Central Park Five

Central Park Five
Disgust, anger, resentment and hope are just some of the emotions that I experienced after watching Central Park Five. The film tells the stories of five African American and Latino male teenagers who were wrongfully convicted for the rape and attempted murder of a woman in Central in 1989.
Disgusted- there were quite a few things that I felt disgusted by while watching this film. First was the District Attorney’s office (D.A.) eagerness to put the blame on someone. New York City was spiraling out of control and the D.A. saw this as a P.R. opportunity. I was DISGUSTED by the fact that detectives coerced the scared teenagers into fabricating stories simply to satisfy their own self interests. Additionally, the D.A.’s office seemed to care very little for the fact that they were ruining the lives of five innocent teenagers and their families.
I was also disgusted by the fact that the lack of DNA evidence did not in any way cause the case to be more closely scrutinized. This case was just filled with holes, which the D.A’s office, the NYPD and the media turned a blind eye to. Even though the teens had given statements, if they were indeed guilty, then there should have been some kind of DNA evidence. Someone in the film said it best. “The confessions trumped DNA… the D.A. wanted to hold someone accountable… the idea was that if you couldn’t get all the culprits, at least you could get some.”
Anger- I was angered by the fact that some of the parents did very little to stop what was happening. Why didn’t they get lawyers? I understand that the situation might have come as a shocked and was difficult to process all at once, however, I can’t help but think how differently things could have gone if they had retained counsel, assuming that the attorneys were remotely decent. Additionally, I was angered by the role that race played in the case. The film pointed out that there was also another rape case that had occurred almost simultaneously in which a woman was raped and then thrown from a building. Contributors to the film said that because the rape was not interracial, it did not receive much coverage. “However, interracial rapes are another story.” They also raised the question, “if this rape was committed in Harlem, would it receive as much coverage?”
Resentment- I resented the fact that the media did not do its job. They took everything the police and D.A’s office said, without doing any real investigative reporting.
Hope- because Matias Reyes came forward. Despite the failings of the justice system, Humanity shined through and all the charges were dropped against the five individuals.