Twelve Just People
Outline.
12 Just People will be a gripping film set in Jamaica in 1980 when the death penalty was still in force, penetrating, and engrossing examination of a diverse group of twelve jurors ( male & female), from a mix section of the community who are uncomfortably brought together to deliberate after hearing the 'facts' in a seemingly open-and-shut murder trial case. They retire to a jury room to do their civic duty and serve up a just verdict for the indigent minority defendant (with a criminal record) whose life is in the balance. The film will be a powerful indictment, denouncement and expose of the trial by jury system. The frightened, teenaged defendant is on trial, as well as the jury and the Jamaican judicial system with its purported sense of infallibility, fairness and lack of bias. Alternatively, the film will also be viewed as commentary on other social issues within Jamaican society, under age pregnancy, domestic violence, child molestation. The film will also describe how the workings of the Jamaican judicial process can be disastrous: "LIFE IS IN THEIR HANDS - DEATH IS ON THEIR MINDS! It EXPLODES Like 12 Sticks of Dynamite."
The jury of twelve (supposedly) just people,' entrusted with the power to send an uneducated, teenaged , tenement-dwelling boy to death for killing his father with a switchblade knife, are literally locked into a small, claustrophobic rectangular jury room on a stifling hot day until they come up with a unanimous decision - either guilty or not guilty. The compelling, provocative film will examine the twelve people’s deep-seated personal prejudices, perceptual biases and weaknesses, indifference, anger, personalities, unreliable judgments and cultural differences, ignorance and fears, that threaten to taint their decision-making abilities, cause them to ignore the real issues in the case, and potentially lead them to a miscarriage of justice.
Fortunately, one brave dissenting juror (a UK returnee) votes 'not guilty' at the start of the deliberations because of his reasonable doubt. Persistently and persuasively, he forces the other people to slowly reconsider and review the shaky case (and eyewitness testimony) against the endangered defendant. He also chastises the system for giving the unfortunate defendant an inept 'court-appointed' public defense lawyer who "resented being appointed" - a case with "no money, no glory, not even much chance of winning" - and who inadequately cross-examined the witnesses.
Heated discussions, the formation of alliances, the frequent re-evaluation and changing of opinions, votes and certainties, and the revelation of personal experiences, insults and outbursts fill the jury room.
The jurors will be selected to represent a cross-section of Jamaican attitudes towards religion, justice, and ideology.
None of the jurors will be named, and they don't formally introduce themselves to each other (except for two of them in the final brief ending). Jurors are labeled with numbers based on their jury numbers and seats at a conference table in the jury room (in clock-wise order).
Twelve
JusT
People
(C) Collywood Films 2010
Guerrilla Film Making Collective
YES AH WE DAT.
Requirements: Time, Energy and Creativity.
12 Just People will be a gripping film set in Jamaica in 1980 when the death penalty was still in force, penetrating, and engrossing examination of a diverse group of twelve jurors ( male & female), from a mix section of the community who are uncomfortably brought together to deliberate after hearing the 'facts' in a seemingly open-and-shut murder trial case. They retire to a jury room to do their civic duty and serve up a just verdict for the indigent minority defendant (with a criminal record) whose life is in the balance. The film will be a powerful indictment, denouncement and expose of the trial by jury system. The frightened, teenaged defendant is on trial, as well as the jury and the Jamaican judicial system with its purported sense of infallibility, fairness and lack of bias. Alternatively, the film will also be viewed as commentary on other social issues within Jamaican society, under age pregnancy, domestic violence, child molestation. The film will also describe how the workings of the Jamaican judicial process can be disastrous: "LIFE IS IN THEIR HANDS - DEATH IS ON THEIR MINDS! It EXPLODES Like 12 Sticks of Dynamite."
The jury of twelve (supposedly) just people,' entrusted with the power to send an uneducated, teenaged , tenement-dwelling boy to death for killing his father with a switchblade knife, are literally locked into a small, claustrophobic rectangular jury room on a stifling hot day until they come up with a unanimous decision - either guilty or not guilty. The compelling, provocative film will examine the twelve people’s deep-seated personal prejudices, perceptual biases and weaknesses, indifference, anger, personalities, unreliable judgments and cultural differences, ignorance and fears, that threaten to taint their decision-making abilities, cause them to ignore the real issues in the case, and potentially lead them to a miscarriage of justice.
Fortunately, one brave dissenting juror (a UK returnee) votes 'not guilty' at the start of the deliberations because of his reasonable doubt. Persistently and persuasively, he forces the other people to slowly reconsider and review the shaky case (and eyewitness testimony) against the endangered defendant. He also chastises the system for giving the unfortunate defendant an inept 'court-appointed' public defense lawyer who "resented being appointed" - a case with "no money, no glory, not even much chance of winning" - and who inadequately cross-examined the witnesses.
Heated discussions, the formation of alliances, the frequent re-evaluation and changing of opinions, votes and certainties, and the revelation of personal experiences, insults and outbursts fill the jury room.
The jurors will be selected to represent a cross-section of Jamaican attitudes towards religion, justice, and ideology.
None of the jurors will be named, and they don't formally introduce themselves to each other (except for two of them in the final brief ending). Jurors are labeled with numbers based on their jury numbers and seats at a conference table in the jury room (in clock-wise order).
Twelve
JusT
People
(C) Collywood Films 2010
Guerrilla Film Making Collective
YES AH WE DAT.
Requirements: Time, Energy and Creativity.
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