Juries and Popular Culture

Juries are part of popular culture. This chapter focuses on the medium of film with occasional references to TV, radio, and opera. Juries are rarely a main actor in law–related productions. They often stand in for the audience, especially when the camera films from a juror‘s perspective. Typically, juries are seen just listening to the proceedings. Sometimes, the audience glimpses a moment of its deliberation, or gets a deeper insight, such as in the seminal film “12 Angry Men”. The latter has become the gold standard for the portrayal of the jury, ultimately supporting a classic liberal view of the law. Audiences are likely to see jury films in the context of other products of popular culture, which put the advantages of proper jury trials into strong relief.