Films about criminal justice
Feature Film
PBS Premiere: July 30, 2018
An unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising, told by the activists leading the movement.
Short Film
Digital Premiere: July 26, 2018
Camaran Henson grew up thinking his grandfather possessed super powers. Now that his grandfather is gone, Camaran remembers large and small ways the man lived up to his legendary status.
Feature Film
PBS Premiere: July 16, 2018
Lindy starts a journey looking for the 11 jurors with whom she sentenced a man to death.
Feature Film
PBS Premiere: Feb. 12, 2018
A vital and influential exploration of the rapid militarization of the police in the United States. Do Not Resist puts viewers in the center of the action — from inside a police training seminar that teaches the importance of "righteous violence" to the floor of a congressional hearing on the proliferation of military equipment in small-town police departments. Winner, Best Documentary Feature Award, 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.
Short Film
PBS Premiere: Feb. 12, 2018
Once a year on Mother's Day, a charity buses children to prisons to visit their mothers.
Short Film
PBS Premiere: Feb. 12, 2018
Parents recount telling their black sons that they may be targets of racial profiling.
Feature Film
Encore Broadcast: Jan. 1, 2018
In 1998 James Byrd, Jr., a black man, was chained to a truck and dragged to death by three white men. Two film crews, one black and one white, document the aftermath of the murder.
Feature Film
PBS Premiere: Aug. 21, 2017
In Tribal Justice, two Native American judges reach back to traditional concepts of justice in order to reduce incarceration rates, foster greater safety for their communities, and create a more positive future for their youth. A co-production of Vision Maker Media and American Documentary | POV.
Short Film
Digital Premiere: July 17, 2017
With rare access inside Pelican Bay State Prison, we hear inmates' experiences of living in long term solitary confinement. This short documentary offers a visceral snapshot of the day-in-the-life inside one of the most notorious supermax prisons in the U.S.
Feature Film
PBS Premiere: July 11, 2016
Florida Justice Transitions trailer park is home to 120 sex offenders, all battling their own demons as they work toward rejoining society. This film considers how the destructive cycle of sexual abuse — and the silence surrounding it — can be broken.
Feature Film
Encore Broadcast: June 6, 2016
A moving account of four women sensationalized by the media as a "Gang of Killer Lesbians" reveals the role that race, gender identity and sexuality play in our criminal justice system. A co-production of ITVS. A co-presentation with the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC).
Feature Film
PBS Premiere: May 23, 2016
In 2012, California amended its "Three Strikes" law, shortening the sentences of thousands of "lifers." See this unprecedented reform through the eyes of those on the front lines — prisoners suddenly freed, families turned upside down and attorneys and judges wrestling with an untested law. A co-production of American Documentary | POV and ITVS. A co-presentation with the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC). Official Selection of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.