Victim/Suspect Review – an in-depth report on victim blame

Here’s our review of the 2023 Netflix true crime documentary Victim/Suspect, which was released on May 23, 2023.

It’s easy to make the victim the problem, and this documentary shows the heartbreaking reality that this happens across the United States when it comes to women reporting sex crimes.

victim/suspect is the latest version of Netflix Documentary about true crimeDirected by Nancy Schwartzman, The story is about an investigative journalist Rachel de Leon on her four-year search for the truth.

De Leon examines a pattern in which young women are ignored by authorities after reporting sexual assault, and dDuring her intense reporting, De Leon has found over 160 cases over the past decade in which the person who volunteered to report to the police has been made a suspect and then charged with hoaxing.

This could have resulted in prison sentences of more than ten years. Of course, if the system is exploited, there must be consequences, but that’s not the case in this documentation.

Verification of victims/suspects

victim/suspect reveals how policing across the US enables law enforcement to turn sexual assault survivors into accused criminals. If you’ve watched many true crime documentaries, you’ll realize that the police consistently employ techniques to manipulate and control situations to achieve the desired outcome.

Through camera footage and reports, viewers can see that lack of education, blatant sexism, lies and laziness create a system that completely fails women. In many cases it is clear that the police could have done a lot more.

In most cases, the suspects have not even been identified; If so, they were not adequately interviewed.

We see de Leon conduct her reports, review the footage and explain why she continued her investigation; all leading to her publishing her report. De Leon talks about how she can create a professional boundary in her investigations and why it’s important.

Now you might think that this series is biased towards these victims, but as de Leon delves into the cases, we explain how these victims were mistreated and how the way the police acted was not in the best interests of these women was.

There is debate as to how and why the police will deter or stop reporting sex crimes, and this is primarily due to the workload, understaffing and the fact that sex crimes take longer to process. A detective gives an example of how easy it can be to stop someone under 21 from reporting a sex crime.

It’s disappointing to hear that and it’s hard to accept that in many cases the people who are supposed to help and protect you don’t.

The interviews with the victims are honest as we see them on a journey of healing and seeking justice. There are also interviews with the victims’ families about how they tried to help their daughters.

I’m glad these women/victims are able to take control of their story and share it with audiences around the world; Hopefully this gives them some closure and solace and they can move on. Unfortunately, in some cases it was too late for these victims and some felt so lost and harassed by the police that they took their own lives.

The documentary does end on a ray of hope; that victims are filing appeals and lecturing law enforcement about sex crimes training and that law enforcement want to do better.

Is the victim/suspect good or bad?

Overall, this documentary is good, but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing to watch. Running for an hour and thirty-five minutes, there’s a strong pace and lots of information.

Unfortunately, this documentary is yet another example of how the systems put in place to protect us can fail us miserably.

Is victim/suspect worth seeing?

Yes, it is an important report that will stir emotions in you as a viewer and will really make you think about the criminal justice system, especially in the US.

Luckily we have journalists doing the job the police should be doing.

What do you think of the Netflix true crime documentary Victim/Suspect? Comment below.