The subject matter is complex: the metropolis as an adapting organism, the inequalities of capitalism, race relations, the crack epidemic, the disenfranchisement of lower class youth, and, as Mayor Ed Koch stated, putting the criminal justice system on trial. The five suspects became acquainted after each of them had given statements implicating themselves and each other, using information fed to them by detectives or from their imaginations during prolonged and intense interrogations. ", It was a media tsunami, former New York Daily News police bureau chief David Krajicek tells Poynter. The city of New York, however, stuck by its police and prosecutors, not admitting to any wrongdoing by either. Reynolds said that eventually he and his partner came across a group of 20 or 30 teenagers as they were leaving the park. The tunnel vision that took over the investigators is rendered solely as amoral ambition, but the reality of error in the Central Park case, as in most everything, is more interesting and nuanced than cartoon villainy. Thats how it went. Although it is obvious that a variety of mental disturbances may give rise to false or unreliable evidence,9 how ordinary individuals can incriminate themselves is a counterintuitive process that is hard to sell in court.8 Jurors may regard guilt or innocence as a function of the perceived coerciveness of an interrogation.10 Juveniles, under increasing protection from courts, are especially vulnerable to interrogators.11 The film and book make the rationale for those protections seem self-evident. The case of Central Park jogger Trisha Meili, which ended in the conviction of "The Central Park Five," was a prime example of not only the rampant crime in 1980s New York City but of also the rampant racism that led to the improper incarceration of these minority youths. Those young men admitted to some part, what we call 'acting in concert,' in the law, of either striking Trisha to bring her down to enable the sexual assault, [or] holding an arm or a leg.". "How do you coerce somebody when he's sitting there with their parents?" Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. The New York Posts Pete Hamill wrote that the teens hailed from a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference and ignorancea land with no fathersto smash, hurt, rob, stomp, rape. How the 'Central Park Five' Changed the History of American Law This article contains content provided by Twitter. Reyes, sadly, did not emerge until 2001, when he discovered that Wise, who was still in prison, had been serving time for Reyes' crime. Their words are their words," said former New York City police captain Sal Blando. What would you like to see more (or less) of? Deep into the night of April 19, 1989, New York City police officers were called to a macabre scene at the north end of Central Park: a . In the series, the police and prosecutors are portrayed as immediately aware of these discrepancies. The crime scene in Central Park in 1989 where a female jogger was raped and beaten. Although traumatic brain injury prevented her from remembering the incident, she testified in one of the trials and has written a memoir of her recovery.1 There are newly filmed appearances by Mayors Koch and Dinkins, attorneys, journalists, historians, family members, and psychologist Saul Kassin. ", In an interview with CNN at the time, he said: "Maybe hate is what we need if we're gonna get something done.". On occasion, theyre openly hostile. Five teenagers of color, ages 14 to 16, were convicted of the crime. I asked her, 'Can she give me the address to her house cause I found some keys in the little black bag. They became known as the Central Park Five. Three were charged as juveniles with second-degree assault and unlawful assembly, and two were charged with unlawful assembly and released that night to their parents.. Each of the Central Park Five remained imprisoned for six to 13 years, and their names were only cleared in 2002, when a serial rapist named Matias Reyes confessed to attacking Meili in 1989.

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