The Central Park Five: Trump's Decades-Long Targeting of Wrongfully Convicted Black and Brown Teenagers
Following the 1989 Central Park jogger case, Trump took out full-page ads in four New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for five teenagers — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise — then aged 14-16. All five were convicted after making coerced false confessions. In 2002, the actual perpetrator confessed and DNA confirmed the exonerations. Trump refused to accept the exonerations for decades and called their civil settlement a 'disgrace' while running for president.
Record summary
Grade
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
Executive actions that exceed constitutional authority, circumvent statutory constraints, or weaponize government institutions for political ends. Scale and definitions
- Status
- Concluded
- Incident date
- Record updated
- Location
- New York, NY
- Category
- Civil Rights
- Legal posture
- Judicial finding
- War-crime classification
- Potential
- Verification
- Independently verified
- ICC relevance
- No
- Sources
- 5 cited
- Stable ID
central-park-five-injustice- Victims
- Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise — wrongfully convicted; collectively served 41 years in prison and juvenile detention
- Alleged responsible parties
- Donald Trump, New York real estate developer— Trump Organization
Key points
- Trump spent $85,000 to take out full-page ads in four New York newspapers in May 1989 calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty, weeks before the five teenagers were even tried
- All five were convicted based on coerced confessions obtained without parental presence; DNA evidence did not match any of them
- In 2002, serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the attack alone; DNA confirmed his confession, and the convictions were vacated
- New York City settled the wrongful conviction case for $41 million in 2014
- In 2016, when asked about the settlement as a presidential candidate, Trump called it 'a disgrace' and refused to acknowledge the exonerations
- As president in 2019, Trump again refused to apologize, stating 'you have people on both sides of that' — echoing his Charlottesville defense
Overview
The Central Park Five case spans three decades of Trump's public life — from aggressive incitement before trial in 1989, through the convictions and the exonerations, to his ongoing refusal as president to accept the documented truth of the men's innocence.
In April 1989, a woman was brutally raped in Central Park. Five teenagers — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, all Black or Latino and between the ages of 14 and 16 — were arrested and questioned for hours without their parents present. They gave false confessions that they later said were coerced, and which contained details about the crime they could not have known without police coaching. The DNA found at the scene matched none of them.
The Ads
Before the five teenagers had been tried or convicted, Donald Trump purchased $85,000 in full-page advertising space in all four major New York newspapers to publish a statement calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. The ad read, in part: "BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!"
Though the ad did not name the teenagers, it was explicitly responsive to the Central Park case and appeared in the weeks immediately after their arrest, while the city was gripped by intense, racially charged media coverage of the attack.
The Exoneration and Trump's Response
In 2002, the actual perpetrator, Matias Reyes — a convicted serial rapist and murderer who was already incarcerated — confessed to the attack alone. DNA evidence confirmed his account. All five convictions were vacated.
New York City settled the wrongful conviction lawsuit for $41 million in 2014.
When Trump ran for president in 2016, he was asked about the settlement. He called it "a disgrace" and said "the police were right." He made no mention of the exonerations.
When asked again as president in 2019 — following the release of Ava DuVernay's documentary When They See Us, which dramatized the case and renewed widespread public attention — Trump said "you have people on both sides of that" and declined to apologize.
Significance
The Central Park Five case is documented as one of the most prominent examples in modern American history of a private citizen using money and media access to inflame public sentiment against young men of color who had not been convicted of any crime, contributing to a climate in which their coerced confessions were accepted without scrutiny. Trump's subsequent refusal to acknowledge their exoneration — even after decades, even after DNA evidence, even after a $41 million city settlement — is itself a documented record.
International law engaged
| Instrument | Provision | What it protects or prohibits |
|---|---|---|
| International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | Article 14 | Right to a fair trial; presumption of innocence — public campaigns to execute named individuals before trial violate the presumption of innocence and fair trial rights |
| International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | Article 26 | Equality before the law; prohibition on racial discrimination — pattern of targeting Black and Latino youth for calls to execute them |
Update log
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Updated with Trump's refusal to apologize as president following documentary release.
Sequence of events
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Central Park jogger case
A woman is brutally attacked and raped in Central Park. Five teenagers — Antron McCray (15), Kevin Richardson (14), Yusef Salaam (15), Raymond Santana (14), and Korey Wise (16) — are arrested and questioned without parents present. After hours of interrogation, they make false confessions that they later recant.
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Trump's death penalty ads
Trump pays $85,000 to publish full-page ads in the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times, and New York Newsday calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty: 'BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE.' The teenagers have not yet been tried.
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Convictions
All five teenagers are convicted of rape, robbery, assault, and related charges. The DNA found at the scene matches none of them. They serve sentences ranging from 5 to 12 years.
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Actual perpetrator confesses; DNA confirms exoneration
While incarcerated for other crimes, serial rapist Matias Reyes confesses to the attack alone. DNA testing confirms his account. The convictions of all five are vacated.
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New York City settles for $41 million
After years of litigation, New York City agrees to pay $41 million to the five exonerated men in recognition of their wrongful convictions.
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Trump calls settlement 'a disgrace' during presidential campaign
When asked about the case during his presidential campaign, Trump says the settlement was 'a disgrace' and refuses to acknowledge the men's exoneration, claiming 'the police were right.'
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President Trump again refuses to apologize
Amid renewed attention to the case following the Netflix documentary 'When They See Us,' a White House reporter asks Trump if he owes the five men an apology. Trump says 'you have people on both sides of that' and walks away.
Sources
- Exonerated but Not Fully Free: Central Park 5 Find Some Wait Is Not Yet Over — The New York Times
- Trump refuses to apologize to the exonerated Central Park Five — CNN
- Anger Over Attack Brings Calls for Return of the Death Penalty — The New York Times
- Central Park Five Case — ACLU
- New York City to Pay $41 Million to 5 Men Wrongfully Convicted in Central Park Jogger Case — The New York Times