• Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2018

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    TV, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET

In America, more and more defendants buy “sentencing videos” from their lawyers. A video to present men and women incriminated by the evidence under a more favorable light; they are trying to elicit compassion and sympathy from the judges.

Their goal is not to question or overturn the guilty verdict but to lighten the sentence as much as possible. In Florida, director Katrina Daniel uses her ex-journalist's know-how to help white collar criminals indicted in corruption scandals, insurance scams or money laundering schemes.
In California, the DeBug association helps a whole other kind of population with their videos: families of young offenders from minority groups. With 2,2 million citizens behind bars, the United States are the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. African Americans and Latinos make up three quarters of the inmate population. In a system where more than 90% of the accused forgo their trial and accept to plea bargain with the prosecutor, the association's volunteers provide critical help to vulnerable families against an unfair judicial system.