Play by Reginald Rose Teaching Activities by Rivka Lewenstein

With much appreciation to Mrs. Ellen Rose for
graciously providing reprint permission for the play. 
Special thanks to J. and D. for all your advice,
encouragement, and support. Without you, this
book would not exist.

---

Introduction
Pre-Reading Activity I
You are about to read a play, 
Twelve Angry Men
, which takes place in an American 
court. To fully understand the play, it is important to know a little bit about how the 
American justice system works:
The 
jury
1
system is a 
justice
2
system which began in ancient Rome and Greece, has 
been in use in England for almost a thousand years, and is also used in the United 
States. In the jury system, twelve people over the age of eighteen are called to sit in 
court
3 
and listen to a 
court case
.
4
These people must be accepted by the 
lawyers
5
of 
both sides (which, in a criminal case, are called the 
prosecution
6
and 
defense
7
), and of 
course, they must be 
impartial
.
8
After both sides have presented their arguments, the 
jurors
9
sit together in a locked 
room and decide what the 
verdict
10
should be — 
guilty
11
or not guilty. (To reach a guilty 
verdict, they must be sure beyond a 
reasonable doubt
12
that the 
defendant
13
is guilty.) 
If they proclaim 
the accused
14
guilty, the 
judge
15
decides what the 
sentence
16
should
1. (a) jury = twelve people who are picked to listen to a court case and give a verdict 
2. justice = fairness
3. court = a place where legal cases are heard and judged
4. a court case = a trial to decide an issue in a court of law 
5. lawyers = people who practice law
6. prosecution = those trying to prove in court that the accused is guilty
7. defense = those trying to prove in court that the accused is innocent (lawyers hired by the 
defendant)
8. impartial = not favoring one more than another
9. jurors = twelve people picked to listen to a court case and give a verdict 
10. (a) verdict = a decision in a court case
11. guilty = has committed the crime
12. a reasonable doubt = enough uncertainty to prevent jurors from voting guilty
13. (a) defendant = the accused in a court case
14. the accused = a person who is believed to have committed a crime
15. (a) judge = a public official with the authority to hear and decide legal questions that come 
up in cases in a court of law
16. (a) sentence = a punishment given by a judge for a crime