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Movies & Podcasts

This is a list of great movies and podcasts relating to criminal justice.

A List of True Crime Podcasts

Vulture

Just Mercy, 2019

Based on the true story of young lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative to defend those wrongly condemned and those not afforded proper representation.

13th, 2016

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay examines the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with Black people.

When They See Us, 2019

This four part series is about how five young boys of color were unfairly treated and unjustly charged by the New York Police for the assault of a white woman in Central Park in 1989. Labeled the Central Park Five, they spent years fighting the convictions and were eventually exonerated.

Who Killed Malcom X?, 2020

This six part series covers an activist committed to finding the truth about who killed Malcom X in February of 1965, and what officials knew regarding the crime.

LA 92, 2017

National Geographic produced this documentary examining the tumultuous period of protests, violence, and looting following the acquittal of the four Los Angeles police officers who brutally beat a defensless Rodney King.

The Innocence Files, 2020

The Innocence Project unravels missteps and deceit in a series of nine wrongful convictions, exposing the injustice inflicted on victims and the accused.

Selma, 2014

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.

Kids For Cash, 2013

Filmmaker Robert May chronicles the case of a once-respected judge who received kickbacks for sending juvenile offenders to prison, even for minor crimes.

Into The Abyss, 2011

Filmmaker Werner Herzog explores capital punishment in America through interviews with convicted killers, their victims' families and members of the Texas criminal justice system.

True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight For Equality, 2019

This documentary follows 30 years of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative's work on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

They Call Us Monsters, 2016

This documentary features legislators debating the laws that allow for adult charges to be placed on juvenile offenders.

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