Central Park Jogger

Monica Erling

Central Park jogger refers to a female rape victim who was attacked while jogging in New York's Central Park in 1989. The particularly brutal nature of the attack and the young ages of the suspects led to extensive national attention for the crime and sparked a media frenzy over youth violence in New York. As the case proceeded, it became a symbolic battleground for race, class, and gender issues in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The jogger, a 28-year-old White investment banker was beaten, raped, and left for dead in a ravine in Central Park on April 19, 1989. Several other joggers and bicyclists had been assaulted the same evening, and police rounded up about 30 teenage boys for questioning. Ultimately, five African American and Latino youths, ages 14 to 16, were charged with the rape. Their arrests and subsequent convictions were based largely on the videotaped confessions of ...

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