Description
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently commuted the death sentences of all 548 people on death row to life without the possibility of parole. This move is a departure from some of the harsher approaches to criminal justice the state had pioneered, such as the three-strikes law that gained prominence after the murder of a 12-year-old girl named Polly Klaas. Filmmaker Lynn Novick talks with Brian Watt about the history of the criminal justice system in her new documentary series, with Ken Burns and Sam Pollard, “Crime and Punishment in America,” which will air on PBS stations Nov. 16. She asks what the goal is of the criminal justice system and uncovers how people – including Klaas’s sisters – balance the complexities of crime and justice.