Dateline NBC March 31 2023: “Justice for Kristin Smart”

On Friday March 31 2023 at 9:00 PM, NBC broadcasts the episode of “Dateline NBC”.

Scroll down to read more about and watch the episode of “Dateline NBC”!

Information

In Friday’s all-new Dateline NBC at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, the parents of Kristin Smart speak with correspondent Josh Mankiewicz in their first network exclusive interview since the recent sentencing of Paul Flores, their daughter’s killer.

In the two-hour special, Kristin’s father Stan opens up about his frustration with the California Polytechnic State University campus police’s handling of the initial investigation after Kristin disappeared while walking home from an off-campus party.

He explained that officers told him Kristin was “doing some things that would put her at risk… he was portraying to me that our daughter disappeared, and if she was dead, she’d brought it onto herself, which was totally wrong.” Kristin’s mother Denise added, “It was a different era. There was a lot of victim shaming.”

In response to Dateline’s request for comment, a spokesperson from California Polytechnic State University said, “It is never appropriate to describe a victim as promiscuous, and it runs completely counter to our practices and procedures.”

Justice for Kristin Smart also features interviews with insiders connected to the case, including San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office detective Clint Cole, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, Your Own Backyard podcast host Chris Lambert, prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle, witnesses to the night Kristin disappeared, her college friends and more.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT

STAN SMART: The Cal Poly police took me aside and said, ‘you know, your daughter was doing some things that would put her at risk,’ and that she’d gone to a party, and she had drank alcohol, like that was unusual for college kids to go to a party and drink alcohol, and that she was scantily dressed. And I listened to all this, and he was portraying to me that our daughter disappeared, and if she was dead, she’d brought it onto herself, which was totally wrong.

JOSH MANKIEWICZ: I mean, you think they, you think they would have worked on it differently if she’d, you know, been coming back from the library and never had any boyfriends, and, you know, was wearing a hazmat suit?

DENISE SMART: Well, it would’ve been, definitely would have been different, because it was a different era. And there was a lot of victim shaming. And it’s, like, women get what, you know, what they’re asking for.”

Compelling mysteries, powerful documentaries, in-depth investigations.

Airdate: 9:00 PM Friday 31 March 2023 on NBC

Cast of Dateline NBC