Abstract

On March, 14, 2015, Robert Durst was arrested in a New Orleans hotel room on murder charges stemming from a fifteen-year-old cold case. The arrest was made mere hours before the final episode of HBO’s “The Jinx,” a true-crime docuseries featuring Durst, was aired. This article focuses on the ethical implications of documentarian watchdogs, and the impact of “The Jinx” on American criminal justice reform. This article argues that director Andrew Jarecki negates the search for truth and subsequently disavows his ethical obligation to both the subject and viewer. The docuseries utilizes misleading audio, reenactments and a lack of character identification to convince viewers of Durst’s murderous tendencies. The filmmakers establish themselves as heroic vigilantes, collecting and manufacturing evidence that will result in Durst’s incarceration. They work as undercover agents misrepresenting their objectives to both Durst and the audience. Had the docuseries propelled mass empowerment or criminal justice reform it may have been possible to overlook the lack of ethical consideration. However, “The Jinx” centers a single situation and concludes with Jarecki’s heroic resolve. The docuseries provides little information on the workings of the criminal justice system, perpetuates fear of crime, and dissuades trust in the legislative processes. Jarecki not only hinders Durst’s right to trial by an impartial jury, he also neglects to provide audiences with any of the tools or exuberance necessary to facilitate reform. This article employs Richard Fox, Robert Van Sickel, and Thomas Steiger’s theories of tabloid justice in order to determine the implications of true-crime docuseries, specifically as it pertains to “The Jinx”. Documentary films that personify issues of inequality within the American criminal justice system have sparked mass outrage. This type of popular culture blurs the line between documentarian, investigator and journalist drawing the ethics and efficacy of audience jurification into question. “The Jinx” epitomizes this tension as Jarecki attempts to establish himself as a credible watchdog for the American criminal justice system. However, his primary role as a filmmaker, and his focus on an individual, position this objective as both unethical and ineffective.