Twelve Angry Men The American legal system, based on the ancient idea of "innocent, until proven guilty;" has its share of advantages and disadvantages. They all serve to build a system that has suffered years of trials and tribulations, having lost much of their usefulness in today's world. The cornerstone of the American legal system is the "trial by jury," in which a citizen who has been accused of a crime, has the right to be judged by a group of his fellow citizens, who will have the evidence presented to them, and will subsequently rule based on the evidence as to the accused's guilt or innocence. The assumption in this system is that the jurors will judge their fellow man