The Confession Tapes

This is a great documentary that shows major holes in our justice system. We all assume things would happen if we were ever accused of a crime. Such as, innocent until proved guilty, or that it would need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that we were guilty. Those assumptions simply are not true. This series like several others Netflix has done show the adversarial relationship the police and prosecutors have toward accused citizens. To them it is about winning, not finding justice.

Netflix has come with a new series where people confess a crime they didn't do... At least that is how Netflix pictures them. I really wan't to believe that these sentenced didn't do the crime, but I have to keep in my mind that Netflix also can show what it want's me to believe.

The second episode was the most disturbing so far. It left me in tears and after watching it, I really wanted to sign a petition or at least do something.. But something also tells me that Netflix doesn't show me the whole context. If Netflix can make me believe in one episode that these people are innocent, how come that the judges don't believe it? I assume and really hope that the American judge system is not as corrupted and naive as Netflix pictures it.

If I have to believe that these people are innocent, the more disturbing thing is that the real perpetrators still aren't behind bars.

So to keep a long review short... - you don't know what to believe - These episode's will leave you angry and confused - Very disturbing stories

Last but not least... I have to give Netflix a big thumps up for creating a platform that doesn't show how great the world is and how heroic people are.. not every story has a happy ending.

After watching the first 3 shows of the first season I have to take a break. The injustice portrayed here is stunning and enraging. Prosecutors and police will lie, cheat, hide evidence, manufacture evidence, all the time KNOWING that they need to do this to make people seem guilty, then when they are clearly exonerated by DNA, confessions, or other means, they still have the gall to insist that these poor people deserved to be punished. Until we hold prosecutors accountable, this travesty of justice will continue. In the last one I saw, a group of black men had their case brought to the Supreme Court, THIS disgusting and stolen Supreme Court. I don't have to tell you what happened.

Really, you think the police should more investigate to protect people and catch guilty people but here unfortunately they try hard to push on suspected people and let them confessions so the sentences based on only suspected confessions not on evidence or DNA and that shameful on justice. However, if the policemen have stopped more investigating for the arrest of the criminals. They are inflicting innocent people in prison while the killers are free!!

The possibility of a false confession is something every citizen in the USA should understand, because everyone has to do jury duty. This series is really a public service announcement and lesson in civics that all of us should receive.

While others say that this series shows a failure of the US justice system, it really shows the failures of human psychology, because all of these people received a guilty verdict from a jury--12 regular citizens. So many jurors think, "Why would they confess if they didn't do it? They must be guilty!" without wanting to realize the complexities of human psychology--especially under pressure and intimidation.

In all of the cases presented, the lawyers of the defendant gave strong cases, and if the jurors were willing to read in-between the lines and see the tell-tale signs of a false confession, then perhaps the fates of these poor individuals would have been much different. The grounds for an innocent verdict were there and were not suppressed.

This series is extremely well done, and the cases that they chose to present were airtight in their logic and defense of an innocent verdict. We see the humanity of the accused innocent--as well as of the lawyers and jurors that accused them. We see the arrogance and irresponsibility of police investigators and judges.

The only thing I see missing from this series is a follow up as to what happened at the appeals. It shocked me that, in many of these cases, the accused had exhausted their appeals, and I am left wondering, why?!?! How can an injustice like this be committed over and over again?!?! But there are no details given as to why their appeals failed.

The lesson I see from this series is that the failure of justice cannot be chalked up to an obscure authority of "The US justice system" but rather a failure of citizens (jurors, media reporters/journalists, police, lawyers, judges) to think abstractly and critically--and HUMANELY. When an injustice is committed, it is a known fault of human psychology to try to pin blame somewhere, anywhere--but an innocent person's life may be ruined, and in many cases these people's lives were ruined before ever even being convicted.

I hope future seasons of The Confession Tapes will give a glimpse into what happens in the appeals process, but other than that, this series gives a voice to the voiceless and is truly a work of art and philanthropy.