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Beating Justice
The Martin Lee Anderson Story
| Length: | 57 min |
| Released: | 2011 |
| Ages: |
College Adult |
AVAILABLE SOON
On January 5, 2006, 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson was incarcerated in a juvenile detention “boot camp” in Bay County, Florida. Eighteen hours later he was pronounced dead in a Pensacola hospital. Though the hidden camera footage of his fatal beating by seven prison guards was shown in court as evidence, not one of them was convicted. As Adora Obi Nuese, President of the Florida NAACP, says: “If you’re black, minority and poor, there is no justice.”
Beating Justice looks at the intersection of race, class, and the juvenile justice system in Florida. Through unflinching interviews with Anderson's family, state government officials, civil rights groups, student activists, journalists,and media scholars, the film uncovers a system of abuse and denial that resulted in the death of a teenage boy and the acquittal of seven guards despite visual images and a challenge to the juvenile justice in Florida.
Featuring testimony from Benjamin Crump, the Anderson family attorney who later represented the family of Treyvon Martin, Beating Justice offers insight into a pattern of violence in juvenile justice systems in Florida. Professor Bill Nichols of San Francisco State University provides analysis of the videotape, explaining the power and potential of images that were re-contextualized in the courtroom.
Connecting the dots from the Rodney King video to the images from Abu Ghraib, the Martin Lee Anderson video is one in a long series of visual texts that appears to offer compelling evidence of a crime, yet ultimately fails to produce convictions of the perpetrators.
On January 5, 2006, 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson was incarcerated in a juvenile detention “boot camp” in Bay County, Florida. Eighteen hours later he was pronounced dead in a Pensacola hospital. Though the hidden camera footage of his fatal beating by seven prison guards was shown in court as evidence, not one of them was convicted. As Adora Obi Nuese, President of the Florida NAACP, says: “If you’re black, minority and poor, there is no justice.”
Beating Justice looks at the intersection of race, class, and the juvenile justice system in Florida. Through unflinching interviews with Anderson's family, state government officials, civil rights groups, student activists, journalists,and media scholars, the film uncovers a system of abuse and denial that resulted in the death of a teenage boy and the acquittal of seven guards despite visual images and a challenge to the juvenile justice in Florida.
Featuring testimony from Benjamin Crump, the Anderson family attorney who later represented the family of Treyvon Martin, Beating Justice offers insight into a pattern of violence in juvenile justice systems in Florida. Professor Bill Nichols of San Francisco State University provides analysis of the videotape, explaining the power and potential of images that were re-contextualized in the courtroom.
Connecting the dots from the Rodney King video to the images from Abu Ghraib, the Martin Lee Anderson video is one in a long series of visual texts that appears to offer compelling evidence of a crime, yet ultimately fails to produce convictions of the perpetrators.
"Reminds viewers that history, especially in Florida, is doomed to repeat when there is no justice.”
–Orlando Weekly
–Orlando Weekly
Winner, Best Social Issue Documentary, Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, 2012
Eugene International Documentary Film Festival, 2012
DocUtah International Documentary Film Festival, 2012
Florida Film Festival, 2012
University Film and Video Association Conference, 2011
Eugene International Documentary Film Festival, 2012
DocUtah International Documentary Film Festival, 2012
Florida Film Festival, 2012
University Film and Video Association Conference, 2011
