How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from 12 Angry Men.
Quote #1
JUROR #8: The judge won't accept a hung jury. We haven't been here long.
When it looks as though the men will never agree on a verdict, some of them start suggesting that they go back to the judge to say they are a hung jury, meaning that the trial will have to start all over again with a new jury. But Juror #8 knows that another jury will convict the defendant immediately, and he assumes it's his responsibility to make sure the kid gets his Not Guilty verdict while he (#8) still has the power to do something about it.
Quote #2
JUROR #3: He's an old man. You saw him. Half the time he was confused. How could he be positive about … anything?
The funny thing about this quote is that only a minute earlier, Juror #3 was saying that they had to accept the testimony of the old witness as fact. But now Juror #8 has tricked him into showing his prejudice toward sending the defendant to the electric chair.
Quote #3
JUDGE: Murder in the first degree—premeditated homicide—is the most serious charge in our criminal courts.
The judge doesn't make any bones about the fact that murder in the first degree is as serious a crime as anyone can charged for in criminal court. It's for this reason that he insists that all of the jurors think very seriously about their responsibility to make sure that the trial ends with a proper and just sentence.