Crime Documentaries

Set inside a single room in Folsom Prison, three men from the outside participate in a four-day group-therapy retreat with a group of incarcerated men for a real look at the challenges of rehabilitation.

American exchange student Amanda Knox is charged with the 2007 death of another student in Italy.

The brother of Kitty Genovese investigates the circumstances of her murder and the truth of the story that dozens of locals witnessed the crime and did nothing to intervene.

A probing look into the potential future of "thought policing" through the headline-making case of the NYPD "Cannibal Cop," who was charged with conspiring to kidnap and eat women.

Documentary filmmakers assert that Anthony Porter - a former death-row inmate who was spared the death penalty thanks to the efforts of a college journalism program - was actually guilty, and an innocent man was sent to prison.

In 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets, two lives intersected and were forever altered.

A small-town murder became nationally televised trial sensation, inspiring multimedia adaptations, marking birth of reality TV phenomenon centered on sex, drugs, betrayal, and homicide.

A documentary about a brutal home invasion in Cheshire, Connecticut in 2007.

A chilling exploration of the tragic history of the Suh family and the murder that shocked America - when the picture perfect son, Andrew, shot and killed his sister's fiancé at her bidding.

On February 12, 2008 in Oxnard, California, eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney shot his classmate Larry King twice in the back of the head during first period. When Larry died two days later, his murder shocked the nation. Was this a hate crime, one perpetrated by a budding neo-Nazi whose masculinity was threatened by an effeminate gay kid who might have had a crush on him? Or was there even more to it? Looking beyond all the copious news coverage of this tragic event, 'Valentine Road' tells the story of two victims: the murdered and the murderer. With keen insight, the film connects the human wreckage of Larry's and Brandon's troubled lives--both physically abused, both from broken homes, and both searching for a sense of belonging.

One year after the town merges its segregated proms, photographer Gillian Laub documents a divisive murder case in a small Georgia town.

"The Trials of Darryl Hunt" is a feature documentary about a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Both a social justice story and a personally driven narrative, the film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime - and the implications that reverberate from Hunt's conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system. This documentary is the culmination of ten years of research and filming. In 1993, inspired by claims of injustice and police conspiracy, the filmmakers began to shoot in North Carolina. Working from a mix of formats (16mm and 24P video) the film melds the visceral reality of a murder case with first person accounts and cinematic imagery, illuminating perceptions and memories of events as they unfolded for the people closest to this haunting story. This unique look at one man's loss and redemption challenges the assumption that all Americans have the right to unbiased justice. Hunt's story - while one man's personal journey - reflects systemic issues of national concern: cross-racial eyewitness identification, prosecutorial misconduct, inexperienced defense attorneys assigned to capital cases, racial bias in death penalty cases and errors in police procedure. Barry Scheck from The Innocence Project, who worked on Hunt's case for ten years, and Gary Wells, professor and eyewitness expert, offer concrete examples where errors occurred in Hunt's saga and offer future remedies and effective ideas to prevent future "Darryl Hunts." Hunt himself addresses the need for systemic reforms to prevent wrongful convictions, underscoring the haunting reality that Hunt could have been sentenced to death and we would never have known this story.

Explosive developments - implicating both the forensics laboratory of the police department of North Carolina, and Duane Deaver, its chief - recently saw the convicted subject of 'The Staircase', Michael Peterson, released from jail after serving eight years of a life sentence, pending a retrial.

The high-profile murder trial of American novelist Michael Peterson following the death of his wife Kathleen Peterson in 2001.

Most of us think of the psychopath as a serial killer - a monster like Colonel Russell Williams, Paul Bernardo, or Clifford Olsen. But most psychopaths are not physically violent criminals - they live among us undetected.

Animation, testimony, and archival footage combine to relate the events of August 1, 1966 when a gunman opened fire from the University of Texas clock tower, killing 16 people.

Documents the beliefs and experiences of Timothy McVeigh in the lead-up to his bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which claimed 168 lives.

Meet the dirtiest cop in NYC history. Michael Dowd stole money and dealt drugs while patrolling the streets of 80s Brooklyn.

A filmmaker decides to memorialize a murdered friend when his friend's ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son.

Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki examines the complicated life of reclusive real estate icon Robert Durst, the key suspect in a series of unsolved crimes.

A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

From the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.

With the first time international camera crews have been allowed inside, we get a look at three of Russia's toughest, strictest and harshest prisons, aswell as the rigid and disciplined regime the prisoners endure.

A searing portrait of four prisoners trying to escape the devastation of their past.