The Central Park Five was a very interesting documentary about five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of rape in the late 80s in Central Park. In New York City during that time, the crime rate was high, 6 crimes happened in a day. This case stuck out because it was more than just a crime or wrongful conviction. It was a issue with race, the police and the media. The media portrayed the teenagers as they would do such a thing, saying things like “they deserve for what they did”. Racial issues led to the wrongful conviction of these five teenagers, they were vulnerable. The families of the teenagers didn’t have much experience dealing with the police and didn’t know how to handle the interrogation. In addition, the policemen left the teenagers and their parents in the dark about the confession, legal process, etc. The teenagers were unfamiliar with the whole legal system and scared. One of the teenagers, Santana, said he was interrogated for 15 hours and faced loads of pressure by the the police officers. He was only 14 years of age, so it’s understandable that he was afraid of what he experienced. He had no prior experience talking to policemen and didn’t have his parents to tell him to do as he was being interrogated alone. So he “co-operates” with the policemen doing whatever they said. The confessions by these teenagers were inconsistent, there was no DNA test done,and the policemen faked the confession and fingerprints as evidence. These are the reasons they were convicted, which is unlawful.
A Blogs@Baruch site
