The Central Park Five

Movie / Show Details

Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon directed this 1989 documentary examining one of New York City’s most notorious criminal cases. In April 1989, a jogger was attacked in Central Park, and five Black and Latino teenagers-Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise-were arrested and convicted based on police confessions. The film explores how systemic injustice and racial bias led to their imprisonment, despite the confessions being unreliable, and follows their eventual exoneration after years behind bars.

This single-disc DVD release runs 99 minutes and carries a not-rated designation. Originally broadcast as a PBS documentary miniseries in 2012, it features interviews with the five men themselves and examines the broader context of racial violence and media pressure that shaped the case. Own this powerful examination of wrongful conviction and institutional failure on physical media.