Discrepancy: The incident with the pedophile with Carter and his friends. The movie and his book, claim it was self defense, and Rubin ends up getting incarcerated until he is of legal age, based upon this one occurrence.
Truth: Carter is not 11 years old, as depicted, but 14, and the kids he was with, were all part of a "gang" that ran through the neighborhood. (Carter even admits to being a "thug"). After one incident (at age 11) when he steals some clothes, his own father turns him into the police, hoping to scare him. After this "scare" Carter admits to being involved with the police on two or three more occasions within the next three years. Then comes the event with the "pedophile". Carter picked up a large soda bottle and threw it at the man, putting a huge gash in his head. (this would have stopped most people, but Carter adds even more to his story). He then says the man grabbed him and held him over his head right near the edge of a cliff (remember, still a gash in his head and bleeding all over, and Carter is actually 14 years old now), when Rubin miraculously remembers that he has a scout knife in his pocket. "Somehow" while dangling in mid-air by an incredibly wounded man, he manages to grab his knife, and says he tried to "break if off in his head" (the knife). Ok, now we have a gash wound to the head, and now a knife wound to the head, and Carter still insists that the man turned away from the cliff, and dropped Rubin to the ground. (chances are they would have either both fallen off the cliff, or the man could have easily thrown him off the cliff) Regardless, Carter then goes on to say (this by the way is from his book), that the man then gets on top of Rubin on the ground, and starts to sexually molest him! Even quoting "sexy words" this bleeding man was supposedly saying. Rubin says this upsets him too much now, and stabs his side to get him off, according to Rubin, this man continued his sexual desires, (regardless of the multiple stab wounds now), and Rubin continues to plunge the knife into his chest over and over again. (That's one dedicated pedophile!) In the movie, we see Rubin taken right away to the police station, when in fact, he came down with some "illness" and was said to have gone into a coma. He recovered and was only then taken to headquarters for questioning. The other boys "did" actually sign statements saying Rubin stabbed the man, and one of the boys was even caught wearing the man's watch. Rubin was told it would be in his best interest to give his statement, at least to protect himself. But, Rubin refused, and didn't even mention the sexual aspect of the incident. This is when he was sent to the detention facility. A quote from Carter regarding his stay at the juvenile facility states, "It wasn't long before it became apparent that I had gained the admiration of the majority. Whatever the reason, when anyone had a problem of some sort, he would usually come to me for a solution. And I, not knowing what else to do, would try to help him as best I could." (note, there was a long history of violence in the institution as well that was never mentioned.) Another fascinating quote, "I believe that everything I had done in my life had been the natural and logical thing for me to do, under the circumstances. If by chance, I performed a gracious deed, I laid claim to no credit. If I committed a crime in the eyes of society, I TOOK NO BLAME. I felt NO MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ACTIONS than for the winds." Carter does in fact escape from the detention center, and went to his relatives for help. But, even they wouldn't help him. He states in his book, " People were actually afraid of me-even my own family."
(Information from Cal Deal and Lona Manning Websites; Used with permission)