Parents' Guide to

Cold Justice: Sex Crimes

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Graphic reality spinoff is sensational but serves a purpose.

TV TNT Reality TV 2015
Cold Justice: Sex Crimes Poster Image

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What's the Story?

COLD JUSTICE: SEX CRIMES, an addition to the Cold Justice franchise, revisits unsolved sexual assault cases in hopes of finding justice for the victims. Former Harris County prosecutors Alicia O'Neill and Casey Garett travel to small towns across Texas to re-examine the evidence, take a first hand look look at the crime scenes, and interview people involved in the investigation. They also send the existing evidence collected by local law enforcement to their labs for more advanced testing. As they work through each case, they hope to uncover enough evidence to name a clear suspect in hopes that they will be arrested and tried for the crime. Throughout it all, detailed descriptions of the crimes, crime scene photographs, and actual footage of police interviews (and occasional confessions) are presented.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This dramatic, gritty, and somewhat sensational reality show spin-off offers details about sex crimes committed against people of all ages in more remote areas of Texas, and the process by which they are reinvestigated. It also underscores many of the challenges small-town investigators and prosecutors face when trying to solve and try these cases, which often stem from the lack of funds, resources, and training to collect and study DNA evidence.

Some of the details shared about these crimes seem offered more out of a desire to be sensational than to inform. Nonetheless, the overall series reminds us of how important it is to pursue and resolve sex crime cases for the sake of the almost 300,000 men, women, and children in the United States who survive these assaults every year.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why there are there so many sex crimes committed in the United States. Why are so many of them unresolved? How might TV shows like this one be useful when trying to understand or solve these kinds of cases?

  • Resources like the National Sexual Assault Hotline and the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) are available for people who need help. What are other steps you should take if you or someone you know is a victim of a sex crime? Can you talk to a parent? A teacher? A friend? Parents: what are some of the ways you can discuss these sensitive topics with your children at different stages in their lives?

TV Details

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