American Justice

- Season 3

(1994)

Studying 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.

Examining 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.

Examining 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.

The 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.

Efforts 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.

A 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.

Examining 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."

Examining "the unique contributions" of mob informants to prosecutors. Included: Salvatore ("Sammy the Bull") Gravano, whose testimony was crucial to John Gotti's 1992 conviction.

Examining 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.

A 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.

"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.

An 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.

Details 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.

Considering 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.

Examining 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.

An 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.

Recapitulating 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.

The 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").

American 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.

A 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.

"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."

Examining 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 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.

The 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."

Examining 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.