Judge John Sirica, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said of this television special: "It would be a great thing if this program could be shown in every high school and college in the country".
This production won the following awards: The 1982 George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award; The 1983 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award; and The 1983 International Film and TV Festival of New York Gold Award .