In 1989, New York City was a pressure cooker. Crime was peaking, and the city felt like it was basically tearing itself apart. Then came the "Central Park Jogger" case. It was the kind of story that didn’t just make the news; it swallowed the city whole. Five Black and Latino teenagers—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise—were arrested for the brutal rape of a white investment banker, Trisha Meili.
The media went into a full-blown frenzy. They used words like "wolf pack" and "wilding." Honestly, the kids were convicted in the court of public opinion before they even stepped into a courtroom.
Fast forward to 2012. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon released the film Central Park Five. This documentary didn’t just recap the case; it dismantled the entire narrative that New York had lived with for over twenty years. If you’ve only seen the Netflix scripted series When They See Us, you’ve got the emotional core, but the documentary is where you see the cold, hard receipts of how a justice system can just... fail.
What the film Central Park Five actually reveals
The documentary is based on Sarah Burns' research, and it’s pretty staggering how much the police ignored at the time. You’ve got five kids, aged 14 to 16, being interrogated for 14 to 30 hours. No food. No sleep. Just seasoned detectives pushing them until they said what the cops wanted to hear.
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The film shows the videotaped confessions. On the surface, they look damning. But the documentary points out the glaring holes. One kid says she was wearing a T-shirt; she was in long sleeves. Another says they used a knife; there were no knife wounds. The "facts" in the confessions didn't match the medical reality.
The DNA evidence that was ignored
Here is the part that’s truly wild: there was DNA.
Back in 1989, testing wasn’t what it is now, but they had samples from the crime scene. None of it matched the five boys. The prosecution just hand-waved it away, suggesting there might have been "unidentified" accomplices. It took until 2001 for the truth to come out when Matias Reyes, a serial rapist already serving life, confessed. He acted alone. His DNA was the only match.
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- Antron McCray: 15 at arrest.
- Kevin Richardson: 14 at arrest.
- Yusef Salaam: 15 at arrest.
- Raymond Santana: 14 at arrest.
- Korey Wise: 16 at arrest (the only one sent to adult prison).
The documentary vs. the Netflix series
A lot of people ask if they need to watch the 2012 film if they’ve already seen Ava DuVernay's When They See Us. Sorta. The Netflix show is a masterpiece of storytelling and acting—Jharrell Jerome’s performance as Korey Wise is legendary for a reason.
But the documentary is different. It’s got the real faces. You see the actual news footage from 1989, and it’s jarring to see how comfortable people were calling for the execution of children. It also features interviews with the men themselves as adults, looking back at their stolen youth.
The film also digs deeper into the political climate. Ed Koch and Donald Trump (who famously took out full-page ads calling for the death penalty) are featured prominently. It shows how the city’s leadership used the case to project a "tough on crime" image, even as the actual evidence was crumbling.
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Why it matters in 2026
You might think this is old news. It isn't. The film Central Park Five is still used in law schools and by organizations like the Innocence Project to teach about the psychology of false confessions. People still ask, "Why would you confess to something you didn't do?" The film answers that. When you're 14 and a cop tells you that you can go home if you just sign a piece of paper, you sign it.
The case also led to a $41 million settlement with the city in 2014, though none of the officers or prosecutors ever admitted wrongdoing.
If you want to understand the modern push for criminal justice reform, you have to start here. The film isn't just about five kids in a park; it's about what happens when fear replaces facts.
Take these steps to learn more about the case and its impact:
- Watch the documentary: It is currently available on various streaming platforms like PBS, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
- Read the book: Sarah Burns’ The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding provides even more granular detail than the film.
- Follow the Exonerated Five: Yusef Salaam, for instance, was elected to the New York City Council and assumed office in 2024, continuing his work on policy reform from within the system.
- Support the Innocence Project: This organization works to free the thousands of people still wrongly incarcerated due to similar systemic failures.