April 19th, 2019 marked 30 years since Patricia Meili, a 28-year old white investment banker, was attacked and raped in Central Park, New York. This criminal case is also known as the “Central Park Five Case” because five boys at the ages of fourteen to sixteen, were falsely accused and subsequently had to serve prison sentences ranging from six to twelve years. They were viewed by the media, the justice system, and the public not as five youths with names, a life, a family, and a future, but as a cumulative dangerous unit.
The case of the five boys showed that even in 1989, almost thirty years after the civil rights movement, there was still a clear distinction between Black and white in America. The director Ava DuVernay portrays this in her four-part miniseries "When They See Us," produced in 2019. This paper argues that the series “When They See Us” (Ava DuVernay, 2019) demonstrates how the American system has failed to see five individuals instead of the Central Park Five by false accusation and agitation by justice, media and the public based on racism.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Analysis of Episode One
- Analysis of Episode Two
- Role of Media in the case of Crime in the Central Park
- Study \"The New York News Media and The Central Park Rape by Lichter et Al.
- The New York Amsterdam News
- Trump's Stake in the "Central Park Five Case"
- The Trial
- Role of Media in the case of Crime in the Central Park
- The Prisons in the USA
- Conclusion...
- Works cited
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper examines the American justice system's failures in the case of the Central Park Five. The series "When They See Us" highlights the role of racism, media bias, and police misconduct in convicting five innocent young men for a crime they did not commit. The paper analyzes the first two episodes of the series, focusing on the events leading up to the arrests, the media's portrayal of the suspects, and the investigation conducted by the authorities.
- The impact of racial bias and stereotypes on the perception of justice
- The influence of the media on public opinion and the criminal justice system
- The use of coercion and manipulation in police interrogations
- The role of the prosecutor in shaping the narrative and influencing the outcome of the case
- The social and political climate of the 1980s and its relevance to the case of the Central Park Five
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introduction provides context to the case of the Central Park Five, discussing the events of April 19th, 2019, and the impact of the series "When They See Us" on contemporary society. The analysis of Episode One delves into the lives of the five young men before the incident and examines the events that led to their arrest, including police misconduct and the media's portrayal of the suspects. Episode Two continues to explore the role of the media, focusing on the coverage of the crime by various news outlets and the influence of media narratives on public opinion and the justice system. The analysis further discusses the trial and the legal proceedings.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The main keywords and focus topics of the text are: Central Park Five, "When They See Us," racial bias, media coverage, police misconduct, justice system, wrongful conviction, criminal justice reform, racial profiling, social justice, Ava DuVernay, Linda Fairstein, Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray.
- Quote paper
- Sandra Kostic (Author), 2021, The series "When they see us". Racism in the United States of America, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/1331215