Crime + Punishment

Released Aug 24, 2018

1 hr. 52 min.

Documentary

List

93%

28 Reviews

Tomatometer

90%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

Amidst a landmark class-action lawsuit over illegal policing quotas, filmmakers use footage recorded over the course of four years to chronicle the real lives and struggles of black and Latino NYPD officers.

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Critics Consensus

Crime + Punishment shines a brilliant light on systemic corruption, building a case for change that's as upsetting as it is ultimately inspiring.

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James S

Possibly the dumbest thing I have ever watched. A bunch of lazy people who should never have become cops whining about "quotas" when it is really the department asking/begging them to do their jobs. They then whine more about how they are being placed on foot patrol/not getting promoted because they are bad at their jobs. Absolute nonsense that the rating of this is so high. If you become a cop it is expected of you that you do your job, write citations/summons, make good arrests. A department looking at your low action numbers and saying you need to do better is not a quota it is a performance evaluation. For God's sake his supervisor tried to help him! Try sucking less.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

everything in this documentary is a lie. Manny Gomez is a Con

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I love the struggle the beat cop had to go through to patrol myc

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A powerful sobering look at the rot within the nypd and the courage of 12 brave cops who are trying to stop abuses.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

dave d

Stephen Maing's 'Crime + Punishment' is layered, heartbreaking, and engrossing. It's one of the best documentaries of 2018 that you likely haven't seen. Maing chronicles several minority New York Police Department (NYPD) officers and their alleged mistreatment mainly for not arresting enough people and issuing the requisite number of summons. The NYPD quota system was supposedly abolished, but the more Maing digs the worse the NYPD looks. He brilliantly humanizes the officers and draws you into the personal struggle of each. They are doing a job they love and fighting a corrupt system at the same time. The documentary comes from many different angles, but if you've ever had a bad boss who took a job you loved and made you hate coming to work this is a great movie for you. I can't recommend this enough.. Final Score: 8.8/10

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

gary w

A story well told of hidden bureaucratic racism that impacts people of color throughout the nation. This is what I always thought investigative journalism was all about, find a cause, understand/explain the fight and expose the injustice. The story is compelling but the telling is exceptional. Just the right amount of back story and insight into the difficult world of law enforcement and the pressures it brings. Especially poignant is the story of Edwin Raymond of the "NYPD 12" who is refused promotion to Sergeant because he refuses to participate in the quota system even though he scores near the top of those taking the exam.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Stephen Maing

Director

Edwin Raymond

Actor

Laura Poitras

Executive Producer

Stephen Maing

Producer

Eric Daniel Metzgar

Producer

Ross Tuttle

Producer

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Jo Livingstone

The New Republic

If the movie has a still point inside it-an unassailable conclusion-it's that justice and the law are not the same thing.

Aug 30, 2018

Full Review

Soraya Nadia McDonald

Andscape

Maing's documentary doesn't offer an answer to whether a system as vast and powerful as the NYPD can be reformed from the inside. But he illustrates just how difficult it is to try and how many disincentives face officers who challenge the status quo.

Aug 28, 2018

Full Review

Odie Henderson

RogerEbert.com

That rare kind of important documentary that's compelling enough to possibly enact change.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 24, 2018

Full Review

Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

Maing does good longform work tracking his large cast over four years. (Big shout-out for using drone shots in a non-hacky way, in sustained shots that cast an ominous spell rather than drifting purposelessly...)

Jan 6, 2023

Full Review

Cory Woodroof

615 Film

It's a story that's got all the drama and intrigue of the best crime stories, but also pulls the audience down to the street level to see what happens when punishment goes awry, and grabs hold of innocent bystanders.

Feb 11, 2022

Full Review

Lonita Cook

KCTV5 News at 9

It was very interesting, but nothing new.

Oct 1, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Amidst a landmark class-action lawsuit over illegal policing quotas, filmmakers use footage recorded over the course of four years to chronicle the real lives and struggles of black and Latino NYPD officers.

Director: Stephen Maing
Executive Producer: Laura Poitras
Distributor: IFC Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 25, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.8K

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