These Films Help You Understand Racial Differences in Criminal Justice
In the United States, the criminal justice system must be one of the fairest and fairest in the world. However, there are many differences in who is being treated more harshly and who can leave without admitting that they have committed a crime at all.
Research shows that:
- Blacks get harsher jail / prison sentences .
- Blacks face more severe charges of nonviolent crime.
- Better plea bargains are offered for non-black defendants.
- Blacks are seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than whites, according to the National Rehabilitation Registry .
Here are some movies you can watch to better understand the differences in the criminal justice system.
Understand that there is less time now to grab popcorn and more time to grab a pen and paper to take notes on systemic biases in the criminal justice system.
When they see us
Written and produced by Ava Duvernay , this miniseries is a heartbreaking account of the real-life case of Central Park Fifth, in which five innocent young black men between the ages of 14 and 16 were convicted. The mini-series shows that the young people openly stated that they had nothing to do with the crime they were accused of, most of them did not know each other, but they were also interrogated hour after hour without parents, legal assistance, food or water – some were even beaten by the police.
Four out of five young people served 6-7 years, and the oldest of them ( Corey Wise ) was convicted as an adult and served 12 years in federal prison – he was 16 years old. The other four men are named Kevin Richardson , Raymond Santana , Yousef Salam, and Antron McCray. You can watch it on Netflix.
Crown heights
After spending 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Colin Warner found help from a friend who studied law. Crown Heights will share how Warner was wrongfully convicted even for false testimony.
The film shows Warner’s friend Carl King continuing to investigate on his behalf to help bring him back home. Watch the trailer below. Watch the full movie on Amazon Prime .
Hurricane
In this 1999 film, Denzel Washington plays Rubin “Hurricane” Carter , a middleweight boxer who, at the height of his boxing career, was wrongly convicted of triple murder and sentenced to three life sentences.
As the story goes, the prosecution presented little or no evidence of Carter’s relationship with the other defendant (John Artis); however, they were convicted anyway. Their case and many others that speak of wrongful conviction in the criminal justice system are the reason why we protest, march and work tirelessly to eliminate racism in all its forms. You can watch the film here or here .
Hurricane Carter has since passed, but you canwatch this interview to hear from him.
To Kill a Mockingbird
This 1962 film is an adaptation of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small southern town in Alabama in the 1930s. Atticus Finch, a white attorney, risks his career by choosing to represent a black man accused of rape.
In real life, we’ve seen too many cases of false accusations of black boys and men that have led them to jail or grave, including Emmett Till , The Justified Five (Central Park case), the Scottsboro Boys and too many others. …
See to kill a mockingbird here .
Looking for ways to protect black lives? Check out this list of resources .