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Making a Murderer: How the Criminal Justice System
Failed Steven Avery
By: Casey Athmer
Intro to Criminal Justice
Instructor Brandon Webster
October 13, 2017
Making a Murderer is a Netflix documentary about a Wisconsin man, Steven Avery, who
was arrested and convicted of a sexual assault, despite the fact that he had an alibi. After serving
18 years in prison for said crime, Steven Avery was exonerated after DNA in the case was
matched to another man. After Steven was released from prison in 2003, he filed a $36 million
civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County and several county officials associated with his arrest
and conviction. Two years later, in 2005, Steven Avery was arrested and charged with the
murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer who disappeared after she had gone to Avery’s
salvage yard to photograph a vehicle. Brendan Dassey, Steven Avery’s nephew, was also
accused and convicted as an accessory in the murder.
During the course of this class, we read and talked about corruption within the police
department as well as the criminal justice system. In the book, they used the term meat eaters
