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Should you watch The Central Park Five?

Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.

The Central Park Five

Documentary · 2012

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

The sides of The Central Park Five

  • Five Harlem teenagers arrested in 1989
  • Confessions taken after hours of questioning
  • Years in prison before the real attacker confesses

The Central Park Five is good for you if…

  • you want the Central Park case told carefully, with the facts.
  • you want to see how police, press and public rushed to judgment.
  • you want the five men to tell it in their own words.

The Central Park Five is bad for you if…

  • you can't sit with a rape case and teenagers sent to prison.
  • you need some hope, and stolen years are hard for you to watch.

About: injustice · racism · the press

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