Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a bit confused...when did Ken Burns become the steward of documenting all crimes and their details for public viewing? I also recall hearing that Burns' daughter chose this particular incident of the Central Park Five and that it was actually her project.
You clearly did not watch the show. There was DNA testing done and none of the five wrongly accused matched any DNA at the crime scene. Also, the actual perpetrator had committed several comparable crimes at the time and the DNA in his file was not even looked at. The trial and prosecution of these kids was a travesty and I hope that they win this law suit with a very large settlement.
The DNA testing in 1990 was not that accurate compared to today, many cases still coming to light based on current technology.
This should have never happened and those responsible should have been prosecuted but NYC in 1990 compared to today was quite different. I could only watch the first few miniutes but the lead in discussed Bernie Getz shooting the black teens on the subway and other crime, very different and paranoid city back then compared to now.
There was no explosion in crime. The super predator myth was so thoroughly debunked that NOONE claims credit for it anymore.
The problem was that conservatives predicted an explosion in crime that NEVER HAPPENED and legislators used their BS reports to pass laws against those super predator teens.
Violent crime has dropped you didn't read what I wrote.
This is an extremely complicated discussion to have in writing and we are already miscommunicating so take a deep breath and stop staking out my positions.
You had a surge in unwed mothers and single parent teens in impoverished areas. Ever seen how that correlates to crime?
They also had factors like the end of the crack epidemic, increased policing, tougher sentencing and A GOOD ECONOMY along with a dozen other pertinent factors that contribute to increases or decreases in the crime rate.
Was the prediction overblown? Oh heck yeah...they took too simplistic a view of the issues.
Did some of the concerned areas increase the crime rate, only to be offset by improvements in other key areas that decreased the crime rate? Yes.
It's like worrying about the running back for your football team having a good season since they are coming back off an injury. The team winds up having a good season....but the running back didn't....but the rookie quarterback and other players had better than expected performances. What I'm hearing is that the prediction of the running backs injury is disproved because the team did well overall.
Back to topic but the case is an interesting study in race and other attitudes.
On one hand you have the fact that the guys were out running around beating people up in the park....but their race made it easier for the NYPD to sell them as the perps in the more serious attack to the public and jury.
I think some of those attitudes were inflamed because NYers had become fed up with crime (See Berard Goetz) and pretty much were out for blood.
The massive decrease in NYC crime was the result of crackdowns all through the 1990's and up until today. They broke a few eggs making that omlette but for the most part NYers were ok with that.
Note: I'm just describing the societal attitude towards all crime in NYC at that time and I wonder how much that contributed in this and other cases. I mean, consider if Goetz did what he did now....he'd do time in prison. Less to do with race than just societal anger.
Back to topic but the case is an interesting study in race and other attitudes.
On one hand you have the fact that the guys were out running around beating people up in the park....but their race made it easier for the NYPD to sell them as the perps in the more serious attack to the public and jury.
I think some of those attitudes were inflamed because NYers had become fed up with crime (See Berard Goetz) and pretty much were out for blood.
The massive decrease in NYC crime was the result of crackdowns all through the 1990's and up until today. They broke a few eggs making that omlette but for the most part NYers were ok with that.
Note: I'm just describing the societal attitude towards all crime in NYC at that time and I wonder how much that contributed in this and other cases. I mean, consider if Goetz did what he did now....he'd do time in prison. Less to do with race than just societal anger.
I don't remember anywhere in the documentary where anyone admitted to beating up people in the park nor do I remember there being any proof that these 5 guys were specifically involved. In fact, the Puerto Rican kid only went to the park because his dad told him to go there and hang out.
Plus like I said before, only a couple of these guys even knew each other. They were strangers to each other for the most part. So if they were all beating up people, then it wasn't something that was coordinated.
In any case, the prosecutor, mayors office, and the investigators were so shockingly negligent that I was astounded at their blatant stupidity. They basically cornered these kids into confessing by interrogation them to death without lawyers present and then offering to make it stop and letting them go home ONLY if they gave them a confession that the cops basically wrote up themselves. And there was no way that the boys are lying about what the cops did because their stories are all too similar.
The saddest thing is that the parents (with the exception of one mother) were completely clueless as to their children's rights, and the cops made sure not to inform them. I've never seen a cadre of bewildered adults like those parents before. Of course, these weren't well to do people...none of the boys were poor but they didn't come from a background with adults that were highly educated either.
Like I said earlier, I've never left a theater as angry as I left after that movie. Totally destroyed what little faith I had in law enforcement. I simply don't believe that they'll do the right thing given the choice.
Who remembers this case of NYPD failure? PBS is airing a documentary by Ken Burns tonight.
Let's hope this kind of racism doesn't take place today.
I don't see how Linda Fairstein and Lederer can live with themselves knowing what they did just to further their careers. I hope that those guys win their lawsuit against the City of New York.
The comments from Mayor Ed Koch and Gov Mario Cuomo were disgusting. I never knew about that side of Koch.
I don't remember anywhere in the documentary where anyone admitted to beating up people in the park nor do I remember there being any proof that these 5 guys were specifically involved. In fact, the Puerto Rican kid only went to the park because his dad told him to go there and hang out.
Plus like I said before, only a couple of these guys even knew each other. They were strangers to each other for the most part. So if they were all beating up people, then it wasn't something that was coordinated.
In any case, the prosecutor, mayors office, and the investigators were so shockingly negligent that I was astounded at their blatant stupidity. They basically cornered these kids into confessing by interrogation them to death without lawyers present and then offering to make it stop and letting them go home ONLY if they gave them a confession that the cops basically wrote up themselves. And there was no way that the boys are lying about what the cops did because their stories are all too similar.
The saddest thing is that the parents (with the exception of one mother) were completely clueless as to their children's rights, and the cops made sure not to inform them. I've never seen a cadre of bewildered adults like those parents before. Of course, these weren't well to do people...none of the boys were poor but they didn't come from a background with adults that were highly educated either.
Like I said earlier, I've never left a theater as angry as I left after that movie. Totally destroyed what little faith I had in law enforcement. I simply don't believe that they'll do the right thing given the choice.
admittedly it should have anything to do with the rape charges but, most (if not all) of the youths admitted during the documentary that they were there as part of the group of 25 or so that beat the other victims. While they described their roles as non-participative they also continued on with the group as they moved from attack to attack.
Ken Burns is a relative and very liberal so I know it will be very slanted.
Haha, he's SOOO liberal that he left out the contributions of the Hispanics that fought in WW2 in his last production about stories from WW2. He's first and foremost a journalist, and an honest one at that.
I don't see how Linda Fairstein and Lederer can live with themselves knowing what they did just to further their careers. I hope that those guys win their lawsuit against the City of New York.
The comments from Mayor Ed Koch and Gov Mario Cuomo were disgusting. I never knew about that side of Koch.
Well, what were the races of the gangs of kids running around the park mugging people? Kinda hard to call it racism when they just pinned it on the youths running around the park unless they were mostly white kids.
So what was the final story with those guys? They were running around the park mugging people and got framed for a rape because they were out there at the same time? Or were they home reading or something in-between?
Thankfully DNA testing is available.
They had DNA back then...when the 5's DNA didnt come up on the victim, that wasn't a concern to the procecution. Thug-mugger =/= rapist-attempted murderer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
