I’m Mackenzie Hewitt, and I’m currently a senior with an Art and Design and Sociology dual major. I’m interested in using my art as a vehicle for social change. My documentary is called In the Name of Justice, and it exposes unjust practices within the criminal justice system framed through the story of my family friend charged with sexual assault. It details myself and my family’s experiences struggling with whether to support the victim of reportedly violent rape or to seek justice for a friend—and questions the possibility of achieving both.
In America, we lock up more of our citizens than any other country in the world by proportion. It can be challenging to see someone as more than their crime in our current system of mass incarceration. But if we can recognize the humanity within even those charged with the worst crimes, we are capable of creating a more equitable criminal justice system for everyone involved.
