American Justice

Season 3

Bill Kurtis hosts this documentary series that profiles criminal cases involving high profile murders, serial killers, and organized crime. Each episode culminating with the justice dispensed by the American legal system in each case.

Where to Watch Season 3

25 Episodes

  • Mass Murder: An American Tragedy
    E1
    Mass Murder: An American TragedyStudying random acts of violence. Cases include Charles Whitman, who shot and killed 16 people at the University of Texas; Patrick Sherrill, an Oklahoma letter carrier who gunned down 14 co-workers.
  • Hostage Takers
    E2
    Hostage TakersExamining the psyche of "The Hostage Takers." Included: a segment on the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro; comments from hostage negotiators. Also: the media's role in hostage situations.
  • The Wrong Man
    E3
    The Wrong ManExamining cases of unjust imprisonment, including that of boxer Rubin Carter, whose life sentence for murder was overturned in 1985; and a Missouri woman falsely convicted of killing her son, who actually died of a rare blood disease.
  • Great Brinks Heist
    E4
    Great Brinks HeistThe 1950 "Great Brinks Heist" in Boston, a $2.7 million robbery that "caught the fancy of the American public" and the attention of Hollywood filmmakers. Also: how law officials are coping with bank thefts in Los Angeles.
  • Fugitives
    E5
    FugitivesEfforts by law officials to capture fugitives from justice. Cases include John List, who was on the run for 18 years after the murder of his family, and was caught in 1989.
  • Death Penalty
    E6
    Death PenaltyA study of issues surrounding the death penalty recalls the case of Caryl Chessman, who spent 12 years on death row until his 1960 execution; and Gary Gilmore, shot by a Utah firing squad in 1977. Included: comments from Sister Helen Prejean, who ministers to death-row inmates.
  • Juvenile Justice
    E7
    Juvenile JusticeExamining case studies of juveniles who have committed violent crimes. Included: a look at why increases in youth crime are “pushing the system to its limits.”
  • Mob Rats
    E8
    Mob RatsExamining “the unique contributions” of mob informants to prosecutors. Included: Salvatore (“Sammy the Bull”) Gravano, whose testimony was crucial to John Gotti's 1992 conviction.
  • War Crimes
    E9
    War CrimesExamining war-crime trials. Included: the Nuremberg trials; the trials resulting from the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam; and the Demjanjuk case. Interviewed: lawyers involved in the My Lai cases, including F. Lee Bailey.
  • Satan: Rituals and Abuse
    E10
    Satan: Rituals and AbuseA report on ritual abuse of children focuses on a case involving an Austin, Texas, day-care facility, whose owners were convicted of sexual molestation. Included: how such cases are prosecuted; the role of the interviewer in drawing out a child's testimony.
  • Lorena Bobbitt: Women and Violence
    E11
    Lorena Bobbitt: Women and Violence"Was Lorena Bobbitt a violent criminal or was she a desperate woman driven to violence?" Host Bill Kurtis poses the question in a report on women's uses of self-defense pleas. Included: Lorena and John Bobbitt's trials; battered-woman syndrome.
  • Pleading Insane
    E12
    Pleading InsaneAn examination of the insanity plea looks at the cases of John Hinckley Jr.; and David Berkowitz, New York City's "Son of Sam." Included: interviews with attorneys who represented Hinckley and Berkowitz. Also: a history of the insanity defense, dating back to 19th-century England.
  • Cops on Trial
    E13
    Cops on TrialDetails incidents of police corruption and misdeeds of the past 50 years, including Rodney King incident in LA, the Knapp Commission and subsequent ones in NYC. Studies public reaction and how their expectations of the police force evolve.
  • Fighting Words: The First Amendment
    E14
    Fighting Words: The First AmendmentConsidering the freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Among the cases: an American Nazi parade in Illinois that was chronicled in the 1981 TV-movie "Skokie." Also: legal troubles faced by comics, including Lenny Bruce.
  • Jim Bakker: Crime in the Name of God
    E15
    Jim Bakker: Crime in the Name of GodExamining how the justice system deals with cases involving religious groups. Included: Jim Bakker's conviction for fraud; a Christian Scientist couple whose son died of a curable illness because their beliefs forbade treatment.
  • Reginald Denny: Jury Under Siege
    E16
    Reginald Denny: Jury Under SiegeAn examination of pressures placed upon juries focuses on the trial of the men accused of beating Reginald Denny during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Also: jury responsibilities in death-penalty cases.
  • Attack at Waco
    E17
    Attack at WacoRecapitulating the 1993 standoff between the Branch Davidians and Federal agents in Waco, Texas, and the 1994 trial of Davidian survivors. Also: video footage of David Koresh, and comments by his mother, Bonnie Haldeman.
  • Sex, Lies and Harassment
    E18
    Sex, Lies and HarassmentThe legal aspects of sexual harassment in the workplace. Included: a review of the Hill-Thomas confrontation; interviews with essayist Camille Paglia and law professor Catharine MacKinnon, and author David Brock ("The Real Anita Hill").
  • Gangbusters
    E19
    GangbustersAmerican Justice profiles gangsters old and new like Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Daryl Whiting, and some of their more infamous crimes. Also profiled are the men and organizations like Eliot Ness and The Untouchables, The Secret Six, J. Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, all who risked their lives in order to bring the gangs and their leaders to justice.
  • The Attica Riot: Chaos Behind Bars
    E20
    The Attica Riot: Chaos Behind BarsA report on the 1971 riot at Attica Correctional Facility in New York focuses on the state's handling of the crisis, called "one of the most infamous massacres in American history." Included: comments from mediators and former inmates; footage of the rebellion and its aftermath.
  • Private Eyes
    E21
    Private Eyes"The Private Eyes" examines the growing number of private security companies, and what can happen when "rogue" guards are on patrol. Interviewed: a New York security-company executive; and Hubert Williams of the Police Foundation, who says of the often-underpaid guards: "You get what you pay for."
  • Prostitution, Sex and the Law
    E22
    Prostitution, Sex and the LawExamining attitudes toward prostitution, and its effect on practitioners and society. Interviewed: one-time "Mayflower Madam" Sydney Biddle Barrows; Norma Jean Almodovar, the author of Cop to Call Girl; and Stanford University legal historian Lawrence Friedman.
  • The Sting
    E23
    The StingThe use of sting operations, "one of the most effective and disputed methods of law enforcement." Cases include the 1990 arrest of Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry; a 1993 animal-smuggling operation that involved an agent posing as a gorilla.
  • Riots: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial
    E24
    Riots: The Chicago Conspiracy TrialThe riots surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and the "chaotic" conspiracy trial that followed. "It was an episode of American justice gone mad," says series host Bill Kurtis. Interviewed: defendant Tom Hayden, prosecutor Tom Foran, defense lawyer William Kunstler and author John Schultz ("The Chicago Conspiracy Trial"), who notes: "The police bestialized the protesters and the protesters bestialized the police."
  • Divorce Wars
    E25
    Divorce WarsExamining divorces among celebrities, including Donald and Ivana Trump; and Peter and Roxanne Pulitzer, whose case resulted in Roxanne losing custody of her children in 1982; and the landmark palimony suit between Lee Marvin and Michelle Triola Marvin.

 

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