In a powerful exploration of America’s criminal justice system, 13th on Netflix illuminates the apparent parallels between mass incarceration and historical slavery, shedding light on the experiences throughout history of those ensnared by a system that many argue perpetuates cycles of oppression. Film Director Ava DuVernay and editor Spencer Averick incorporated various expert analyses and examined the socioeconomic factors contributing to this ongoing crisis, aiming to spark a national conversation about justice, equity, and the urgent need for reform.
Released in 2016, this documentary follows the duo’s acclaimed work on Selma, which vividly portrays Martin Luther King Jr.’s journey during the Civil Rights Movement. “Justice too long delayed is justice denied,” Martin Luther King said in 13th, demonstrating apparent similarities between the two films. Collaborating closely on this project, DuVernay and Averick approached Netflix shortly after with the idea of a documentary on mass incarceration.
With Netflix’s approval, they found themselves navigating the uncharted territory of this new endeavor. By participating in this project, the duo transformed the public perception of criminals in the United States and highlighted the power of documentary filmmaking as a medium. Here are three key elements that contributed to the documentary’s impact and significance.
Part I: Beginning and The Interviews
According to Averick, DuVernay had a relationship with the executive on documentaries on Netflix at the time, so they “gave her a lot of breathing room,” which is unusual for documentary filmmaking. In other words, their team did not have a specified deadline. “We didn’t really know what the movie was when we started,” Averick said.
This approach allowed more than enough time for the team to craft the film, providing them with significant creative freedom in its development. Despite the extremely flexible deadline, Averick and DuVernay found it to be a challenge.
Without direction or a timeline, DuVernay and Averick were uncertain how to tell such an important story. The first step of their process was interviews with experts to gauge the severity of the issue, the historical domino effect of events and policies, and to understand how significant this issue has become in the present day. “We were learning so much,” Averick recalled.
The finished documentary opens with a quote by former President Barack Obama: “The United States is home to 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners.” While the United States is often regarded as the “Land of the Free,” this freedom appears to be conditional for those who have historically benefited at the expense of marginalized communities.
DuVernay and Averick conducted between 20 and 25 interviews. Each interview lasted approximately two to three hours, which I found fascinating since I’ve never participated in such lengthy interviews before. Averick notes that these interviews were conducted with experts, aiming to delve deep into the root of the issue, which is why they extended over such a long duration.
After spending about six months analyzing these conversations, the team recognized that the carceral system is rooted in a history of systemic institutional oppression. Using these interviews, DuVernay and Averick aimed to tell the story of the prison system through the facts and the events throughout history prompting the current problem.
In Particular, Averick recalled one interview that changed their perception of the issue, shaping the trajectory of their documentary. Kevin Gannon, also known as “The Tattooed Professor,” opens the documentary by sharing his thoughts on the correlation between the carceral system and slavery. He further suggests that the 13th Amendment, enacted in 1865, abolished slavery and granted freedom to African Americans, but included one notable exception: those convicted of crimes.
“We started to realize we were going to have to go further back in time than we anticipated to tell this story,” Averick noted.
Part II: The Editing Process
In the editing process for this documentary, Averick reflects on the eight different productions he and DuVernay had collaborated on before 13th, including Selma. He notes that many of the editing techniques they developed in those earlier projects carried over into the creation of this particular documentary. “I remember that documentary being an inspiration with regards to how it was edited,” Averick said.
From his explanation, numerous editing techniques used in the final film were inspired by Adam McKay’s The Big Short. I specifically inquired about the technique of displaying newspaper headlines and zooming in on emphasized text to create a more impactful effect, which Averick described as being “in your face.”
Averick explained that this technique was employed to clearly and effectively highlight the severity of media coverage regarding the disproportionate involvement of black communities in the criminal justice system. Along with various editing techniques and striking visuals, Averick and his team brainstormed ways to further engage the audience.
They decided to incorporate music into the documentary, using genres from hip-hop to jazz to enhance important, information-dense topics and underscore key quotes. With Jason Moran’s music, Averick and DuVernay began to condense the information into a digestible, accessible piece. Averick notes that the breaks between the music were crucial in shaping the film into its final product.
“That was our palate-cleanser, but also to show how artists in the community were talking about it,” Averick noted.
Although the documentary includes many interesting editing techniques that took a while, Averick reflected that the editing process was “much longer” than expected.
The documentary took about eighteen months to complete, with drafts varying from two to five hours before arriving at the final runtime of one hour and 40 minutes. Editing became a tedious task, as the dense information made it challenging to avoid “preaching to the choir” while still ensuring it was accessible to all audiences.
Part III: Finished Product and The Impact
“It was one of the best moments in my career to just hear the feedback,” Averick said. With a wave of support on Twitter, both black and white communities began to grasp the problem. In this regard, the documentary revealed the legal disparities and social dynamics that contribute to mass incarceration as a modern form of slavery.
“People had never heard about this before… it became so obvious,” Averick said. In discussing current events illustrated beautifully in the documentary, Averick recalls how police brutality disproportionately affects communities of color, highlighting the failure of the criminal justice system to protect them.
In this conversation, we discussed the early death of Trayvon Martin. In 2012, the events that led to his death shocked the world with unsettling feelings and distrust of law enforcement. A global debate erupted on social media, with many questioning why George Zimmerman felt the need to act as a police officer in that situation.
In a New York Times article, jurors explain George Zimmerman’s verdict, with journalist Lizette Alvarez describing their conviction decision as him being guilty of nothing more than “bad judgment.” While there are calls for reform in the criminal justice system, the country still has a long way to go before true justice can be claimed.
Through this perspective, we began to grasp that the system, as Averick put it, “was never fair” to begin with. Evaluating the system’s origins makes it nearly impossible to envision a world where reform seems attainable.
Following the protests and riots sparked by George Floyd’s killing in 2020, various opinions have emerged in social circles, with some claiming these actions are destroying their communities. However, Averick argues that this anger stems from institutional racism perpetuated by decades of disproportionate treatment.
“This has been happening for so long, what else are you going to do? Anger is going to happen when the killings keep happening,” Averick said.
For the documentary’s opening, DuVernay and Averick initially planned to follow Kalief Browder’s story. After allegedly stealing a backpack, Browder spent three years in jail, including 800 days in solitary confinement. His experience parallels that of Sean Ellis, who spent 20 years in prison for the murder of police officer John J. Mulligan, despite both men being innocent. Both suffered long-lasting mental health issues due to their incarceration.
In an interview with a Netflix reporter, Malika Cyril spoke to the long-lasting impact of incarceration by explaining that being in jail “changes you.” This can be examined through Khalif Browder’s story, where he was repeatedly beaten by officers and inmates, leading him to suffer from lifelong mental illness. This mistreatment ultimately led to his suicide at his parents’ home, two years after his release.
From this perspective, we can infer that the conversation is far from over. The documentary has opened the eyes of various communities to the issues within modern carceral systems. While it is often claimed that these topics are not discussed enough, the documentary marks the beginning of a crucial awareness campaign.
While reflecting on his projects, Averick said his favorite of his works is either 13th or When They See Us, the documentary of The Central Park Five. “I love the stories we told in each episode. I just took great pride in the craftsmanship of that film and what it did,” Averick recalled.
A recent example of injustice for incarcerated individuals occurred during Hurricane Milton in Palmetto, Florida, when about 1,200 people incarcerated at Manatee County Jail were not evacuated due to the assumption that the flooding risk from the Category 5 storm was low. Despite being located in mandatory evacuation zones, numerous prisons in the United States have failed to evacuate incarcerated people in the event of natural disasters.
This dehumanization of incarcerated individuals creates a stigma that they are less than human. In this context various systems target incarcerated individuals, therefore reinforcing the belief that their lives are less valuable overall. The state’s neglect of incarcerated persons’ safety undermines civilly guaranteed rights, perpetuating the prominent barriers associated with the “American Dream.”
A Pew Research Center study illustrates disparities comparing voter turnout rates among different ethnic groups during the 2020 election cycle. The findings indicate that between 2018-2022, white adults participated in the election cycle more consistently than other racial and ethnic groups. Specifically, compared to 24% of white adults, 36% of registered black adults and 47% of registered hispanic adults did not cast their votes. The contrast between these statistics highlight significant differences in voter engagement across these populations.
Other statistics show that convicted felons lose their voting rights in many states. According to The Sentencing Project, about 4.4 million Americans are barred from voting due to felony convictions, suggesting that the “American Dream” is largely inaccessible to them. While this number may seem small compared to the total U.S. population of nearly 335 million, it represents 1.3% of Americans unable to vote because of felony convictions.
In the documentary, Michelle Alexander discusses the impact of felony convictions, arguing that they often serve as a modern form of racial control by criminalizing entire communities. “Many aspects of the old Jim Crow system are suddenly legal again once you’ve been branded a felon,” Alexander stated during her TED Talk on The New Jim Crow. She emphasized that rather than ending racial caste in America, society has merely redesigned it.
While restrictions on the rights of formerly convicted individuals persist, some states are taking steps to address this issue through policies. Ultimately, 13th offered a platform to discuss how the structure of prison systems undermine the so-called “American Dream.” By highlighting the deprivation of rights faced by generations of black and brown communities, the documentary illustrates how the prison system acts as a modern form of slavery that obstructs equality.
With The Times 
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