Film Music Reporter

Composer Jongnic Bontemps (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Redfall, Boots, My Name Is Pauli Murray, The Gates, 4400, Madea’s Destination Wedding, Wedding Season, United Skates, World’s Best) is reuniting with director Lynn Novick (The Vietnam War, Hemingway) on the upcoming PBS documentary Crime and Punishment in America. The show is directed by Novick, narrated by Keith David and explores the history of criminal justice in America – from the pre-colonial period to 21st century mass incarceration. The 4-part/8-hour series features the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Laura Linney, Matthew Rhys, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Hyde Pierce & BD Wong and offers a comprehensive examination of how the intertwined forces of law, power, race, and class have both shaped and reflected the American experience over four centuries. Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball) and Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Mr. Soul) are executive producing the Skiff Mountain Films production, in partnership with Florentine Films and WETA Washington D.C. Novick is producing the project with Lucas Frank, Vanessa González-Block and Prisca Pointdujour. Bontemps has previously collaborated with Novick on 2019’s College Behind Bars. Crime and Punishment in America will premiere on November 16, 2026 and will air over four consecutive nights on PBS.