HBO's Role Evolves with 'Innocent'

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HBO already ranks at the top of the heap among cable channels in terms of viewership and critical attention. Now it has seen fit to spin off its own gold-label channel, HBO Signature, to highlight award-winning original programs and noteworthy theatrical films.

The latest offering on this self-styled prestige channel is a new documentary about young African-Americans in the American legal system, "Innocent Until Proven Guilty" (Sunday, Oct. 17, 7:45-9 p.m.). It underlines dramatic statistics about the incarceration rate of young blacks. For example, "One third of all African- American males between the ages of 16 and 35 are currently under criminal-justice supervision. …