Outide the Law: Narratives on Justice in America, edited by Susan Richards Shreve and Porter Shreve (Beacon Press 1997). From the Booklist review: "For this excellent collection of essays and stories, the editors asked several writers to examine the idea of justice. The results are startling: the essay by Blanche McCrary Boyd about Susan Smith (the woman who killed her two children in a failed suicide attempt, then claimed they had been kidnapped by a black man); Clarence Page's examination of the O. J. Simpson jury; Charles Johnson's short story about affirmative action; to Alex Kotlowitz's heartbreaking tale of the two boys in Chicago, aged 10 and 12, who were recently sentenced to prison for dropping their five-year-old neighbor to his death from the fourteenth-floor window of their public-housing high-rise. Some of the pieces are notable for their anguished personal tone, others for their thoughtful examination, poignancy, or objectivity. This carefully edited examination of justice is both a satisfying and an eye-opening read."
Here are the Outside the Law pages at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
And here's the Table of Contents:
Preface Porter Shreve
Introduction: Seeking Justice Martha Minow 1
A Genetics of Justice Julia Alvarez 14
A Confession Richard Bausch 22
True Morality Madison Smartt Bell 32
Who Killed Susan Smith? Blanche McCrary Boyd 43
Justice as a Nourisher of Narrative John Casey 61
The Myth of Justice Michael Dorris 76
HR 442: Redress Garrett Hongo 82
Executive Decision Charles Johnson 93
Where Was the Village? Alex Kotlowitz 106
Secret Ceremonies of Love and Death Beverly Lowry 111
Runaway Jurors: Race Versus the Evidence Clarence Page 119
Justify Our Love Sarah Pettit 130
Justice Ntozake Shange 137
The Silent Juror Susan Richards Shreve 142
Mississippi Gerald M. Stern 153
Free Papers Daniel J. Wideman 173
Justice: A Perspective John Edgar Wideman 184
Contributors 192