In 1965, sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens and her disabled fifteen-year-old sister, Jenny, are left in the care of an impoverished woman named Gertrude Baniszewski, a church acquaintance and mother to Paula, Johnny, Stephanie, and several younger children. Sylvia and Jenny's parents, Lester and Betty, work in the carnival circuit and leave on a tour. Gertrude agrees to take care of Sylvia and Jenny for a fee of $20 per week.

Lester's payment fails to arrive. Infuriated, Gertrude whips the Likens sisters with a belt. When the payment arrives with a letter from the parents, Gertrude discards the letter without telling the sisters. After Sylvia tells Paula's boyfriend about Paula's pregnancy, Gertrude forces Sylvia to apologize for "spreading lies" and has Johnny help Paula beat Sylvia until she complies. Jenny discovers the letter from their parents in the trash. Sylvia telephones them, but she is seen by the Baniszewski children. Gertrude falsely accuses them of stealing money from her for the call and burns Sylvia with a cigarette. She also accuses Sylvia of flirting with Andy, father of one of Gertrude's sons. She sexually abuses Sylvia and orders Johnny and Stephanie's boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, to push her down the basement stairs. As Jenny weeps, Gertrude says Sylvia will remain in the basement "until she learns her lesson".

Gertrude instructs her children to lie that Sylvia was sent to juvenile detention. With Gertrude's knowledge and approval, Johnny regularly invites the neighborhood children to the basement to abuse Sylvia. Paula soon feels guilty and tells her mother Sylvia has been punished enough. Gertrude ignores Paula, reminding her that there is blood on her hands as well. The Reverend arrives, hinting that Paula has confessed about her pregnancy and Sylvia's treatment. Gertrude lies to him that Sylvia was sent away. Once the Reverend leaves, Gertrude orders everyone into the basement, where she restrains Sylvia and begins branding the words "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT" on her stomach with a heated needle. Gertrude passes the needle to her teen neighbor Ricky Hobbs to finish the branding.

That night, Paula helps an injured Sylvia escape from the basement. Gertrude is awakened by Shirley and tries to catch Sylvia, but she is stopped by Paula. Ricky drives Sylvia to her parents. They are horrified by Sylvia's condition and drive her back to the Baniszewski house at her request to make sure Jenny is okay. When Sylvia enters, she sees a distraught Stephanie trying to revive Sylvia with Ricky's help, but to no avail, indicating that the entire escape and reunion with her parents had been a hallucination. Sylvia soon dies in the arms of Stephanie and Ricky.

Once the police arrive, Jenny agrees to testify in court in exchange for her freedom from the Baniszewskis' custody. At the murder trial, Jenny says Gertrude threatened her with the same treatment if she told anyone; Gertrude, being the final one called to testify, tries to frame her children and their friends for Sylvia's death. However, her attempts to frame all her witnesses backfire as she is sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and child abuse. Sylvia's voice narrates the fates of her other murderers. Gertrude, in her prison cell, briefly sees Sylvia's ghost.

Principal photography took place in 2006. Most of the cast were completely unaware of the real Likens murder until after they read the script, which was based largely on actual court transcripts from the case.^[1] Catherine Keener originally turned down the role of Gertrude Baniszewski; however, after she could not get the story out of her head, she met with director Tommy O'Haver and agreed to do the film.^[1] Elliot Page^[a] was the only choice to play Sylvia Likens.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 43% of 14 critic reviews are positive for the film, with an average rating of 4.8/10.^[4] Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times called it "one of the best television movies to appear in years" and praised Catherine Keener's portrayal of Gertrude Baniszewski.^[5]

• Emmy Awards^[6]
  • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie - Catherine Keener (nominated)
• Writers Guild of America Awards^[7]
  • Long Form — Original - Tommy O’Haver and Irene Turner (nominated)
• Golden Globe Awards^[8]
  • Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Television Film - Catherine Keener (nominated)

• The Girl Next Door, another film loosely based on the Likens case, released in the same year.

• An American Crime at IMDb  
• An American Crime at AllMovie
• An American Crime at Box Office Mojo
• An American Crime at Rotten Tomatoes
• An American Crime at Metacritic  
• Tommy O'Haver's An American Crime blog