True crime is often heavily criticized for sensationalizing serial killers and neglecting their victims when telling the stories of killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. However, some of the genre's less controversial works are fascinating and informative without the sensationalism.

The genre is at its best when real-life TV shows and films shed light on parts of history that people are less willing to talk about, especially when they speak to larger issues in the world.

Netflix has produced a string of shocking true crime shows tailored to fiction that have impressed critics as well as viewers. Here are five Netflix true crime series that received over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Most people have heard of the "Central Park Five," but few know its dark roots: in 1989, five young black and Latino men (Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Anton McCray, Yousef Salaam, and Corey Wise ) were put on trial for a rape that occurred in Central Park. They fought the charges for over a decade and eventually sued the state that put them through the ordeal.

Netflix's When They See Us is a powerful retelling of the case that follows the young men through their trial, acquittal, and case against the city. The film tells the story of the "five acquitted" to mainstream audiences, while simultaneously shedding light on how racism is still prevalent in the United States.

Ava DuVernay stars Niecy Nash (Deloris Wise), John Leguizamo (Raymond Santana Sr.), Michael Kenneth Williams (Bobby McCray), Felicity Huffman (Linda Fairstein), Blair Underwood (Bobby Barnes), and Vera Farmiga (Elizabeth Lederer), among other actors, for the 2019 series.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97 View on Netflix

Hollywood rarely portrays tastefully and accurately the circumstances in which people report sexual assault and how rare a conviction can be. People are quick to shame victims of sexual assault for not coming forward. In doing so, they are forced to live through traumatic events over and over, even though justice is more often than not served.Netflix's "Unbelievable" shows how rape cases are often mishandled, victims are treated like suspects, and refusal to believe the victim spotlights how this allows the violence to continue.

The 2019 Unbelievable series is a fictionalized version of the true story of Marie Adler. Susanna Grant, Michael Chabon, and Ayelet Waldman adapted it from a Pulitzer Prize-winning article by T. Christian Miller, Ken Armstrong, ProPublica, and The Marshall Project.

The show follows the initial mishandling of the Adler case and how two female detectives uncover the truth when similar rape reports begin to emerge. The cast includes Caitlin Dever (Marie Adler), Toni Collette (Detective Grace Rasmussen), Marriott Wever (Detective Karen Duval), and Blake Ellis (Chris McCarthy).

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98 View on Netflix

The idea of a murdered nun seems more like something from the world of The Cursed rather than reality. For Sister Kathy Cesnik, however, it was very real. We like to hear stories where the ending is clear and the bad guy is behind bars, but more often than not people don't get justice or closure. And sometimes the victim's friends and family become the Nancy Drews of cold cases that the police have given up on.

Netflix's 2017 documentary series The Keepers follows the 1969 murder of Cesnik and the resurrection of the case in the 1990s through her former students. Ryan White directed the seven-part series.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97 Watch on Netflix

The murders and darkness that haunt the true crime genre sometimes need a laugh, and in 2017, creators Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda took the genre by storm with American Vandal. So what exactly is this Netflix series, you ask? The show uncovers the truth behind the shenanigans of teenagers, a fearsome gang that has swept the nation.

Of course, the show is satirical in nature, but each episode has a real investigation tackling a fictional case of notorious high school pranks. Starring Tyler Alvarez (Peter Maldonado) and Griffin Gluck (Sam Eklund).

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98 Watch on Netflix

Some people spend their entire lives behind bars without ever committing the crimes for which they were incarcerated; in 1992, Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck founded the Innocence Project, which uses modern developments in science to overturn wrongful convictions.

The Innocence Files, a 2020 series in documentary format, delves deeply into the stories of eight wrongful conviction cases handled by the Innocence Project. While highlighting the failures of the justice system, it also looks to the future where people within the organization fight for reform.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100 Watch on Netflix