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The Gentle Twelve (Juninin no yasashii nihonjin)

Twelve ordinary Japanese jurors are summoned to serve in a murder trial. The defendant is a bar hostess accused of pushing her ex-husband into an oncoming truck. After the trial, they are sequestered in a room and the verdict is taken, which is quickly and unanimously decided to be "not guilty." Everyone has business to attend to, and the jurors are nice people unwilling to believe a woman could commit murder, so they quickly prepare to leave. However, Juror #2 has second thoughts, stopping everyone and saying, "Let's discuss this."

Juror #2 takes the initiative to convince their peers that the woman is, in fact, guilty. As the jurors discuss the case, it becomes clear that the other eleven jurors all sympathize with the defendant and chose a 'not guilty' verdict based on those sympathies and not the evidence itself. The jurors once again consider the circumstances of the case. Gradually, more and more of them begin to lean toward a "guilty" verdict for premeditated murder.

However, some jurors still waver between "guilty" and "not guilty." Upon further argumentation, the circumstances that had seemed unfavorable to the defendant were in fact evidence of her innocence. Furthermore, it becomes clear that Juror #2, who initially asked for the "discussion", is projecting his own family troubles onto the defendant and harboring an irrational grudge.

After much deliberation, the jurors are convinced once again of the defendant's innocence and unanimously vote for acquittal. After voting and submitting their statements, the twelve jurors each go home satisfied.