Men, the twelve men that make up the jury are faced with a difficult decision to make; deciding whether or not a nineteen year old boy was guilty of murder. Fast forwarding forty-three years later, twelve jurors were given the Rodney King case in which they had to decide the fate of the four Los Angeles officers that brutally beat Rodney King, an African-American citizen. Being a member of the jury on the Rodney King case must have been a difficult task given the evidence surrounding the trial.
The day of March 3rd, Rodney King sped away from the police officers while intoxicated. The day of March 3rd, Rodney King was roughly taken from his vehicle.The day of March 3rd, Rodney King was brutally bashed and beaten close to sixty times by Los Angeles, California police officers (Boyd 1). The Rodney King Legacy Lives states, “The sickening tape, shot by a neighborhood resident, clearly shows the man on the ground offering no resistance as the cops pummeled him reportedly fifty-six times in the body and face,” (Carter 2). From the tape, the member’s of the jury had the opportunity to see, for themselves, the acts of brutality that took place. Some of the damages caused “skull fractures, nerve damage, a crushed cheekbone, a broken ankle and possible brain damage” (Brady 1).With this information, the members ...
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...ra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Kaplan, David A.Foote, Donna. "King II: What Made The Difference? (Cover Story)." Newsweek 121.17 (1993): 26. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Kaplan, David A.Meyer, Michael. "Roll The Tape Again." Newsweek 121.6 (1993): 68. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
"Los Angeles: A Tale Of Two Trials." Newsweek 120.7 (1992): 37. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Medina, Jennifer. "Rodney King Dies at 47; Police Beating Victim Who Asked ‘Can We All Get Along?’." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 June 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Rose, Reginald. Twelve Angry Men. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Staff, CNN Wire. "A Timeline of Events in Rodney King's Life." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
"Working Together Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 16 May 2014.
Verdict and More: Get caught up on the George Zimmerman Case." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.
This essay will compare and contrast the protagonist/antagonist's relationship with each other and the other jurors in the play and in the movie versions of Reginald Rose's 12 Angry Men. There aren't any changes made to the key part of the story, but yet the minor changes made in making the movie adaptation produce a different picture than what one imagines when reading the drama in the form of a play. First off, the settings in the movie are a great deal more fleshed out. In the play, the scene begins with the jurors regarding the judge's final statements concerning the case in the courtroom and then walking out into the jury room. In the movie, the audience is placed in the role of the invisible casual observer, who for perhaps the first 5 minutes of the movie, walks throughout the court building passing other court rooms, lawyers, defendants, security officers, elevators, etc.
Solberg, Muriel. “’Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?’ – Rodney King”. 27 May 2011.
The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this particular incident. This type of ethical deviance is something the public has not seen since the civil rights era. Little did Chief Gates, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the LAPD know what the consequences of their actions would lead to. Moving forward in time to the verdict of those police officers being acquitted of the charges, the public sentiment spiraled into an outrage. The disbelief and shock of the citizens of Los Angeles sparked a mammoth rioting that lasted for six days. The riots led to 53 deaths and the destruction of many building. This is a true but disturbing story uncovering the ethical deviance from the LAPD and the L.A. riots. The two perspectives are from the Rodney King incident are the LAPD and the L.A. riots.
Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior.
12 Angry Men is about 12 men who are the jury for an 18 year old accused of murder. The judge states in the opening scene that it is a premeditated murder in the 1st degree, if found guilty will automatically receive the death penalty. The 18 year old male is accused of killing his father with a “one of a kind” switch blade, in their home. The prosecutors have several eye witness testimonies, and all of the evidence that they could need to convict the 18 year old male. In the movie it takes place on the hottest day of the year in New York City. There are 12 jurors whom are to decide if the evidence is enough to convict the teen of murder in the first degree. In the first initial vote it is 11-1. The only way that the jurors could turn in their votes was if there was unanimous vote either guilty or not guilty among the 12 jurors. As the movie progressed the jurors ended up changing their minds as new evidence was brought to their attention by simple facts that were overlooked by the police and prosecutors in the initial investigation. Tempers were raised, and words flew, there was prejudice and laziness of a few of the jurors that affected the amount of time it took to go over all of the eye witness testimonies and evidence. The eye witness testimonies ended up being proven wrong and some of the evidence was thrown out because it was put there under false pretense.
Twelve angry men is a play about twelve jurors who have to decide if the defendant is guilty of murdering his father, the play consist of many themes including prejudice, intolerance, justice , and courage. The play begins with a judge explaining to the jurors their job and how in order for the boy to be sent to death the vote must be unanimous. The jurors are then locked into a small room on a hot summer day. At first, it seems as though the verdict is obvious until juror eight decides to vote not guilty. From that moment on, the characters begin to show their true colors. Some of the characters appear to be biased and prejudice while others just want justice and the truth. Twelve Angry Men Despite many of the negative qualities we see
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
It all begun one year before (March 3, 1991) when Rodney King and two friends were detected to be speeding in the 210 freeway in Los Angeles. He was driving under the influence of alcohol. King, scared because he was already in probation, went on a high speed chase. Eventually King was surrounded by police cars and had no ch...
Rodney King Beating and Riots. CNN documentary (Full length). (2011, March 6). YouTube. Available at:
There have been many significant cases that have death with the issue of police brutality. Among these cases was the case of Rodney King, 1991. The case of Rodney is one of the biggest police brutality cases in history as it was racial motivated. Rodney King was an African American who “became a symbol of racial tension in America, after his beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991 was videotaped and broadcast to the nation.” On April 2, 1965, King was pulled over after a high-speed chase. The officers pulled him out of the car and brutality beat him. King beating was captured on tape and the video became a media sensation. The video was initially an introduction to police brutality as it showed the nation the severity of police brutality. After a three-month trial, a predominately white jury acquitted the three of the four L.A.P.D officers and the jury did not reach a verdict for the fourth. It sparked the violent Los Angeles riots of 1992, leading to 53 deaths, some in the hands of police. The Los Angeles riots led to a federal trial where two officers were found guilty and the other two were acquitted.
Rodney King. A story many people know. King was a victim of the L.A. Police brutality. A video showed Mr. King being beaten during his arrest. The video clearly shows a defenseless King being viciously attacked. King suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle, and multiple bruises and lacerations. As the officers took King to the hospital they bragged to the nurses and doctors about how many times they hit king. Four police officers were charged with excessive use of force. Three of the police officers were full acquitted and the jury failed to reach a verdict on the others. This was the first big case of police brutality that caused an uproar. What is police brutality?
In the 1990s a series of riots and racial tension among the African American community was evident. In 1991, many people were stunned to see footage of a CHP police officer brutality beating a young African American named Rodney King, who was being chased by police for driving under the influence. The trial of Rodney King was held in Simi Valley, a white community. In 1992 the officer involved in the beating was found not guilty. The response from the African American community was terrifying and revealed the ways in which race divided Los Angeles, similarly like the 1960s Watts Riots. A serious a looting and mass violence swept Southern California. That same year, a Korean grocery woman named Soon Ja Du argued with an African American teenager
On April 29, 1992, four Los Angeles police officers found Rodney King, a 26 year old black man, walking the streets of LA and nearly beat him to death for being African American. Angered by the event, the citizens of Los Angeles started rioting, looting, and destroying property. The destruction, costing an estimated one billion dollars in property damage was an effort to stop police brutality and racism. The LA riots ultimately drew attention to the social injustices in Los Angeles, shocking the rest of the united states. The positive outcomes of these riots included bringing awareness to racial profiling of blacks in Los Angeles.
This essay is my analysis of the various themes and ideas in the one of the well-known Hollywood classics in Hollywood, 12 Angry Men. The movie is the enthralling, powerful, and thought-provoking examination of a diverse group of twelve, all male, white-skinned, and generally of middle-class status jurors who are brought together to deliberate their verdict after hearing the 'facts' in what seemed like an open-and-shut murder trial case. They retire to a jury room to do their civic duty and serve up a fair verdict for the impecunious minority defendant (with a criminal record) whose life is in the hands of the jurors. The film is a powerful condemnation, smear and expose of the trial by jury system. It can be said that along with the frightened