T LLCE

1. The Hold Out – Norman Rockwell
   
   

The document is a painting made by Norman Rockwell and published in 1959. It appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. (An American magazine).

In this painting, Norman Rockwell decided to deal with / tackle the lack of diversity in trials by jury.

The scene takes place in a jury room. The atmosphere is heavy and oppressive. (red colour = symbol of danger, warning, emergency, blood)

The room is filled with smoke and tension = they can't breathe.

The floor and the table are messy = they must have been deliberating for a long time.

Present perfect be + ing = lien passé présent

accent mis sur l'action en cours de déroulement.

For (= depuis) + durée

Since (= depuis) + point de départ.

They must decide whether the defendant is guilty or innocent.

They probably disagree. The woman is crossed-armed and surrounded by men who are trying to make her change her mind.

They are pushy.

The defendant could be sentenced for life or executed = death penalty.

She is determined ( // her straight back)

Conclusion :

Norman Rockwell decided to make this painting to criticize the jury system in the USA.

The painting aims at denoucing gender and racial inequality in the jury composition.

aim at + V-ing

Doc 2 : What happened to trial by Jury ?

Trial by jury dates back to Socrates' time. Some early societies decided that some disputes should be heard by a group of citizens to be settled.

Trial by jury became a fundamental feature of English society some centuries later. America kept the system after independence. 1776

It enables to :

·      check the government

·      involve people in decision-making

·      resolve monetary disputes

·      determine whether a defendant is guilty or not.

Only 4 % of criminal cases are judged by juries. Defendants are often asked to plead guilty before so that they get a shorter sentence. = pre-bargaining.

Trials by jury are costly, time-consuming and jurors can make mistakes or be prejudiced.

But they also have advantages : when they are properly selected : they are representative of society and are less biased than legislators or judges who seek re-election or promotion.

Trial by jury enables to check the power of all three branches of the government.

Doc 3 : Composition of a jury Video

The 6th amendment of the US Constitution states that any person accused of a crime punishable by law has a constitutional right to a trial by jury.

Jury service is a civic duty. Juries listen to testimonies, review evidence and render a decision.

You must be 18 at least and an American citizen.

Jurors who examine the facts and render a guilty or not guilty verdict.

Before a jury is selected the court and counsel will question potential jurors to ensure an impartial jury as required by the Constitution this preliminary examination is known as “Voir Dire”. If a juror is biased, counsel can ask the judge to dismiss that person.

Peremptory challenges : in some criminal cases, this allows counsel to excuse a limited number of potential jurors without stating cause if the attorney believes the juror will not serve the best interest of their client but a juror cannot be excused on race of sex.

Throughout the trial, proper juror conduct is essential in order to be fair on all sides = jurors must not discuss the case and keep away from media including social media.

a hung jury = a jury that cannot come to a decision . → not frequent

If a jury is deadlocked and cannot reach the verdict, the judge will declare a miss trial and a new trial may take place.

Conclusion : jury duty is a civic responsibility that connects all of us and it is one of the very important aspects of our democracy.

Question 3 :

The defendant’s lawyer argues that Jefferson only took the money because he was poor and stupid and that he was panic-stricken

He compares him to a fool who has no intelligence. (repetition / anaphora to highlight his lack of intelligence)

He argues that he is not a man and compares him to an animal (monkey) whose ancestors come from “the deepest jungle”.

He even uses the word ‘hog’ l. 53. → more and more derogatory.

The dehumanization / reification is emphasized / reinforced /stressed by the use of the word “thing” which is repeated 4 times.

By dehumanizing Jefferson, the lawyer appeals to the jury’s deep-rooted racism and asks them to spare his life because he was not responsible of his actions.

Question 4 : cf l. 63

disbelief + hopelessness / despair / resignation

He refused to believe the verdict / could not believe that he would be executed for a crime he did not commit.

“Looking down” because he knows he has no prospect. He knows that whatever he would say, nothing would change.

Defeated / hopeless = desperate

Question 7 : conclusion

Thanks to this extract we understand that in the 1940’s, a black defendant was very likely to be condemned even if he was innocent of all charges because the American judiciary system did not enable black people to be jurors. Consequently, black people were only judged by white people who could be extremely prejudiced against them.

Blacks were not judged by their peers.

The justice system was dysfunctionnal.