I decided to watch the series. It was very difficult to watch, especially the last episode. There were 6 victims in this series and a number of perpetrators. The victims were the jogger and the 5 innocent boys who were wrongly convicted. There were a number of perpetrators including the prosecutors, the detectives, the police, the prison guards, as well as the rapist. There were consistent blunders from the beginning until the end of this criminal justice process. The first huge blunder was the coercion and coaching of the young boys without their parents or legal counsel present (especially for a rape charge!). In the UK it is compulsory that minors have an appropriate adult when being questioned by the police. I’m assuming it is the same in the states. Everyone has the right to a lawyer to obtain legal advice, as the boys had no prior contact with the police or criminal justice system, they had no knowledge of the processes, and if a lawyer was allowed to be present , they could have been advised accordingly . I urge people, especially young black man to research your legal rights, as authorities will take advantage of those who don't know their rights,. Another blunder is the Police using physical force against the boys to make them give false confessions while denying them food, water and toilet breaks.
Further, the media released the images, names and addresses of these young boys. Usually, when minors are involved in a criminal investigation, the media cannot publish their identities. However, the media painted these innocent boys in a horrible light and conveyed a false narrative of them being a "wolf-pack". It is sad that Donald Trump paid $85,000 for an advert requesting for the death penalty against these boys, and he is now the President of the United States.
The criminal justice system is based on the premise that you are “innocent until proven guilty”. However, if you are a young black/Latino man it becomes you are “guilty until proven innocent”. These boys were treated like criminals without any evidence linking them to the crime.
The DNA found on the scene did not match any of the boys, their coerced stories did not match, the timelines did not match, the victims blood was not found on any of them, none of the boys even knew each other apart from 2 of them. From a legal standpoint, this was a very weak case. Some of those involved in bringing the case had doubts. However, the boys were still prosecuted thanks to Linda Fairstein. What shocked me was that the jurors who were ethnically diverse (including 4 black jurors) had found the boys guilty.
The story that hurt me the most was that of Korey Wise. He had a learning disability, speech impediment and was illiterate. Despite being the oldest of the boys, he was the most vulnerable. Due to him being aged 16, he was tried and sentenced as an adult (I find this extremely disturbing) . He served the longest prison sentence despite not being on the original list of suspects. All he did was be a good friend to Yusef Salaam and accompany him to the police station. He never knew that this small decision will change the course of his life forever. Watching Korey being repeatedly abused in prison was very difficult to watch, he kept being sent to prisons which were far away so it was difficult for his mother to visit him. His abuse was so bad that he had to be in solitary confinement for his safety. He was all alone with no one to help him except for that one prison guard at one particular prison. He can never fully recover from the severe trauma that he has been through, it has damaged him. No amount of money (even the low $41m) can compensate for the pain and suffering that these boys went through.
The criminal justice system had failed them: the authorities had failed them, the police had failed them, the prison guards had failed them, the jury had failed them, the detectives had failed them, the Prosecutors had failed them.The miscarriage of justice that these boys had faced was abysmal. The sad thing is that the rapist, Matias Reyes was a serial rapist, and he had raped a woman just two days prior to the rape of Trisha Meili at Central Park. The Police had his name. In the following months he raped more women including one pregnant woman which he murdered. His DNA was taken and he was charged and sentenced for multiple rapes. However, the police did not carry out their due diligence to realise that Matias was the central park rapist even though he was a known rapist to the police. If the police carried out proper investigations, that pregnant woman who was murdered, would have been alive today and those innocent boys would not have been suspects in the first place.
I wonder how many innocent black men are in prison for crimes they have not committed. I also wonder how many innocent black men have received the death penalty. The media criminalises black men and coveys the narrative that black men are dangerous and are criminal by nature. This creates fear within people, who actually become scared of black men. Black men are not humanised but are demonised. I commend Ava DuVernay for humanising these victims and portraying their stories of what they had went through.
To Korey Wise, to Yusef Salaam, to Kevin Richardson, to Raymond Santana, to Antron McCray, you did not deserve the pain that this world gave to you, you did not deserve to be hated by the world at such a young age, you did not deserve to have your lives robbed from you, you did not deserve to be victims of a racist society. However, through your pain and all the tears you have cried you have shown strength, you have shown resilience, you have shown perseverance. You have not allowed the evil in this world to turn you into monsters. You grew to become good men, who continue to fight for justice for those innocent men who have suffered miscarriage of justices. I just want you to know that you are loved by the world and we support you 100%.
