The Exonerated By Jessica Blank And Jensen

The Exonerated was written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen was first produced in 2002, yet the interviews that make up this play were gathered over the summer of 2000 (4). Due to the fact that all of the stories within this show are true and come from interviews done by the playwrights this play would be best classified as a Documentary theatre. The show focuses on 6 stories of people who were wrongly convicted and eventually exonerated. Though they all come from different walks of life they all, they were all either of a lower class or people of color making them seen as the police perfect targets. Each person takes us through their experiences of being arrested, being on trial and being in prison. Though they all have different perspectives
Within these stories, we also get a glimpse on the effects a conviction and imprisonment can have on a person's family, on their future, and on themselves.
As for the setting, there is no easy way to exactly places this due to the fact that there are 6 stories told and they job from location to location quite often. Yet one important aspect of the setting is that they are all in America. America comes with a class and race hierarchy. Every main character in the play, who I see as all of the exonerated, is very low on America’s hierarchy because of their class or race and this is often one of the main contributors to the reasons the police target them. Because America built its systems on racism and classism and continue to do what they can to keep people low in these systems low. One of the systems that were established in racism and classism is the justice systems. To keep American systems the way they are we are feed these norms about these systems. Specifically with the justice system, unless it directly has affected your life, most people subscribe to about norms. To list just some of these, America teaches us to believe that the system is just and always right, even though people are
Kerry is as the text describes him “A 19 year-old trapped in a 45-year-old's body.” He was 19 years old when he was arrested for the murder of a girl he had made out with a few months before her murder due to faulty fingerprint evidence and the policies crippling urge to convict someone, they choose Kerry. Kerry’s story brings up many important issues with the American justice system. From the beginning of his story that dealt with him being a target for police due to previous crimes, not being able to afford a credible lawyer, getting convicted on limited and faulty DNA evidence, and despite the fact they had more evidence to convict someone of higher stature, the teacher and ex-lover. Once he is incarcerated only more issues are pointed out, from inmate rape, suicide attempts, loss of connection to the outsides world, particularly his family. Once he got out of jail, Kerry’s main goal was to live a normal life, yet the justice system made this impossible for him. He had trouble connecting with people, even though he eventually found Sandra, he still suffers from PTSD. Though this is just one story, it lays out many issues faced those in the justice system yet all these issues are still ignored by those in charge and none affected by