ABSTRACT
One of the key issues in the development offilm and the law scholarship has been to identify the parameters to the area, essentially 'the genre question' . Analysis has moved well beyond the classic courtroom drama typified by films such as Witness for the Prosecution (1957) or The Verdict (1982). To otherwise limit the field to only the courtroom would be to exclude such films as The Firm (1993) or indeed Twelve Angry Men (1957). However this expansive approach brings with it some uncertainty as to what the limits of the field could be.! There is also the question as to what, if any, guiding principles can be applied to bring some semblance of reliable classification. One approach has been to recognize the different phases of the criminal justice system; apprehension, deliberation and disposition (Greenfield et aI2010). The final phase refers to the element of punishment that is imposed post conviction. Often the prospect of the death penalty will hang over films of criminal trials especially given the dominant role of Hollywood and consequently the US legal system. The potential for capital punishment can be used to increase the dramatic tension aptly demonstrated in Twelve Angry Men (1957).
