People Will Search for Justice
Most people in this day in age simply want to focus on themselves, and minimize issues that do not pertain to them. It's not an absurd concept: it's called being selfish, and it's what animals have used to survive and reproduce for millions of years. "Survival of the fittest," it's usually referred to as, and it was what allowed the advancement of a species in evolutionary terms, in order to survive the conditions of nature. The situation has changed now, and now humanity is in a situation closer to a colony of ants. We must help each other in order to get anywhere productive, and thus we can be more effective than all of our individual parts. However, people want to remain in this primitive state of mind, that in today's conditions, is no longer effective to the unit of humanity as a whole. People are stuck in the past, except for some people who want to benefit others, even if it does not help them. This is where we introduce Adam Foss and Number 8 from Twelve Angry Men.
Consider Adam's situation first: he is a person that went into law school specifically to make money. This alone does not constitute anything particularly motivating, but once he entered his second year in law school, he began to see how numerous people will be tried, and never will their story even be told to people who are listening. Most often the accused will go into court, and be handled as inanimate objects: treated as if they are not humans with their own lives. It is this that convinced Adam to begin his work as a prosecutor. He wants to see people brought to justice, but he wants to show them mercy. He wants to hear their story, so he can best help them through the trial without being undue in his punishments. To put it shortly, he wants to help those that are not listened to, that are treated as objects in a court system that doesn't care about them. The juries don't want to be there, they want to go home to wherever they were ripped away from, and the delinquent in front of them does not affect them. Adam Foss does care, though. He works to see people brought due justice, rather than ruin the rest of their lives. Needless to say, they have committed a crime, and must pay for it, but to send them to prison is political murder. That person will never be able to get an education, a job, or stable housing. Sometimes, though, they may not even be guilty, and are being determined guilty by this apathetic jury that simply wants to leave. This is where the parallels between No. 8 and Adam come in.
Adam definitely does not need to work to find an appropriate punishment for these people. All he needs to do is find the crime and decide if it's a misdemeanor or a felony, and accuse them of such. Just the same, Number 8 was in a position where he could go home immediately, but instead chose to sacrifice his time to see if this person truly deserves the punishment that people are trying to push on him. It is through Number 8's perseverance that he was eventually able to convince people that there was indeed a reasonable doubt if he was the criminal. It was this show of humanity that gives hope for the rest of mankind. People like Number 8 and Adam Foss are the people that display genuine care for others, despite having no obligation to. These are the people that I want to carry the torch into the next generation, so that we may tease this fire of care and good intentions into burning brighter and brighter.
Consider Adam's situation first: he is a person that went into law school specifically to make money. This alone does not constitute anything particularly motivating, but once he entered his second year in law school, he began to see how numerous people will be tried, and never will their story even be told to people who are listening. Most often the accused will go into court, and be handled as inanimate objects: treated as if they are not humans with their own lives. It is this that convinced Adam to begin his work as a prosecutor. He wants to see people brought to justice, but he wants to show them mercy. He wants to hear their story, so he can best help them through the trial without being undue in his punishments. To put it shortly, he wants to help those that are not listened to, that are treated as objects in a court system that doesn't care about them. The juries don't want to be there, they want to go home to wherever they were ripped away from, and the delinquent in front of them does not affect them. Adam Foss does care, though. He works to see people brought due justice, rather than ruin the rest of their lives. Needless to say, they have committed a crime, and must pay for it, but to send them to prison is political murder. That person will never be able to get an education, a job, or stable housing. Sometimes, though, they may not even be guilty, and are being determined guilty by this apathetic jury that simply wants to leave. This is where the parallels between No. 8 and Adam come in.
Adam definitely does not need to work to find an appropriate punishment for these people. All he needs to do is find the crime and decide if it's a misdemeanor or a felony, and accuse them of such. Just the same, Number 8 was in a position where he could go home immediately, but instead chose to sacrifice his time to see if this person truly deserves the punishment that people are trying to push on him. It is through Number 8's perseverance that he was eventually able to convince people that there was indeed a reasonable doubt if he was the criminal. It was this show of humanity that gives hope for the rest of mankind. People like Number 8 and Adam Foss are the people that display genuine care for others, despite having no obligation to. These are the people that I want to carry the torch into the next generation, so that we may tease this fire of care and good intentions into burning brighter and brighter.