User reviews

Not for the weak hearted. This a Netflix special look at how American justice failed a 7yr boy on many levels, no not back in the 70s or 80s but just a few years ago in the teenies.

Its properly **** up actually how badly this boy is abused at home and by the safety system thats meant to protect the vulnerable, every time you watch an episode and say to yourself how could it get any worse it does.

I enjoy real life stuff and this was well done, even though id never heard of the poor lite mite before i will probably never forget him.

What a SICK world we live in, i don't think i can keep on watching these Crime Documentary Series again, i had enough.

This enthralling documentary will make you sad. It will enrage you. It will also cause utter frustration at why this young boy died for absolutely no reason. I watch many documentaries. This one in particular has remained with me long after the final credits rolled. What a senseless tragedy.

Once I started watching, there was no way I couldn't watch the whole thing in one sitting. I was up until 4:00 in the morning. I cannot get Gabriel and his horrible torture and abuse out of my head. It haunts me during my waking hours and wakes me when I sleep. The torture...the abuse...and knowing there are so many other innocent children being subjected RIGHT NOW to this very thing. It is just horrifying.

When my adult daughter called yesterday, I told her I was exhaused that I had watched a show I couldn't stop watching until 4:00 in the morning. She wanted to know what it was about....I could barely get the words out. I don't want her to see it. I don't want any one to see it. Yet, we all need to see it. We all need to see this and all of its gruesome honesty.

I hate the subject matter. I hated the show. There were times when tears were streaming down my face. I hate the perpetrators, oh my God, do I hate them. (Pearl's final statement was so sickening...she had no remorse, none, whatsoever.)

But more, I hate the "system" and the realization that this happens over and over and over and over and over....

Having been a government worker, I know how the people who are at the top are there not to ensure that the people they serve are served well, but to meet metrics and to keep themselves looking good - especially in the human services departments. It is sickening.

From this show, we see how everyone is protecting themselves. The only people that stood out and did the right thing was the teacher and the security officer - but their reports were for naught. No one, no one else stood up for this poor innocent child.

It makes me want to say, if anyone sees a child who has been abused, take them, take them away, don't wait to turn them into social services or the authorities. Take them directly to the hospital and stay with them and never let their demon caretakers ever have them back. I know it isn't realistic. But seriously, from what I have seen, that seems to be the best alternative.

The system would rather let a child be abused or die than let their parents' lose their rights as parents, rather than ensure the very basic rights of a child's safety.

We must, we must!! figure out a way to stop this horrendous child abuse that is systemic in our society.

This is a very well made documentary, albeit too long for my liking The whole extended family made me sick to my stomach. Absolute trash. The blame shifting was amazing. The journalists were the real heroes of this piece. We need these exposés to keep the bad honest. As the prosecutor said, a society is judged by how it protects the most vulnerable - children, the elderly and animals, and we are failing miserably.

I cannot even fathom how those 2 monsters could do what they did to an innocent sweet loving boy. i never cry while watching documentaries like this but i've cried so much while watching this. what hurts the most was that the boy still loved his mom.

The systematic failure and the abuse this sweet boy had to endure is just devastating. A lot of series tend to drag what could be a short 2 hour film. But this series did an excellent job going through all the details to clearly portray how on earth something like this happened to a helpless young innocent boy.

Great series

As soon as I hit play I was crying and didn't stop until the end... I hadn't heard of Gabriel before this documentary... Now I don't think I will ever forget him.. It's a hard watch

Pay attention people, think about how abuse has affected us all in one way or another, big or small. This is yet another account of the consequences of abuse left unchecked in people. This is what happens when pain is left untreated and unacknowledged in society, this is how it manifests - through death of the innocent. I recommend everyone watch this to get an understanding of the magnitude of this problem. What happened to this boy is what happens to so many children and people in general on a daily basis in our society, we have to start thinking in terms of the collective, not just for ourselves. We are all responsible for each other and we can prevent things like this from happening.

I 've literally paused netflix to write this , because i thought i heard something wrong. Gabriel asked his teacher: "Is it normal for your mom to hit you with a belt?" Teacher: "Well, YEAH, you know, some parents do that"... @@@@@@@@

This documentary is something every adult should watch as a responsibility to humanity. The complete ignorance and lack of action is beyond devastating. What happened to this poor child is such a travesty, the whole system is absolutely to take blame. When did it become okay to turn a blind eye and not protect a child?!? Eye opening, this is a must watch and we all have a moral obligation to be better as a society. There is no excuses or justification. My heart is completely crushed for the amount of torture this child endured. Uncomfortable, but captivating and necessary.

Wow something is really wrong with the teacher and the social workers. Why didn't the teacher really stand up, specially when you look at the photos she took two weeks before the death. Just horrendous!

I'd never heard of this case until now. This documentary will move you to tears throughout. I cried many times and it left me with a heavy heart after I finished it. It is truly unbelievable how this kind and happy 8 year old boy was failed by everyone in his short life. The pure evil demonstrated by his own mother and stepfather is something no one will ever be able to understand. The documentary was well put together and demonstrated the serious and wider issues in the child care sector . Shocking.....

The story is very sad, horrific acts and so on. I was moved and raged with anger being a father myself. BUT, this documentary lacks depth and real analysis behind human behavior. The message is unidirectional and very much american, as one of the last message spoken on screen : The most evil is when you see evil and do nothing about it. No, this lesson giving kind of documentary is no documentary. The most evil is maybe doing evil for example, or else, we should hold accountainble every human being on earth for doing wars, not helping the poors, psychological abuse, etc. Where it lacks in this documentary is do try to focus on why the system is failing, and how complex it is to change the system. Yes of course, every evil man deserves life sentence (or maybe death penalty...depending on how emotionly engaged you are). That being said, this series could have been 1 episode long and no more.

First episode was great. After that, not so much. Drawn out, repetitive and honestly it was hard for me to finish. If it was 2-3 episodes, this would've been a solid (limited) show since the case is eye-opening and gut-wrenching.

This is a disturbing documentary about a boy who was systematically abused by his mother and her boyfriend, and nobody did anything about it, although the signs of physical abuse were blatant. I don't regret watching it because I work in social services, with children and youth, and it is a reminder of our duty to them above anything else. I would not recommend everyone to watch it as it gave me nightmares.

Sad, heartbreaking, gut wrenching, angry, mad....

All these words are emotions you will feel watching this.

But please keep in mind, if you are just a relative, by law you cannot just take the child without the mother's permission, it is called kidnapping.

That being said, there were numerous points of failures by many individuals that could have prevented this tragedy.

These people are the lowest form of humanity. This is the reason the death penalty needs to exist. I've never been more disgusted by 2 people in all my life. Barely human.

And LA should be ashamed. The mayor Eric garcetti is such an incompetent piece of trash he allows this corruption to fester to this day. He cares not about helping the people that need help, but more about his rich friends lining their pockets with blood money. Words fail me. This doc makes my blood boil on so many levels.

The caption is dedicated to those abusers in this film. I've never been so angry at the obvious betrayal that we as adults contribute to by not protecting children. All of these people are a complete waste of skin who contributed to this tragedy of that poor child. Hell is not good enough for that monster that Gabriel had as a "mother " and what I'd love to see happen to her as true justice and the boyfriend another waste and burden to society, the same.

Elizabeth Bartholet, Faculty Director of the Child Advocacy Program Harvard Law, She sums up the truth perfectly, along with, Leslie Heimov, Executive Director Children's Law Center Of California.

And I'm sorry, those Social Workers there is NO EXCUSE!

That poor baby, THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN! People need to Step Up and help the helpless And Remove the ABUSERS FOR GOOD.