This episode of Law and Order SVU is a thrilling episode that begins when a women is attacked after partaking in Naval Fleet Week activities. The SVU team investigates this and this attack is very similar to an attack that happened about 8 years ago. Olivia Benson was the detective that got a confession from Omar Peña who was sentenced to 300+ years in prison. After initially giving Benson a confession, Peña was sent to prison but immediately recanted his confession and claimed for years that he was innocent. When this new crime matches Peña’s previous crime, the case is reopened because the evidence from the first crime did not match up. NYC Fleet Week has thousands of naval members so the team ran into some difficulty when searching for the actual perpetrator. The team narrowed it down to a former member of the Brazilian navy and finally caught their perpetrator. Bayard Ellis was working on Peña’s case and he eventually was released from prison for a crime in which he was not guilty of.
Other than the usual characters, there was not much representation of African Americans in this episode but with that, there isn’t much to say with this post. Omar Peña was a Hispanic man, a minority but he was also innocent. He was sent to prison for 8 years for a crime that he did not commit. It is important to note how many minorities are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. An article written by Edwin Grimsley explains wrongful convictions of African Americans. Although Omar Peña is not African American, his story in Law and Order: SVU is similar to the article written by Grimsley. Edwin Grimsley writes,
"Juvenile African American males are subject to particular scrutiny. In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers aged 14 to 16 were arrested in a racially charged atmosphere, accused in the rape of a white female jogger in New York’s Central Park. After 14 to 30 hours of interrogation, without lawyers present, deprived of sleep, four of the five defendants offered inconsistent confessions as to the crime location and their respective roles in the rape" (Grimsley 2013).
This story includes both African Americans and Latinos as suspects. In the episode of Law and Order, Omar Peña confessed to a crime he did not commit because Detective Benson interrogated him to a point of confession in a grueling way, similar to the case of these young men in 1989. Although there was little representation of African Americans portrayed in this episode, I would conclude that this episode some truth in the justice system. Unfortunately, this is a bleak truth for African Americans. The harsh interrogations make it difficult for minorities to believe that they are innocent so eventually they begin to believe that they are the villains of society in a white world. This leaves the lives of minorities ruined since the justice system is flawed. This episode depicted the faults in the justice system, while conveniently leaving out African Americans.
Source:
Grimsley, Edwin. "African American Wrongful Convictions Today." Innocence Project. 29 March 2013. Web.
Other than the usual characters, there was not much representation of African Americans in this episode but with that, there isn’t much to say with this post. Omar Peña was a Hispanic man, a minority but he was also innocent. He was sent to prison for 8 years for a crime that he did not commit. It is important to note how many minorities are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. An article written by Edwin Grimsley explains wrongful convictions of African Americans. Although Omar Peña is not African American, his story in Law and Order: SVU is similar to the article written by Grimsley. Edwin Grimsley writes,
"Juvenile African American males are subject to particular scrutiny. In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers aged 14 to 16 were arrested in a racially charged atmosphere, accused in the rape of a white female jogger in New York’s Central Park. After 14 to 30 hours of interrogation, without lawyers present, deprived of sleep, four of the five defendants offered inconsistent confessions as to the crime location and their respective roles in the rape" (Grimsley 2013).
This story includes both African Americans and Latinos as suspects. In the episode of Law and Order, Omar Peña confessed to a crime he did not commit because Detective Benson interrogated him to a point of confession in a grueling way, similar to the case of these young men in 1989. Although there was little representation of African Americans portrayed in this episode, I would conclude that this episode some truth in the justice system. Unfortunately, this is a bleak truth for African Americans. The harsh interrogations make it difficult for minorities to believe that they are innocent so eventually they begin to believe that they are the villains of society in a white world. This leaves the lives of minorities ruined since the justice system is flawed. This episode depicted the faults in the justice system, while conveniently leaving out African Americans.
Source:
Grimsley, Edwin. "African American Wrongful Convictions Today." Innocence Project. 29 March 2013. Web.