Beyond the towering brick walls of the Tarrant County Jail, and every other county jail and state penitentiary in the country, lies an out-of-sight-out-of-mind world that most never see, let alone experience. That is one of the biggest reasons why lasting, meaningful criminal justice reform has remained so elusive in this country for so long, despite the fact that the issue touches so many lives in a nation with the highest incarceration rate of any developed democracy in the world.
A new documentary series titled “Crime and Punishment in America” by the acclaimed filmmaker Lynn Novick, set to premiere on PBS Nov. 16, explains how we got where we are today by presenting an in-depth examination of America’s criminal justice system going back to its roots in the colonial period. And it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the factors, such as class and race, which have historically undermined the concept of justice for all.
Last week, Novick was in Dallas for a preview screening of her film hosted by the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center, which operates under the umbrella of SMU’s Dedman School of Law…