The Adult Learning Center classes of the NYPL are places where adult students study four hours each week under the guidance of professional staff and volunteers and work on their reading and writing skills at many different levels.

One of the upper level classes at the Aguilar ALC is currently reading the 1954 play Twelve Angry Men in connection with the civics theme this month.    Many of the students in this class were not born in this country and have a keen interest in the American judicial system. 

In order to expand their knowledge and understanding of the judicial system, Site Advisor, Elaine Sohn and her volunteer tutors invited Assistant District Attorney Craig Ortner to visit the class and talk about the American judicial system, especially as it pertains to types of crimes in NYC, the roles of defense lawyers and prosecution lawyers, trials, the selection of jurors, and evidence in the jury room, among many other topics.

Students submitted questions in advance to the attorney, and in his presentation, he answered many of them.  He even drew a comparison of the jury deliberation then and now, in a list he titled:  “12 Problems in 12 Angry Men” when compared to jury deliberations today.

Twelve Angry Men, the 1954 drama by Reginald Rose, focused on a jury trial in NYC, when12 men deliberated in the jury room about the guilt or innocence of a young man accused of killing his father with a knife.  The play appeared on the CBS Studio One television series, was later made into a movie starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall, Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, and Jack Klugman, and was produced on Broadway in 2004.

At the beginning of the deliberations, there is a single dissenter of not-guilty, who throughout the play sows a seed of reasonable doubt among his fellow jurors. Throughout their deliberations, not a single juror calls another by his name since the names are unknown by the jurors, several of the jurors have different reasons for discriminating against the witness, and they almost come to blows with each other as they analyze the evidence and the testimonies. 

Some of the questions students submitted in advance to ADA Ortner were:

• What is the definition of reasonable doubt?
• Should lawyers be allowed to be on juries?  If not, why not?
• How does the American legal system differ from the European or Asian legal systems?
• Since the death penalty is unconstitutional in New York State, do you think there are more crimes?
• Does a defense attorney defend someone if he or she believes the client to be guilty?  Is it hard to do that?
• In your opinion, is the jury system a strength or a weakness of the US judicial system? Why?
• What is the role of the judge in a trial? 
• What does the US justice system think about the case of somebody who was found not-guilty (because of lack of evidence) but revealed later to be guilty?
• Can you tell us about the most remarkable case you have ever tried?
• What do you find most challenging about being an attorney?  

For the entire session, students listened attentively, raised additional questions, commented on their understanding and engaged in an animated dialogue.   Students expressed such an interest in jury trials that Mr. Ortner explained that trials are open to the public and it is easy to sit in on a trial by going to 110 Centre St and checking the board to determine which trials are going on that day.  Students seemed interested in actually visiting a courtroom!

 Upper Manhattan Hub Manager, Elke Stappert and Upper Manhattan Intake Advisor Richard Buckley also visited the class. The volunteers who devote 4 hours each week working with these students include Matthew Finston, Kathy Legg, Mimi McDermott and Mike Silverman.

Find out more information about classes in the Adult Learning Centers, or visit the Aguilar Adult Learning Center's Facebook page.