Rise and Reform

In this post I’ll be writing a review of Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7 episode 5, titled Debbie. The set up for this episode involves a uniformed officer in the 99th precinct of Brooklyn- Debbie- who was roped into helping a serious crime boss in their division. She is tasked with stealing twenty bricks of coke and some machine guns from the precinct’s evidence lockup with the promise of being given money to pay for her fathers surgery. 

Although this is a fictional show, the script does an interesting job of touching on the morality and ethics of the criminal justice system. Main characters Jake Peralta and Rosa Diaz spent a good chunk of the episode debating on whether Debbie was to blame for her decisions to help the crime boss. 

Jake wanted to help Debbie and get her out of the situation, citing that she was in too deep and didn’t know what she was getting herself into, as Debbie was known to be passive, naive and too trusting. On top of that, the crime boss repeatedly threatened to kill Debbie. Rosa’s perspective was that Debbie is an adult who made her own decision to commit this crime. 

The episode shows a very common debate I hear a lot when the topic of prison reform comes up. It is really easy to say “you’re an adult, you made your own decisions” when someone commits a crime, but in reality, some people don’t have options. It’s not safe for a lot of people to call the police when they’re in situations like this, often for several reasons. 

This episode finally shows Rosa realizing how bad Debbie’s situation really was. Rosa watched Debbie’s mom criticize all of Debbie’s decisions, revealing the absence of love Debbie had in her life. Rosa realized that absence of love was what caused her to make bad decisions in her own life, and reminisced about how she wished her parents had just been nice to her. In the end it was Jake and Rosa helping Debbie that finally diffused the situation. 

I really wish our own criminal justice system would switch to rehabilitation and support, and away from simply just using prison and jail time. Our “justice” system disproportionately affects People of Colour, people who grew up in the foster care system, people with mental health issues, homeless people, and much more. Often, it’s people who don’t have a support system and who are often rejected from adequate medical care and basic equality who end up incarcerated. 

Have you seen this episode of Brooklyn Nine Nine? If so, drop a comment and let me know what you thought of it.