Crime in NYC had spiked during that time, and the city was very afraid. Already the park was a place not to be in at night alone. Crack cocaine is blamed for some of the increases in crime in cities like NY, LA, and Detroit at the time. People were frustrated that NYC had become so unsafe during the 80’s, and had no tolerance for stories of people getting harmed. I don’t know if we can call Trump putting an ad in the paper as racist or unfair, but what happened to those boys was a travesty. Ten years before that the Son of Sam killer terrorized NY, and getting the word out was how we tried to keep people safe.
The courts should have corrected for whatever had been done in the media. Think about how it is now in present time. Cameras and media are everywhere. Anyone can take a photo on their camera and affect the public’s perception. You can post something on facebook and make it public to the entire planet practically. Thank goodness for DNA testing, and that evidence was still available.
Your article says the victim still believes the boys were possibly somehow involved, and that they had been up to some sort of illegal activity? I didn’t even know there was still some sort of question about that, I thought they were considered to be completely innocent and wrongly accused of any bad behavior. Not that they should have been jailed for the crime as they were, but I just didn’t know that until I read your article.