海角大神

When the drama 鈥淲hen They See Us鈥� first came out last month, James Peterson had been afraid to watch it. He knew it wouldn鈥檛 be a happy story, but when he finally hit play and the first beats of Special Ed鈥檚 rap 鈥淚 Got It Made鈥� raised the curtain on the hit Netflix miniseries, he couldn鈥檛 help but start nodding along.

He was back in April 1989, his senior year of high school and the year when the so-called Central Park Five case made national headlines. Academy Award-nominated director Ava DuVernay has dramatized the case of five young teenagers of color who were falsely convicted of beating and raping Trisha Meili, a white female jogger in the park 鈥� convictions that hinged decisively on confessions they made to police in the hours after the attack, confessions the men contend were coerced.

The four-part series follows the teenagers from their arrests through their prison terms and reentry to their official exoneration in 2002. It was the most-watched show on Netflix for seven days following its release on May 31. Since then it has continued to attract plaudits and criticism and has spurred a public backlash against investigators and prosecutors involved in the 1989 rape case.聽It is also the latest in a steady stream of documentaries and drama series exploring flaws in the American criminal justice system.

鈥淲hen They See Us鈥� seems to have taken this genre to a new level, observers say. The case鈥檚 well-documented procedural twists and turns are married with an intimate focus on the experiences of the five teens and their families, with it all punctuated by frequent (and sometimes blunt) hints that many of the biases and injustices seen in the case remain in the justice system 鈥� and society 鈥� today. Injustice is simultaneously recounted and foreshadowed.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 not much in 鈥榃hen They See Us鈥� that I wasn鈥檛 aware of, [criminal justice] system-wise, but to see it dramatized, and to be connected to the pain and anguish of those families, was something,鈥� says Dr. Peterson, an author and expert on race, politics, and popular culture.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a happy story; it鈥檚 not a big super sci-fi narrative,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭his is our reality depicted on film in a way that strikes like lightning.鈥�

Similar series and documentaries have led to new charges, or reexamination of convictions. 鈥淲hen They See Us鈥� can鈥檛 have that kind of impact 鈥� Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise have already been exonerated 鈥� and the result seems to have been more muddled targets for viewer outrage. There is a widespread demand for consequences for the prosecutors and detectives involved in the case. Ms. DuVernay has said she hopes the series makes the criminal justice system itself a target for outrage and reform.聽

鈥淐an we interrogate what鈥檚 happened in the past to safeguard ourselves from it happening in the future?鈥� she said on 鈥淐BS This Morning鈥� last month. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I鈥檓 such a student of history. I like to embed historical context in my work. We can only, kind of, better the situation if we realize the details of what happened.鈥�

Past events, present ire

The pop culture focus on injustices has predictably led to calls for justice, or at least accountability.聽

A聽documentary released this year聽detailing sexual abuse allegations against R&B singer Robert 鈥淩.鈥� Kelly led to new charges. The podcast 鈥淪erial鈥� and the Netflix series 鈥淢aking a Murderer,鈥� launched in 2014 and 2015 respectively, drew national attention to appeals by Adnan Syed and Brendan Dassey against their murder convictions, which had been the subjects of the two shows鈥� debut seasons.

鈥淲hen They See Us鈥� has focused public ire on Linda Fairstein and Elizabeth Lederer, the assistant district attorneys who led the prosecution of the Central Park Five.聽

Ms. Lederer, still an assistant DA, announced last week that she will not return to a teaching position at Columbia Law School, after students presented a petition of 10,000 signatures protesting her position. This week, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. dismissed calls to fire her from his office. Ms. Fairstein, who left the district attorney鈥檚 office in 2002 and has become a successful author, was dropped by her book publisher last week and forced to resign from several charity boards as outrage over the case rekindled. More than 25,000 people have signed a petition calling for her to be prosecuted.

Ms. Fairstein has criticized the series, writing in a聽Wall Street Journal opinion piece聽that it is 鈥渟o full of distortions and falsehoods as to be an outright fabrication.鈥� This week President Donald Trump also declined to apologize for the newspaper ads he took out in 1989, telling reporters, 鈥淭here were two sides to that. They admitted their guilt.鈥�

But the reflex toward 鈥渃ancel culture鈥� 鈥� the social media-driven blacklisting of individuals after a controversy 鈥撀爉ay not be the only lens through which to look at the response to 鈥淲hen They See Us.鈥� Ms. DuVernay said last month the series was partly about finding a way 鈥渢o safeguard ourselves from it happening in the future.鈥�

鈥淥ne of my challenges around cancel culture is it goes to judgment sometimes too quickly, and in that sense we鈥檙e just like our criminal justice system,鈥� says Dr. Peterson.

Reaction to the storytelling

In Texas, Vickye Murray is visiting Austin, spending a hot afternoon earlier this week at the George Washington Carver Museum with her sister and two friends. She says one scene, from the second episode of the series (mild spoiler follows), stuck out to her.

Sharonne Salaam is walking her son through a scrum of reporters to the courthouse for his trial. She is ignoring shouted questions, until one reporter asks if she has any response to Mr. Trump calling for the death penalty for her son. She spins around, clearly not having seen the full-page ads Mr. Trump had taken out in some local newspapers that read 鈥淏ring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!鈥澛�

鈥淲hat did you say? What did you say?鈥� Ms. Salaam repeats, her face a mask of anger and fear, before turning back around to hug her son.

鈥淭hat stuck out to me,鈥� Ms. Murray says, 鈥渂ecause I think there are so many politicians who pass laws, but if it happened to their family they wouldn鈥檛 want to pass that law.鈥澛�

Although not a politician at that point, Mr. Trump features prominently in the series compared with other public figures of the time. (Then-Mayor Ed Koch, for example, called it 鈥渢he crime of the century鈥� and described the five teenagers as 鈥渕onsters.鈥�) It鈥檚 a creative decision that illustrates how Ms. DuVernay links past to present through the series.

Dr. Peterson remembers when he initially became sure the case against the five teenagers was problematic: when the mostly white media first began reporting on the groups of teens 鈥渨ilding鈥� in the park that night. The word was both seized on and misinterpreted.聽

African Americans generally pronounce it聽鈥渨ilin鈥欌�� and define it the way the Urban Dictionary does in this version: 鈥渁ny racy activity that exhibits a lack of wisdom or any common sense.鈥� At the time, the media viewed wilding the way the Oxford English Dictionary now defines it: 鈥渁 gang of youths ... going on a protracted and violent rampage.鈥�

鈥淭he show depicts that immediately,鈥� Dr. Peterson says. 鈥淚t takes this misunderstanding of the vernacular to create this image of packs of black and brown teens roaming the park.鈥澛�

The case came at an inflection point for the American justice system. The crack cocaine epidemic had just begun to ravage poor communities of color in New York and violent crime was skyrocketing, but the tough-on-crime reactions of mandatory minimum sentences and mass incarceration 鈥� which have disproportionately targeted people of color 鈥� were still a few years away.

鈥淚t created tremendous momentum for the twin policies of 鈥榖roken windows policing鈥� and 鈥榮top and frisk,鈥� which would be the central approaches to policing of the [Rudolph] Giuliani and [Michael] Bloomberg administrations, leading to massive arrests of young men of color for quality-of-life crimes,鈥� says Mark Naison, a professor at Fordham University and lifelong New Yorker who grew up in Brooklyn.

Platform-specific approach聽

This level of detail and nuance 鈥� the Special Ed opening, the attention to Mr. Trump, the focus on wilding and media coverage 鈥� may have been possible only on a platform like Netflix, says Mark Neal, a professor of black popular culture at Duke University.

鈥淣etwork [television] wasn鈥檛 going to cover this. Cable might have, but I鈥檓 not sure [Ms. DuVernay] would have had the [same] freedom,鈥� he adds.聽

It could have been a film, but then it likely would have had to be at least one hour shorter, 鈥渁nd there鈥檚 no guarantee people will actually go to the theater,鈥� he continues. 鈥淲ith Netflix, Hulu, streaming services, it allows it to come to the people in ways that people don鈥檛 have to work hard to get to it.鈥�

The series also illustrates specific flaws in the justice system that could be fixed with legislation and rule changes, says John Raphling, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch who spent more than two decades as a criminal defense lawyer in California. Some jurisdictions have created commissions to investigate and review, and assign discipline for, prosecutorial misconduct. Bail reform could also mean less pretrial detention, which can be used as a threat to coerce confessions.

鈥淭here are a lot of discrete changes that can be made as well as more systemic changes,鈥� adds Mr. Raphling. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 only going to happen as people understand how the system really works.鈥�