Dennis Jay A.

Paras
Bachelor of Laws-1
Block D
Constitutional Law 1
(Monday, 5:30pm to 8:30pm)

When They See Us (Review)

A great man once said, “Time lost will never be recovered”. Once it is spent, it cannot
be regained, brought back, refunded, among others. For Law students, this quote is like a
golden rule. It serves as a reminder to always use the time wisely, to spend it in gainful
pursuits, to consume it in studying for the upcoming lessons, recitations, examinations and
the like. By choosing to become a Law student, it is one’s decision to dedicate a few years of
his life to reach the ultimate goal: to become a lawyer in the future.

But what if a great amount of time was wrongfully taken from a man’s life for a
heinous crime that he did not commit? Can it be regained once his innocence is proven?

In the case of the Central Park Five, they were all wrongfully accused of raping
Patricia Meili sometime in 1989. They were all convicted of a crime which they did not
commit and were later made to spend the remainder of their youth in correctional facilities.
This case is a classic example of a ‘frame up’. Eager to give a swift justice to the victim of
the crime, the New York Police Department had tried every trick in the book to make the five
boys confess. They used several techniques for coercion, including the Prisoner’s Dilemma,
Good Cop-Bad Cop, among others, in order to extract information that would lead the young
boys to incriminate themselves before the court. The law enforcement officers had succeeded
in securing evidences against the accused teenagers, despite the fact that most of it was
deemed inconclusive and vague.

The series offered a stark commentary on the flaws of the American justice system.
Like the cases before in the Supreme Court where members of minority groups were the
defendants (i.e. Dredd Scott vs. Sanford, Rodney King case, Pace vs. Alabama, Plessy vs.
Ferguson, et cetera), the case carries with it a racial undertone. In mainstream media,
Hispanics, African-Americans and other members of minority groups are stereotypically
portrayed as crooks, hooligans, recidivists, and delinquents. These negative images are
suggestive to those who have no in-depth knowledge about the culture of these people,
sowing fear into the subconscious minds of the masses.

On the later part of the series, the actual criminal who committed the crime confessed
to the authorities about the gruesome details of the incident. He might not give back the lost
youth of the wrongfully accused, but at least he gave them justice and honor.