Kim Kardashian Gets Serious About Criminal Justice Reform in New Documentary, Damn the Critics

Kim Kardashian doesn't care about all the haters and the critics when it comes to what she says is her calling, fighting for criminal justice reform. And she's ready to start showing the fruits of her labors in a new documentary "The Justice Project."

The "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star may be most famous for her raucous realty series, crazy antics with her siblings and her burgeoning fashion empire, but growing underneath has been this more serious side of the 39-year-old mother of four.

While not exactly following in the footsteps of her father, famed attorney Robert Kardashian, Kim nevertheless stunned her enormous fanbase by revealing that she was meeting with President Trump toward securing the release of an inmate she believed improperly incarcerated, Alice Johnson.

But that wasn't just some one-off, as the reality star then revealed she had begun studying for the bar exam in California toward becoming a lawyer herself, with a focus on criminal justice reform.

Suddenly, the woman many accused of being vacuous, shallow and self-centered was looking at a dramatic career shift toward using her platform to do something good for the world. All of that hard work, so far, has resulted in this documentary project.

Revealing that she had completed her first year of law studies already, "Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project" shows Kim's advocacy toward prison reform as she explores four cases of people believed unfairly sentenced, working alongside legal experts in an attempt to see them freed or with reduced terms.

Kim was asked how she deals with critics who say all of this is a publicity stunt to garner attention and publicity for her fashion brands and reality television empire, but she says she's able to shrug that off without a second thought.

"I'm very used to criticism so nothing really phases me," she told reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Saturday, per E! News. "I'm one of those non-human souls that can really deal with it. However, I really genuinely just stay focused on the cases and the people, and am extremely compassionate, and no, I'm not doing it for publicity. I really do care, and spend 20 hours a week away from my family and my kids, every single day."

And she's hoping that her advocacy helps the younger generation having their awakening about the suffering of others perhaps a little quicker than she did.

"I'm so proud of the younger generation for really being so knowledgeable and caring so much," she said. "Because I personally feel like I had my own awakening after I had kids and I was a little bit older. I hope that through my stories and seeing people, the younger generation can be aware at a younger age."

Her goal with the documentary was to show a side of these criminal stories often overlooked in reality films and series, that of the incarcerated party; especially if they're not some deranged killer or sociopath.

"I would go to prison after prison and sit down with these people and hear their stories," Kim said. "I realized there's a whole other side that is never being shown on TV, and so that's why I really wanted to partner [with Oxygen] and do a documentary that shared a completely different perspective and mindset."

She said she partnered on the film to give voice to the "millions of people impacted by this broken justice system, and I wanted to put faces to these numbers and statistics," said Kim, who also serves as an executive producer.

"There are a lot of people who deserve a second chance, but many do not have the resources to make it happen," she said. "I want to help elevate these cases to a national level to effect change, and this documentary is an honest depiction of me learning about the system and helping bring tangible results to justice reform."

Admitting that she knew nothing going into this exploration, it's no surprise that Kim is using her spotlight and her platform to help raise public awareness of what's going in America's justice system. While this is just a single film for now, we suspect this is just the beginning for this new chapter of Kim's journey.

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