From Library Journal
The editors, mother and son, have brought together an assortment of intriguing and insightful essays written by individuals from different walks of life who share experiences with the criminal justice system that are more criminal than just. The thread linking these stories is that true justice is highly subjective and that our legal system attempts to approach it through objectivity and litigiousness. The result is a highly impersonal, paternalistic system that frequently smacks of condescension and chaos. Strict adherence to the rule of law can result in a form of justice skewed to the point where the innocent go to prison, individuals are convicted on the basis of guilt by association, or a jury is swayed more by the desire to emancipate its children from daycare by an afternoon deadline than to save a human soul. Useful reading for students of the psychosociological aspects of our criminal justice system.?Phillip Young Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Lib., New YorkCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
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. Kathleen Hughes

From Kirkus Reviews
Good idea, disappointing result. Novelist Shreve (The Visiting Physician, 1996, etc.) and her novelist-to-be son, Porter, have collected short essays on justice authored not by lawyers or academics, but by writers addressing the subject through personal narratives. Running throughout these contributions is a central theme captured in the title: Justice cannot be reduced to questions of law. Unfortunately, the volume ultimately does not quite work. Selections that reflect personal experience, such as Richard Bausch's recollection of a racist remark made to a friend during his childhood, or a journalistic report, such as Blanche McCrary Boyd's account of the trial of Susan Smith, expose the potent emotions and nagging doubts that can surface when notions of justice are counterposed to clearcut questions of innocence or guilt. In contrast, the less focused and more abstract sets of reflections, notably John Casey's rather lengthy discussion of how questions of justice ``nourish'' fictional works, seem pallid and out of place. While the former outnumber the latter, however, in the end the whole volume adds up to less than the sum of its parts. The better essays are suggestive, but none are conclusive, and the overall effect is to leave the reader hanging in many different ways rather than illuminating the subject from a variety of perspectives. The premise that justice cannot be codified because it is a function of the complexities of real life is not only worth exploring, it may positively require more lengthy exploration than can be derived from short essays. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Card catalog description
In Outside the Law, eighteen extraordinary voices explore the difference, often achingly personal, between true justice and the law. These original pieces use powerful storytelling - as immediate as Clarence Page writing on the Simpson trial and Blanche McCrary Boyd on Susan Smith - to define justice, to give it a face, to show how justice affects the lives of every one of us. The distinguished contributors ask questions like "How do we know what is just?" and "What are the effects of injustice?" and they refuse to let their responses remain in the realm of the abstract. John Edgar Wideman examines his son's imprisonment for murder to reveal how law is often a tragic approximation of justice, and Daniel J. Wideman, in one of the book's several instances of how the warp of justice affects generations of family, gives his own conception of his brother's incarceration. Sarah Pettit writes on the "dizzy spin" of gay Americans who are told they are seeking "special rights"; Julia Alvarez recounts the lingering effects of a brutal political regime on the civic behavior of her parents; and Madison Smartt Bell examines the perhaps illusory idea of an inner sense of "true morality." Charles Johnson imagines a black man, a white woman, and justice in the workplace, and Richard Bausch writes on a shameful boyhood incident - and the cultural assumptions that led to it.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Outside the Law, eighteen extraordinary voices explore the difference, often achingly personal, between true justice and the law. These original pieces use powerful storytelling - as immediate as Clarence Page writing on the Simpson trial and Blanche McCrary Boyd on Susan Smith - to define justice, to give it a face, to show how justice affects the lives of every one of us. The distinguished contributors ask questions like "How do we know what is just?" and "What are the effects of injustice?" and they refuse to let their responses remain in the realm of the abstract. John Edgar Wideman examines his son's imprisonment for murder to reveal how law is often a tragic approximation of justice, and Daniel J. Wideman, in one of the book's several instances of how the warp of justice affects generations of family, gives his own conception of his brother's incarceration. Sarah Pettit writes on the "dizzy spin" of gay Americans who are told they are seeking "special rights"; Julia Alvarez recounts the lingering effects of a brutal political regime on the civic behavior of her parents; and Madison Smartt Bell examines the perhaps illusory idea of an inner sense of "true morality." Charles Johnson imagines a black man, a white woman, and justice in the workplace, and Richard Bausch writes on a shameful boyhood incident - and the cultural assumptions that led to it.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

As Harvard law professor Minow comments in her introduction, this collection of 17 original essays-some meditations, others reportage-reminds us that justice is a question far too important to leave to lawyers or philosophers: it is our responsibility. The pieces focus mainly on questions of criminal justice as well as racial and economic injustice. Novelist Charles Johnson provides a fictionalized job-interview scenario to explore issues of affirmative action (this topic deserves more attention here, even if from a conservative perspective), and novelist Madison Smartt Bell recalls the human rights legacy of the Haitian slave rebellion in the 18th century. Poet Garret Hongo reports on the difficult path to gaining redress for Japanese Americans interned during WWII. Blanche McCrary Boyd offers a lyrical portrayal of the 1996 trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who killed her two sons, accused a black man then saw her life spared by a jury that eschewed vengeance. Editor Susan Shreve, a novelist, reflects thoughtfully on her own difficulty in reaching a verdict when she served as a juror, while columnist Clarence Page comments that the trend toward jury nullification by African American jurors is a reminder of the enduring faults in our justice system. Other contributors include Julia Alvarez, John Edgar Wideman, Michael Dorris and Alex Kotlowitz.

Publishers Weekly

As Harvard law professor Minow comments in her introduction, this collection of 17 original essayssome meditations, others reportagereminds us that justice is a question far too important to leave to lawyers or philosophers: it is our responsibility. The pieces focus mainly on questions of criminal justice as well as racial and economic injustice. Novelist Charles Johnson provides a fictionalized job-interview scenario to explore issues of affirmative action (this topic deserves more attention here, even if from a conservative perspective), and novelist Madison Smartt Bell recalls the human rights legacy of the Haitian slave rebellion in the 18th century. Poet Garret Hongo reports on the difficult path to gaining redress for Japanese Americans interned during WWII. Blanche McCrary Boyd offers a lyrical portrayal of the 1996 trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who killed her two sons, accused a black man then saw her life spared by a jury that eschewed vengeance. Editor Susan Shreve, a novelist, reflects thoughtfully on her own difficulty in reaching a verdict when she served as a juror, while columnist Clarence Page comments that the trend toward jury nullification by African American jurors is a reminder of the enduring faults in our justice system. Other contributors include Julia Alvarez, John Edgar Wideman, Michael Dorris and Alex Kotlowitz. (June)

Library Journal

The editors, mother and son, have brought together an assortment of intriguing and insightful essays written by individuals from different walks of life who share experiences with the criminal justice system that are more criminal than just. The thread linking these stories is that true justice is highly subjective and that our legal system attempts to approach it through objectivity and litigiousness. The result is a highly impersonal, paternalistic system that frequently smacks of condescension and chaos. Strict adherence to the rule of law can result in a form of justice skewed to the point where the innocent go to prison, individuals are convicted on the basis of guilt by association, or a jury is swayed more by the desire to emancipate its children from daycare by an afternoon deadline than to save a human soul. Useful reading for students of the psychosociological aspects of our criminal justice system.Phillip Young Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Lib., New York

Booknews

Eighteen contributors explore the difference between true justice and the law, touching on issues including the O.J. Simpson trial, the idea of true morality, gay rights, and the effects of injustice. They relate their personal experiences with the justice system, writing on a son's imprisonment for murder, the effects of a brutal political regime, and experiences with jury duty. Contributors include Alex Kotlowitz, author of , playwright Ntozake Shange, and Clarence Page, a nationally syndicated columnist for the . No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Kirkus Reviews

Good idea, disappointing result.

Novelist Shreve (The Visiting Physician, 1996, etc.) and her novelist-to-be son, Porter, have collected short essays on justice authored not by lawyers or academics, but by writers addressing the subject through personal narratives. Running throughout these contributions is a central theme captured in the title: Justice cannot be reduced to questions of law. Unfortunately, the volume ultimately does not quite work. Selections that reflect personal experience, such as Richard Bausch's recollection of a racist remark made to a friend during his childhood, or a journalistic report, such as Blanche McCrary Boyd's account of the trial of Susan Smith, expose the potent emotions and nagging doubts that can surface when notions of justice are counterposed to clearcut questions of innocence or guilt. In contrast, the less focused and more abstract sets of reflections, notably John Casey's rather lengthy discussion of how questions of justice "nourish" fictional works, seem pallid and out of place. While the former outnumber the latter, however, in the end the whole volume adds up to less than the sum of its parts. The better essays are suggestive, but none are conclusive, and the overall effect is to leave the reader hanging in many different ways rather than illuminating the subject from a variety of perspectives.

The premise that justice cannot be codified because it is a function of the complexities of real life is not only worth exploring, it may positively require more lengthy exploration than can be derived from short essays.