movielex
movie
L
ex

Movies like Kids for Cash

Key Features:
Corruption, Justice system, Sexual exploitation, True crime, Documentary, Abuse of power, Legal drama, Social injustice, Political corruption, Crime fighting
Tone:
serious, suspense-driven, gritty
Target Audience:
Documentary viewers, True crime enthusiasts, Viewers interested in social justice issues
Emotional Arc:
Outrage → Disgust

Kids for Cash

2014-02-07
Kids for Cash Poster - Find Similar Movies

Filmmaker Robert May chronicles the case of a once-respected judge who received kickbacks for sending juvenile offenders to prison, even for minor crimes.

Genres
Crime, Documentary, Drama
Crew
Robert May
Rating
6.6(63 votes)
Kids for CashKids for Cash
Select exactly what you are looking for


...And Justice for All

An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat of being disbarred.



Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.



Tabloid
Tabloid(2011)
6.426

A documentary on a former Miss Wyoming who is charged with abducting and imprisoning a young Mormon Missionary.



Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story

After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.



Too Young to Die
5.4

An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.



Criminal Activities

Four young men make a risky investment together that gets them into trouble with the mob.



The Kid
The Kid(2014)
6.459

Two youths, Niño and Compi, enter the world of drug smuggling in the Strait of Gibraltar; while two police officers, Jesús and Eva, try to eradicate the contraband.



Kid Cannabis
6.205

An eighteen year old high school drop out and his twenty-seven year old friend start trafficking marijuana across the border of Canada in order to make money and their lives are changed forever.



Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal

An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Rick Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.



Sun Children
7

The story of 12-year-old Ali and his three friends. Together they work hard to survive and support their families, doing small jobs in a garage and committing petty crimes to make fast money. In a turn of events that seems miraculous, Ali is entrusted to find hidden treasure underground. He recruits his gang, but first, to gain access to the tunnel, the children must enroll at the Sun School, a charitable institution that tries to educate street kids and child laborers, close to where the treasure is located.



The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo

After the death of her daughter at the hand of her boyfriend, Marisela Escobedo began to fight for justice not only against the murderer but also against the corrupt Mexican judicial system.



The Panama Papers
6.683

A documentary feature film about the biggest global corruption scandal in history, and the hundreds of journalists who risked their lives to break the story.



City Hall
City Hall(1996)
5.9

The accidental shooting of a boy in New York City leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.



Sacrifice
Sacrifice(2011)
4.445

A tough undercover cop inadvertently gets involved in a dangerous heroin ring when a young defector of the drug trade leaves his five year-old sister in his care.



Two for the Money

A former college athlete joins forces with a sports consultant to handicap football games for high-rolling gamblers.



Indictment: The McMartin Trial

The McMartin family's lives are turned upside down when they are accused of serious child molestation. The family run a school for infants. An unqualified child cruelty "expert" videotapes the children describing outrageous stories of abuse. One of the most expensive and long running trials in US legal history, exposes the lack of evidence and unprofessional attitudes of the finger pointers which kept one of the accused in jail for over 5 years without bail.



Jailbait
Jailbait(2014)
5.293

A gritty coming of age thriller about a young girl sent to juvenile prison for the murder of her abusive step father. The film follows Anna Nix's journey into the dark world of an all girls jail where she discovers complex relationships, drugs, mental illness and her eventual search for redemption.



A Cop Movie
7.2

This documentary walks the line between fact and fiction, delving into corruption in the Mexican police through the experiences of two officers.



The Prosecutor
6.7

A poor young man is wrongly charged with drug trafficking after being deceived. An ex-prosecutor investigates the case, uncovers a corrupt lawyer team's scheme, and restores justice despite obstruction from evil forces.



The Central Park Five

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.



For the Emperor
5.75

A former professional baseball player becomes entangled in loan-sharking and mob connections after a fixing scandal ejects him from his sport. When his girlfriend vanishes he is forced to confront his mentor and enter a deadly battle.



Hard Cash
Hard Cash(2002)
4.549

Released from prison, an infamous thief and his new crew pull of a brilliant robbery but then become embroiled with a corrupt FBI agent when they discover the money is marked.



Millions
Millions(2004)
6.4

Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do?



Tricked: The Documentary

This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.



Take Care of Maya
7.647

When Jack and Beata Kowalski are wrongfully accused of child abuse after their 10-year-old daughter Maya visits the ER, a nightmare unfolds.



Kids Return
6.878

Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.



I Am Jane Doe
5.7

Chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of sex-trafficking on Backpage.com, the adult classifieds section that for years was part of the Village Voice.



Perro callejero
7.889

An abandoned child steals to survive and has problems when he decides to steal from the priest who helps him.



Boat People
7.616

A Japanese photojournalist revisits Vietnam after the liberation to document the nation, and begins following and documenting the young children from a poor Vietnamese family.



Detainment
6.697

Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler.



Q & A
Q & A(1990)
5.8

A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him.



Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger

A documentary that captures the sensational trial of infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, using the legal proceedings as a springboard to explore allegations of corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger examines Bulger's relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice that allowed him to reign over a criminal empire in Boston for decades.



Sleepers
Sleepers(1996)
7.601

Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.



My First Client
8.67

A success-hungry lawyer finds himself unable to turn his back on a suspicious case involving a child who claims she murdered her brother.



The Concrete Jungle

An unfortunate and naive girl is set up by her boyfriend and convicted of drug smuggling. She is sent to a women's correctional facility where she must constantly struggle to survive.



Trafficking
5.87

Fresh out of prison, a former debt collector working for a gangland boss is told he has a terminal brain tumour. In an attempt to atone for his past he rescues a young girl from trafficking, forcing him into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with his boss.



All Day and a Night
6.218

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.



Boys Don't Cry
7.363

A young aspiring violinist unwittingly becomes involved with a criminal gang.



Eye for an Eye
6.183

It's fire and brimstone time as grieving mother Karen McCann takes justice into her own hands when a kangaroo court in Los Angeles fails to convict Robert Doob, the monster who raped and murdered her 17-year-old daughter.



Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

A further investigation into the arrest of three teenagers convicted of killing three young boys in Arkansas who spent nearly 20 years in prison before being released after new DNA evidence indicated they may be innocent.



The Green Deal
6.6

Carole tries to save the life of her son who has been wrongfully sentenced to death in a rigged trial.



Pawn
Pawn(2020)
8.433

A debt collector who looks intimidating, but actually has a warm heart, ends up becoming the guardian of a child, who has been left behind as collateral by her illegal immigrant mother.



Just Cause
6.2

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.



Square One
8.6

An investigation into the original 1993 Michael Jackson allegations brought by the Chandler family.



6ixtynin9
6ixtynin9(1999)
6.76

A woman, fired from a financial corporation during the Asia crisis, returns home with no money. However, she finds a box with a fortune in front of her door, and decides to keep it. However, the people that left it there soon want it back.



Small Crimes
5.383

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.



Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

Featuring interviews with performers, activists and past employees, this documentary offers a deep dive into the successes and scandals of Pornhub.



Cops and Robbers
6.6

Animation and activism unite in this multimedia spoken-word response to police brutality and racial injustice.



Coldwater
Coldwater(2013)
6.4

A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.



Breaking News
6.887

After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.



Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

Revisiting the 1994 Arkansas murder of three 8-year-old boys and the three teenagers convicted of the crime. A follow up to Paradise Lost, Revelations features new interviews with the convicted men, as well as with the original judge and police investigators.



The Children Act
6.576

In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite his family's refusal to accept medical treatment for religious reasons.



Bitconned
Bitconned(2024)
6.4

In this true-crime documentary, three guys exploit the freewheeling cryptocurrency market to scam millions from investors and bankroll lavish lifestyles.



Kids
Kids(1995)
6.9

A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.



Ko
Ko(2011)
7.2

Ashwin is a photographer, covering the upcoming elections for a newspaper. His life gets entangled with politics when one of his published photographs upsets a corrupt political party.



Money Money Money
6.701

When they realize the times are changing, five crooks decide to switch from bank robberies to personality abductions.



Easy Money: Hard to Kill

JW is serving hard time in prison and struggling to get back on an honest path. There are glimmers of hope in his life – some venture capitalists are interested in a new piece of trading software he's developed, and while behind bars he's made peace with an old enemy. This all proves to be an illusion. On leave from prison, and back in contact with his former gang, JW learns that once you've walked in the shoes of a criminal there just may be no going back.



Albakiara
Albakiara(2008)
2.2

Promiscuous teenager Chiara gets herself and her equally debauched peers embroiled in a drug ring run by a dirty cop.



Red Right Hand
6.7

Cash is trying to live a quiet, honest life in a small Appalachian town. When a vicious crime boss forces him back into her services, he soon learns he's capable of anything -- even killing -- to protect his family and his home.



Lords of Scam
6.9

This documentary traces the rise and crash of scammers who conned the EU carbon quota system and pocketed millions before turning on one another.



Red Corner
6.3

An American attorney on business in China, ends up wrongfully on trial for murder and his only key to innocence is a female defense lawyer from the country.



Spotlight
Spotlight(2015)
7.8

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.



Girl in the Picture
7.13

A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.



Cop Car
Cop Car(2015)
5.982

Two kids find themselves in the centre of a deadly game of cat and mouse after taking a sheriff's cruiser for a joy ride.



Guilty
Guilty(2011)
7.17

Investigates the corrupt judicial system under which Alain Mar'caux and his wife Edith were arrested on accusations of pedophilia horrific acts they never committed- and the years he spent fighting to get out of prison, clear his name and keep his family.



Judge Dredd
5.8

In a dystopian future, Dredd, the most famous judge (a cop with instant field judiciary powers) is convicted for a crime he did not commit while his murderous counterpart escapes.



Tattoo
Tattoo(2002)
6

Marc Schrader, a rookie cop caught red-handed with drugs in a police raid of an illegal rave, joins a homicide investigation conducted by Chief Inspector Minks. The victim is a naked young woman with the skin stripped off her back, killed as she staggered into traffic. As Schrader and Minks investigate the murder, the case is complicated by a finger found in the stomach of the victim. Forensic examination proves the finger belongs to Nobert Günzel, who was previously convicted of rape and assault. The police raid Günzel’s residence, and discover a blood-stained table with restraints and bits of human flesh in his basement. They also find video equipment and preserved, tattooed skin from the victim’s back. Soon, they found dead bodies buried in the garden. Günzel then goes missing.



Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror

Anonymous and exploitative, a network of online chat rooms ran rampant with sex crimes. The hunt to take down its operators required guts and tenacity.



The Laundromat
6.007

When a widow gets swindled out of insurance money, her search for answers leads to two cunning lawyers in Panama who hide cash for the superrich.



Leaving Neverland: ProSieben Spezial

The world is talking about 'Leaving Neverland. In our ProSieben special, we ask questions that the documentary doesn't, and look at the most important moments in the life of the superstar. In addition, we explore the question of how the new allegations change the view of Michael Jackson's overall work. This helps to classify the special documentary 'Leaving Neverland'.



Eye for an Eye
6.7

Mario, an exemplary man, lives in a village on the Galician coast. In the old people’s home, where he works as a nurse, everyone appreciates him. When the best known narco in the area, Antonio Padín, recently released from prison, enters the residence, Mario tries to make Antonio feel at home. Now, Padín's two sons, Kike and Toño, are in charge of the family business. The failure of an operation will put Kike in jail and cause them to owe a large debt to a Colombian supplier. Toño will turn to the nurse to try to convince his father to assume the debt. But Mario has his own plans.



Heroin(e)
Heroin(e)(2017)
6.9

This documentary follows three women — a fire chief, a judge, and a street missionary — as they battle West Virginia's devastating opioid epidemic.



True Colors
6.2

Two law school friends find themselves at odds when one becomes a Justice Department lawyer and the other goes into politics.



Heist 88
Heist 88(2023)
6.7

A criminal mastermind recruits a group of young bank employees to steal 80 million dollars in one of the largest bank heist in US history.



Your Lucky Day
5.909

After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.



Amateur
Amateur(2018)
6.4

14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.



Casting JonBenet
5.676

Twenty years after the modern world's most notorious child murder, the legacy of the crime and its impact are explored.



Lost in the Sun
5.914

A small time crook and a newly-orphaned teenage boy team up to perform a string of robberies.



Blank Check
5.943

Bullied by his siblings and nagged by his parents, 11-year-old Preston Waters is fed up with his family — especially their frugality. But he gets his chance to teach them a lesson when a money-laundering criminal nearly bulldozes Preston with his car and compensates the boy with a blank check. Preston makes the check out for $1 million and goes on a spending spree he'll never forget.



Brubaker
Brubaker(1980)
7.071

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.



The Judge
The Judge(2014)
7.328

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.



Love & Pop
7.7

Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an expensive ring.



Confirmation
6.9

Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the United States' Supreme Court is called into question when former colleague, Anita Hill, testifies that he had sexually harassed her.



Return to Innocence

A searing legal drama that centers on a highly credentialed child psychologist whose life is shattered when he's accused of sexually assaulting a young boy he's been treating.



An Eye for an Eye
5.146

Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.



John Doe: Vigilante
6.439

When John Doe is convicted of being a vigilante serial killer, a vigilante group named 'Speak for the Dead' emerges in support of John's cause—elevating the debate about justice versus vengeance.



Even Money
5.5

Gambling addiction bring the stories of three otherwise unconnected people together as it destroys each of their lives.



Comedy of Power
6.2

Magistrate Jeanne Charmant-Killman doggedly investigates CEO Michel Humeau, who is accused of participating in massive corporate malfeasance. As her investigation leads her into the upper echelons of government, Jeanne becomes intoxicated by the power she is amassing.



Deliver Us from Evil

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.



Narco Cultura
7.009

To a growing number of Mexicans and Latinos in the Americas, narco-traffickers have become iconic outlaws and the new models of fame and success. They represent a pathway out of the ghetto, nurturing a new American dream fueled by the war on drugs. Narco Cultura looks at this explosive phenomenon from within, exposing cycles of addiction to money, drugs, and violence that are rapidly gaining strength on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border



Long Shot
Long Shot(2017)
7.186

When Juan Catalan is arrested for a murder he insists he didn't commit, he builds his case for innocence around unexpected raw footage.



Politics
Politics(2019)
3.491

Portraying the events that have taken place in Polish politics in recent years.



Lowlife
Lowlife(2017)
6.1

The sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong.



Cruel Story of Youth
6.507

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men.



I Care a Lot
6.6

A court-appointed legal guardian defrauds her older clients and traps them under her care. But her latest mark comes with some unexpected baggage.



Boy
Boy(1969)
7.2

A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles.



Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy

A cheap, powerful drug emerges during a recession, igniting a moral panic fueled by racism. Explore the complex history of crack in the 1980s.



The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful

Madame Tang colludes and mediates between the government and the private businesses for the benefits of her all-female family. One case does not go according to plan, and an entire family close to Madame Tang fall victim to a gruesome murder. Ambition, desire and lust eventually change Tang's relationships with her own family forever.



Boy A
Boy A(2008)
7.109

Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed child, and, after reuniting the girl with her family, becomes a local celebrity. But when a local newspaper unearths his past, Jack must cope with the anger of citizens who fear for the safety of their children.

AboutPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceContact Us