Paperback: I think that everybody here - maybe across the nation - will look at this case to see how the criminal justice system works. This is, I think, putting the criminal justice system on trial. - Mayor Ed Koch, 21 April 1989
In this spellbinding account of the real facts of the Central Park jogger case, Sarah Burns powerfully reexamines one of New York City’s most notorious crimes and its aftermath.
On 20 April 1989, two passersby discovered the body of the “Central Park jogger” crumpled in a ravine. She had been raped and severely beaten.
Within days five black and Latino teenagers were apprehended, all five confessing to the crime.
The staggering torrent of media coverage that ensued, coupled with fierce public outcry, exposed the deep-seated race and class divisions in New York City at the time.
The minors were tried and convicted as adults despite no evidence linking them to the victim.
Over a decade later, when DNA tests connected serial rapist Matias Reyes to the crime, the government, law enforcement, social institutions and media of New York were exposed as having undermined the individuals they were designed to protect.
Here, doumentary filmmaker Sarah Burns recounts this historic case for the first time in The Central Park Five (2019), since the young men’s convictions were overturned, telling, at last, the full story of one of New York’s most legendary crimes.
About the author: Sarah Burns graduated from Yale University in 2004 with a degree in American studies and went on to work for Moore & Goodman, a small civil rights law firm based in New York. She is also the co-producer and director for the documentary film The Central Park Five which she co-produced and directed with her husband David McMahon and her father Ken Burns. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Sarah Burns is available for select readings and lectures. To inquire about a possible appearance, please contact Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com or visit www.prhspeakers.com.
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