1A: Megan Hamma

In 12 Angry Men, Rose points out that being prejudice constantly affects people's judgements which can obscure their view on the truth or facts brought forth to them.  In the play, it is apparent that when deliberating, the jurors have a hard time pushing their personal biases out of the way and focusing solely on factual information. During their deliberation, Juror 3 and 10 strongly believe that the 19 year-old boy is guilty of murdering his dad because they are prejudice against young people. Juror three states in the text, “I hate tough kids! You work your heart out…” (Rose, 21). Juror 10 agrees with Juror 3 stating, “You said it there. I don’t want any part of them, believe me” (Rose, 21). Without any regards to the facts of the case, these two jurors automatically assume based on their biases that the young boy is guilty. Juror 4 goes as far as stating that, “We’re not here to go into the reasons why slums are breeding grounds for criminals; they are. I know it. So do you. The children who come out of slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society" (Rose, 21). Rose introduces juror 8 who does not display any bias or prejudice behavior. Juror 8 used all evidence to try and convince all jurors that their opinions were contradictory to the facts, especially when showing the eleven jurors the knife that was supposedly ‘one-of-a-kind.'