Ketubot 18 and 19

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 18 and 19, warn us that a confession, even though it may seem final, is not always credible, especially if it involves underage suspects, coercion, or both, as was the case with the Central Park Five, Black and Latino teenagers who, in 1989, were falsely accused of a horrible crime they didn’t commit. The case inspired many works of fiction and nonfiction, including a masterful documentary by Ken Burns, and continues to spur us toward criminal justice reform. Which local New York celebrity who would later rise to great prominence ignored the available evidence and called for the five teens to be executed? Listen and find out.

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