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Born Innocent was a television movie which was first aired under the NBC World Premiere Movie umbrella on September 10, 1974. Highly publicized and controversial, Born Innocent was the highest-rated television movie to air in the United States in 1974. The movie dealt with the physical, psychological and sexual abuse of a teenage girl, and included graphic content never before seen on American television at that time. The movie starred Linda Blair (fresh off her success with The Exorcist) as a teenage runaway, who was eventually sentenced to do time in a juvenile detention center, which... MORE

Born Innocent was a television movie which was first aired under the NBC World Premiere Movie umbrella on September 10, 1974. Highly publicized and controversial, Born Innocent was the highest-rated television movie to air in the United States in 1974. The movie dealt with the physical, psychological and sexual abuse of a teenage girl, and included graphic content never before seen on American television at that time. The movie starred Linda Blair (fresh off her success with The Exorcist) as a teenage runaway, who was eventually sentenced to do time in a juvenile detention center, which doubled as a reform school for the girls. Blair's character, Christine Parker, came from an abusive home. Her father (played by Richard Jaeckel) beat her, which caused Chris to run away many times. Her mother (Kim Hunter) was unfeeling, sitting in her recliner, watching television and smoking cigarettes all day. While the movie had a morality play tone, calling attention to the harsh conditions of juvenile detention centers, it also blamed society for Christine's downfall. Her social worker never realized that her parents caused her to run away and the juvenile justice system focused the blame and LESS