The Central Park Five documentary relates the 1989 aggravated assault and rape criminal case and the following wrongful conviction of five teenagers aged 14 to 16. The case quickly gained nationwide media attention due to the horrific nature of the crime and the treatment of the five main suspects. The documentary provides in-depth information on the arrests and interrogations of the suspects, the sentences, vacations of the convictions, and the interviews with the accused men.
On April 19, 1989, 28-year-old jogger Trisha Meili was ambushed, sexually assaulted, and severely beaten in Central Park, New York. At the time, New York City was in an economic crisis and swept by a crime wave, with many offenses committed by younger individuals (Burns, 2012). Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam were among 30 other teenagers who entered the park that night and engaged in a series of attacks and assaults on passersby (Burns, 2012).
Several of them, including Santana and Richardson, were detained that night before Trisha Meili was found at 1:30 a.m. According to Santana, the teenagers were aggressively interrogated, misled by the detectives, and were not offered legal counsel (Burns, 2012). After lengthy questioning, the teenagers confessed to witnessing the assault and rape, and their convictions were based mainly on those confessions, despite notable differences in their accounts of the supposed encounter. Santana and Richardson were coerced into writing the confessions and believed their statements would lead to them being freed (Burns, 2012). Later, McCray, Wise, and Salaam were brought in for questioning and accused alongside Santana and Richardson.
The coverage of the crime and the treatment of the five teenagers by the police detectives was highly prejudiced and biased. Jim Dwyer, a New York Times journalist, notes at the beginning of the films that “these young men were the proxies for all kinds of other agendas” (Burns, 2012).
The conviction of the Central Park five was a symbolic one that served to illustrate the effectiveness of the police force. Santana and Richardson were interrogated by numerous detectives, including Humberto Arroyo and John Hartigan, with Linda Fairstein and Elizabeth Lederer leading the prosecution (Burns, 2012). The media did not question the police, with the Mayor of New York, Ed Koch, praising their efforts and condemning the five teenagers for their alleged actions. Overall, both the police force and the media played a substantial role in convicting the Central Park five.
Reference
Burns, K., Burns, S., & McMahon, D. (Directors). (2012). The Central Park Five. Sundance Selects.