This is NOT a "360-degree view of the criminal justice system."
This is a look at very specific criminal cases - primarily the accused and their families and how they EMOTIONALLY deal with the justice system.
It's not about the justice system at all really. Imagine Yellowstone, being described as a "a 360° view of ranching" ... or Game of Thrones being tagged as a "360° view of dragons" .... sure you see ranching or dragons every once in a while, but that's not really what the show is about.
Seems they chose cases to follow where the accused (or producers) are trying to elicit sympathy more than anything.. thus making the series more about emotion than the justice system.
They should have at least chosen a case where the accused was inarguably guilty and perhaps not remorseful or even defiant.
Overall, this appears to focus a great deal on the juvenile justice system, although not exclusively. And it's REALLY pulling for some sort of compassionate response for the accused - in spite of them allegedly playing a part in killing others. Perhaps producers were hoping juveniles elicit more compassion than adults. While that may be deserving at times, the overall impression from the 4 episodes I watched is that.. they are all about family drama and emotional coping with an incarcerated family member or the emotional impact of being incarcerated, not the justice system at all. And victims.. victims are entirely ignored. I did not bother myself with the final 2 episodes, imagining them being no better.
There's VERY little detailing of crimes (save for a couple news-worthy juvenile incidents - which they had news footage for.. so why not use that??) There's is no detailing of police or arrest procedures, no detailing of court procedures, no detailing of bail or release procedures, no detailing of probation or parole procedures... At most there are some minor conversations with legal teams or probation officers, or statements from judges about the accused or the crimes, that's it.
They do follow 1 judge, for about 30 seconds every 20-30 minutes.. those segments seem like merely "filler" so they could loosely justify the use of the "360°" tag line.
This is an EMOTIONAL DOCUDRAMA.. about families and the accused and how they "feel" about dealing with the justice system, not the actual justice system itself.
This is a look at very specific criminal cases - primarily the accused and their families and how they EMOTIONALLY deal with the justice system.
It's not about the justice system at all really. Imagine Yellowstone, being described as a "a 360° view of ranching" ... or Game of Thrones being tagged as a "360° view of dragons" .... sure you see ranching or dragons every once in a while, but that's not really what the show is about.
Seems they chose cases to follow where the accused (or producers) are trying to elicit sympathy more than anything.. thus making the series more about emotion than the justice system.
They should have at least chosen a case where the accused was inarguably guilty and perhaps not remorseful or even defiant.
Overall, this appears to focus a great deal on the juvenile justice system, although not exclusively. And it's REALLY pulling for some sort of compassionate response for the accused - in spite of them allegedly playing a part in killing others. Perhaps producers were hoping juveniles elicit more compassion than adults. While that may be deserving at times, the overall impression from the 4 episodes I watched is that.. they are all about family drama and emotional coping with an incarcerated family member or the emotional impact of being incarcerated, not the justice system at all. And victims.. victims are entirely ignored. I did not bother myself with the final 2 episodes, imagining them being no better.
There's VERY little detailing of crimes (save for a couple news-worthy juvenile incidents - which they had news footage for.. so why not use that??) There's is no detailing of police or arrest procedures, no detailing of court procedures, no detailing of bail or release procedures, no detailing of probation or parole procedures... At most there are some minor conversations with legal teams or probation officers, or statements from judges about the accused or the crimes, that's it.
They do follow 1 judge, for about 30 seconds every 20-30 minutes.. those segments seem like merely "filler" so they could loosely justify the use of the "360°" tag line.
This is an EMOTIONAL DOCUDRAMA.. about families and the accused and how they "feel" about dealing with the justice system, not the actual justice system itself.